The Communitarian Foreign Policy of Amitai Etzioni

• Published in: Society (New Brunswick) Vol. 51; no. 4; pp. 372 - 379
• Main Author: Gvosdev, Nikolas K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.08.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Communitarianism; Community Relations; Conflict Resolution; Domestic policy; Ethics; Etzioni, Amitai; Foreign affairs; Foreign Policy; National Security; Peace; Political Science; Power; Public interest; Security; Social Sciences; Sociology; Symposium: The Achievement of Amitai Etzioni; Transnationalism; U.S.A; War; Welfare Services; United States; Communitarianism; Non-proliferation; International order; Etzioni; Democracy promotion; Conflict resolution; Foreign policy; Gradualism
• ISSN: 0147-2011; 1936-4725
• DOI: 10.1007/s12115-014-9795-9

Amitai Etzioni’s communitarian perspective offers a comprehensive approach to international affairs in addition to offering guidance for domestic policy. His argument that a focus on traditional “realist” concerns for a nation’s security and interests (“security first”), combined with a dialogue over competing moral imperatives, is more likely to lead to the emergence of an idealist end state--a sustainable international community. His emphasis on gradualism--of breaking apart complex policy goals into small, discrete steps--comes from his assessment that this is a better way of promoting lasting change in the international system. His perspective does not fit neatly into any of the dominant U.S. foreign policy approaches, but his ideas have formed part of the foreign policy debate for the last fifty years.