Huntington, Samuel P. "Coping with the Lippmann Gap." Foreign Affairs v. 66, n. 3 (1987): 453-477.

Foreign policy,” wrote Walter Lippmann in 1943 in an oft-quoted phrase, “consists in bringing into balance, with a comfortable surplus of power in reserve, the nation’s commitments and the nation’s power.” If this balance exists, the foreign policy will command domestic support. If commitments exceed power, insolvency results which generates deep political dissension.

American foreign policy, Lippmann argued, had evolved through three phases. Insolvency and inconstancy in foreign policy coupled with dissension over foreign policy existed between 1789 and 1823. American foreign policy then became solvent; U.S. commitments were limited to the western hemisphere and underwritten by the “concert with Great Britain” and the British fleet.

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