Description
This paper examines the international thought of James Burnham to provide both a genealogy of neoconservatism and a generalizable theory of universalism and pluralism in grand strategy. Burnham, who was a committed Trotskyist before his eventual turn to anticommunism, retained a universalist orientation toward world politics even after his ideological shift. Through his writings in The Partisan Review and later The National Review, he popularized the “rollback” or “liberationist” strategy in the Cold War rather than George Kennan’s more restrained “containment” doctrine. Focusing on Burnham’s influence, this project traces the intellectual migration of Trotskyist universalism into neoconservative international thought. It identifies the persistent elements of internationalism and democracy promotion that underpinned later American strategies, offers a genealogy of international thought within the American conservative movement, and theorizes alternative configurations of universality and pluralism in grand strategy more broadly. By recovering Burnham’s writings and situating them in their historical and strategic contexts, the paper provides a novel interpretation of the history of U.S. foreign policy and intervenes in contemporary debates about the ideological foundations of America’s global strategy. In doing so, it speaks across subfield and disciplinary divides, engaging audiences in international relations and strategic studies, historical political thought, and American political development.
