What Was Wilsonianism?

On the surface, Wilsonianism can be defined as the rhetoric attributed to President Woodrow Wilson and his advocacy for a new world order based on progressive ideals such as self-determination, collective security and international economic openness. In a deeper sense, it was a strategic ideology that promoted a new international order based on altruistic ideals while providing the international framework that protected and advanced American economic and security interests.
One of the main promises of Wilsonianism included national self-determination but the reality of the postwar situation limited the implementation of this principle. Wilson’s desire to have people establish their own nations was evident in his “Fourteen Points” where he
foreign policy for the years to come. The rise of authoritarian regimes around the world, the Great Depression and the growth of isolationism in the U.S. contributed to the lack of attention to Wilsonian principles. Yet by WW II when Roosevelt and his administration started to plan the post-war order, they raised many of the same ideas of Wilsonianism. It was believed that the Wilsonian world after WWI provided a firm framework for a new world order that benefited the world, especially the U.S. The administration noted that the main reason for the failures of this post-WWI world was the lack of America’s “active participation in international politics” (Iriye, 201). Roosevelt, and later Truman, were able to legitimize this American “active participation,” such as protecting American economic interests through the Marshall Plan, by using a Wilsonian framework. Their justification of American international hegemony under the pretense of Wilsonianism would provide the precedent for future American presidents in how they would conduct their foreign