The Foreign Service Journal, June 2017

102 JUNE 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL the Jacksonian ethos of many Ameri- cans, who are suspicious of America’s ability to perfect the world, but fiercely protective lest others cross us. Kaplan believes this isolationist impulse should constrain idealistic U.S. policymakers, ensuring that America’s actions abroad do not exceed the public’s enthusiasm for foreign adventures. But the central drama of the new administration’s foreign policy is likely to revolve around Kaplan’s core argument that America is “fated” and “obligated” to lead; that a single thread connects Manifest Destiny to the launch of Tomahawk missiles against the Shayrat airbase in Syria. Perhaps Providence influenced our country’s development and its rise to superpower status, but humans and their institutions also play a role. These obligations are not self-fulfilling, but contingent on the active consent of our elected government representatives, an increasing number of whom appear uninterested in the commitments— explicit or implied—to other nations or the international order. Geography and history put our coun- try in the pole position, but we still need to run the race. n FSO Eric Green is the director of the Office of Russian Affairs in State’s Bureau of Euro- pean and Eurasian Affairs and previously served as political counselor in Moscow. He joined the Foreign Service in 1990 and has also served in the Philippines, Ukraine, Northern Ireland, Turkey and Iceland. He is a member of the Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of State. Other countries complain that geography has cursed them; it’s given nothing but blessings to us.