Word: palmerstonism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...problem with altruism as the prime mover of foreign policy is that altruism is a sentiment, not a strategy. And to paraphrase Lord Palmerston, America has no permanent sentiments, only permanent interests. The Emir of Kuwait, living high on the hog in Saudi Arabia waiting to be returned to his palace by American troops, was no more worthy or sympathetic a figure than Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But it did not matter much. America had more than altruistic reasons for going into Kuwait. Real, tangible, important things were at stake: oil, nuclear weapons, the future of the Middle East...
...19th century, isms mattered little; national purposes varied from case to case, region to region, year to year. Lord Palmerston summed it up in 1848: "We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and these interests it is our duty to follow." Great powers had some goals in common, others in conflict, and they adjusted the mix of cooperation and competition in their dealings accordingly...