The Dangers of a New American Isolationism
Rejecting liberal immigration policy and condemning free trade are two stances that certain US politicians — both Democrat and Republican — share with the European far-right, suggests Carlos Alberto Montaner in the Miami Herald. This ideological link has helped fuel Anti-Americanism and a consequent demise in international relations, and has introduced a troubling phenomenon: The development of a new American isolationism.
Montaner likens the situation to the belle-époque at the end of the 19th century which marked a flourishing of wealth and creativity through waves of immigration. However, these population movements also contributed to xenophobia, eco-political nationalism and the rise of Nazism, Fascism and Communism. The dangers of an isolationist trend thus have a dark historical precedent, one that the US and Europe should not risk repeating by shutting out the rest of the world.
