America’s ideological shift

The National Security Strategy (NSS) released by the White House last month signals the most sweeping ideological shift in decades. While redefining the US foreign policy, the 33-page document lays out a new ‘America First’ doctrine that the Donald Trump administration argues will pragmatically reshape America’s role in the world.

The new strategy makes “Making America Great Again” (MAGA) the explicit compass for US foreign policy, spelling out an unapologetically nationalist vision that rejects the globalist assumptions guiding American policy since the Cold War. It calls for shutting the door on mass migration, rebuilding US industrial power, demanding far greater burden-sharing from allies, and reasserting US dominance in the Western Hemisphere — while avoiding the costly entanglements that have shaped American strategy since the 1990s.

Required by law, the NSS is a document that typically outlines an administration’s view on geopolitics. The White House presented its version of the strategic manual as an attempt to reverse “decades of misguided foreign policy” that left the US vulnerable abroad and polarised at home.

Experts tracking shifts in Washington’s strategic playbook hold differing views on the Trump administration’s latest move. While some see it as a sea change, others view it as consistent with Trump’s ‘America First’ vision.

Historic break from the past

Former ambassador and political scientist Dr Maleeha Lodhi calls it a historic break from the past. “It lays bare Trump’s transactional, coercive and unilateral view of how America should engage with the world. It upends longstanding US foreign policy and previous national security priorities, setting a dramatically new direction,” she tells The Express Tribune.

Former national security adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf offers a different interpretation, arguing that the strategy is not a radical departure. He notes that the United States has often prioritised the Western Hemisphere — from the Monroe Doctrine to later administrations — without being truly isolationist.

“What is radical is that it is abruptly moving away from the post-World War II liberal international order. America was essentially the sheriff in town… the custodian of that order. The sheriff has pulled back and said that I'm no longer interested. I think that's fundamentally the radical departure here,” says Dr Yusuf.

Career diplomat Masood Khalid views the new strategy as being consistent with the broader MAGA vision. “The NSS declares that not every country, region, issue or cause can be the focus of American strategy,” he says. “The new strategy is highly critical of the previous elite and the administrations for miscalculating America’s willingness to shoulder a global burden