A couple decades ago, “smart power” was all the rage in U.S. foreign policy discussions, largely in response to the perceived foolishness of the administration of then-U.S. President George W. Bush for having become bogged down in two overseas wars. Advocates of smart power used those failed interventions to point to the limitations of hard-power instruments—like military and economic coercion—for achieving foreign policy goals.
The idea of smart power seems especially relevant to foreign policy discussions in what I last week called “the era of great power stupidity.” But what exactly is meant by a smart foreign policy? That’s not an easy question to answer, and that tells us a lot about the making of foreign policy in general.
One place to start would be to identify desirable outcomes and ask whether the policies chosen by decision-makers will achieve them. In the foreign policy realm, peace and prosperity seem like clearly desirable outcomes. So if a government’s policies bring about peaceful relations with other countries and make its country wealthier, then they must be smart policies. Right? Not necessarily.
