What It Means When Someone Calls You an 'Isolationist'

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “isolationism” as “a policy of national isolation by abstention from alliances and other international political and economic relations.”

In a recent article exploring the foreign policy positions of Donald Trump’s potential running mates, Washington Post columnist Max Boot described the Quincy Institute, the publisher of Responsible Statecraft, as “an isolationist think tank” when referencing a comment Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) made at a QI conference earlier this year.

Except you won’t find any policy paper, analysis, commentary or public statement from the Quincy Institute promoting “a policy of national isolation by abstention from alliances and other international political and economic relations.” Nor will you find any such content on Responsible Statecraft.

In fact, the policy positions the Quincy Institute promotes are just the opposite; they are rooted in rigorous, multilateral engagement with countries around the world — at times through formal or informal alliances — to solve problems through diplomacy, while eschewing, where and whenever possible, the now very common American push for a military first approach.