CRN: GWU’s Amitai Etzioni on changing American foreign policy

America has a long history of foreign policy aimed at establishing U.S.-style democracy in other parts of the world. From Cuba to Cambodia, Haiti to Afghanistan, the U.S. has sought to rebuild nations on the liberal democratic model. In recent years, democratization has become the primary foreign policy goal for the U.S., pushing all other considerations to the periphery. But democracy imposed on nations without basic security for citizens and without civil society in place has failed with disastrous results. The current and frightening availability of poorly secured nuclear weapons means that an unstable and violent world is more dangerous than ever.

In his new book Security First: For a Muscular, Moral Foreign Policy, Amitai Etzioni calls for a complete reorientation of American Foreign Policy. Etzioni is Professor of International Relations at George Washington University, and joins Coy Barefoot on WINA’s Charlottesville–Right Now to discuss.