The Wilson Administration and the Ittihadist Regime

Abstract

The Wilson administration approached foreign policy through a bifurcated prism of principles and priorities that reflected the stress President Woodrow Wilson placed on morality, on the one hand, and the domestic and international considerations in matters of national political economy, on the other. Wilson the person opposed imperialism and the system of balance of power as practiced in the Old World, both of which he believed contributed to international conflicts and war; instead, he advocated free trade, self-determination, reduction of armaments, collective security, and international arbitration as necessary ingredients for peaceful relations among nations.¹ The Wilson administration, however, in general pursued policies at variance with such principles. Contrary to the principles of free trade, for example, the administration accepted the responsibilities of the “promotional state,”² committed to the growth of U.S. economic activities abroad. Wilsonianism soon became equated to “global corporatism.”³