The domestic foreign-policy consensus in the US that has undergirded a half-century of American activism on the international stage is coming under serious strain. Despite the appearance of unified public support for prolonged conflict in a new, twilight fight in Iraq and Syria, there are growing fissures in the foreign policy consensus that cannot be papered over. The alignment that is under threat has shaped American foreign policy for decades. We are entering a challenging period in which the most pressing debates on what to do in the world are playing out inside the two established political parties rather than between them.
半個世紀以來，美國國內在外交政策上的共識一直支撐著美國在國際舞臺上的激進主義行動。目前，這一共識正面臨重壓。儘管公衆表面上普遍贊同對伊拉克和敘利亞境內新發生的「黃昏之戰」引起的持續衝突進行干預，但美國外交政策共識的裂痕正日益擴大，已無法掩蓋。影響了美國對外政策好幾十年的共識受到了威脅。我們正進入一個充滿挑戰的時期：有關美國在世界上應如何做的最緊迫辯論，正在兩大成熟的政黨各自內部——而不是他們之間——激烈上演。