If You Want It (A Foreign Policy of Peace and Prosperity)

Leading progressive U.S. foreign policy thinkers lay out a bold, practical vision for American foreign policy in 2028 and beyond.

What is foreign policy for? At its core, a country’s foreign policy should promote the security and prosperity of its people. But in an interconnected world shaped by shared challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and economic instability, that mission cannot be pursued in isolation. A durable U.S. foreign policy must also account for the common good and the human consequences of American power abroad.

Although there is growing recognition that Washington must break from failed approaches of the past, much of the foreign policy establishment remains committed to American global military primacy at almost any cost. To paraphrase Rick James, primacy is a hell of a drug. Feeding that habit demands endless dominance abroad while draining resources, neglecting urgent domestic needs, and eroding democratic liberties at home.

Simply put, a healthy democracy is incompatible with an endless quest for global dominance.

This book calls for a new, affirmative vision of U.S. foreign policy—one that embraces global peacemaking as a foundation of American security and prosperity; rejects the assumption that safety requires outspending the next ten countries combined on defense; resists performative “toughness” toward Russia, China, or terrorism; and confronts the mutually reinforcing crises of domestic and global inequality through a pro-worker international agenda.

The first of its kind, this volume brings together leading progressive foreign policy thinkers in a collection of essays organized by geographic and thematic focus, offering a concrete framework for rethinking U.S. engagement with the world and moving the policy debate forward.