Video Glossary: Isolationism

>> When you are the only remaining superpower in the world, there are... you have some key responsibilities,
you can no longer be isolated.
>> Let's talk about isolationism.
Professor Mullins, give a good definition for our students to work with. What is isolationism? >> Isolationism
is a foreign policy
in which a nation tries to avoid uh... foreign conflicts or refuse to enter into
international agreements. And it's basically a form of non-interventionism, and an idea
of protecting your, your own country.
Nations that
engage in isolationism try to avoid uh... international entanglements, and they really
want to focus on self-defense and allocating their own resources for their own nation. >> All right,
Professor Obasohan, isolationism hasn't that been a long, I guess, a long-standing tradition
of the United States...um
as only recently, relatively speaking, uh....
been uh... an issue? >> For a long period of our history um... this country was practing
isolationism.
But it quickly, uh... you know, uh...
discovered, you know, that uh... particularly now that we are
a global kind of entity with the
age of technology.
So even though, you know, a small or big country want to be isolated, now it's extremely difficult,
you know, to practice such a policy.
>> Well, you know, uh, Professor Mullins, protected by, I guess, frontier, pacific and the atlantic
ocean, protectionism
and isolationism might've been easier back in 1800's etc....
but, uh, what happened in the 20th century, leading up to today that that is basically
made it untenable?
>> Well, the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Uh... we found out very
swiftly that the world is actually smaller than we thought
and massive oceans no longer protect us. And the attack on Pearl Harbor was actually
the uh... the forefront and the beginning of the idea that isolationism just cannot work. And as
a result, this nation, United States of America, did uh... 180 in foreign policy. We went
from isolationism to interventionism. >> Oh, that's right! I guess uh... World War II and the birth of United Nations
and... uh...
I guess the Korean Conflict in Vietnam. Professor Obasohan uh... today we're watching the world...
there's no other way to put it, being ripped apart in many places,
and the United States has a lot of pressure on it to intervene...
>> Uh...
post- 9/11, I think this country even has been much more interventionist.
Uh... as we tape this, you know, we are currently in Libya uh...
uh... trying to protect uh... the civilians,
uh... NATO may be getting involved very shortly, you know, to take charge.
So uh... particularly, when you are the only remaining superpower in the world,
there are... you have some key responsibilities.
You can no longer be isolated. >> All right, thanks, you guys, that was a very good discussion!
See you the next time!