International Relations Center: A Global Good Neighbor Ethic for International Relations

International Relations CenterA Global Good Neighbor Ethic for International Relations

U.S. foreign policy is once again at a crossroads, and to proceed on the present course could be disastrous. To find a way out of this dilemma, it’s helpful to look back at the lessons from the interwar period.

The Good Neighbor Policy of the 1930s provides a model for another approach to international relations--not a radically different one, but one deeply rooted in our own history.

Our world has seen major transformations unimagined in the days of the Great Depression and the New Deal. As national and global conditions change, political agendas must also evolve. FDR’s Good Neighbor policy cannot be applied as a blueprint for foreign policy today, but the basic principles behind it offer keys to building new international relations that are socially, politically, and environmentally sustainable.