美国外交政策中的国际主义与地方主义

Internationalism and Provincialism in American Foreign Policy

本文探讨美国与世界关系的两大趋势,第一大趋势是国际主义或曰大西洋主义,该趋势尤其体现在美国与英国的"特殊关系"之上。另一大趋势通常被贴上孤立主义的标签,但我倾向于使用地方主义(provincialism),或者也可以说是19世纪大部分时间里的大陆主义(continentalism)。地方主义并无愚蠢或无知之意,而是说大多数美国人对外交事务并不上心,普通的美国人通常都体现出地方主义的特点。这导致处理对外事务的人拥有相当多的自主权。大西洋主义者向东看,大陆主义者向西看。在普利茅斯和詹姆斯敦建立之后的150年时间里,欧洲定居者紧守大西洋沿岸,而对内陆没有兴趣。这一点在19世纪急剧扩张时代的人们眼中是不可理喻的。事实上,直到1750年左右,他们才意识到自己身处大陆之上。大陆扩张最终产生了美国的本土世界观,从而有别于新英格兰的亲英派国际主义。它指的是一种排他的大陆主义,在和欧洲国家进行直接互动之前展现出独立自主的姿态。从乔治·华盛顿的告别演说到珍珠港遭遇突袭这一个半世纪的时间里,美国的根本方向是西部和太平洋,而与此同时美国人对欧洲置之不理的程度也发生着引人关注的变化。

I will examine two tendencies in America＇s relationship to the world, the first being international- ism or Atlanticism, the particular tendency that has high expression in the ＂special relationship＂ between the US and the UK. The other tendency is usually labeled isolationism, but I prefer provincialism, or per- haps, for much of the 19th century continentalism. I don1 mean by provincialism stupidity, or ignorance. I mean that for most Americans foreign affairs is an abstraction, even foreign travel is rare. Average Americans have always been provincial. This led to an extraordinary autonomy for those who conducted foreign af- fairs. Atlantieists looked to the East; Continentalists looked West. For a hundred and fifty years after the Ply- mouth and Jamestown settlements European settlers clung closely to the Atlantic coast with a disinterest in probing inland that seems inexplicable when compared to the raging expansion of the nineteenth century. But it did not dawn on them that they inhabited a continent until around 1750, and even then they did not know its immense scope. Then continental expansion finally created an authentic American world view that contras- ted mightily with New England＇s Anglophile internationalism. It was not isolationism, a misleading term that casts the pre - 1941 American worldview back upon the 19th century. Instead it was a form of exclusive conti- nentalism, appearing autonomously, before direct interaction with the European states. （Isolationism was a reaction against that interaction, especially during and after World War I. ） From George Washington＇s fare- well address down to the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor--that is, for a century and a half--the fundamental orientation of this country was toward the West and the Pacific, with Americans turning their backs on Eu- rope to varying and always interesting degrees.