Progressive realism is an American

foreign policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...

paradigm largely made popular by Robert Wright in 2006 which focuses on producing measurable results in pursuit of widely supported goals. It supports stronger international institutions, free trade, and US national interests. Progressive realists' beliefs stand in stark contrast to those of

neoconservatives Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and coun ...

. Unlike neoconservatives, progressive realists highlight the importance of strong participation in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

and acquiescence to

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. They assert that international security,

economic interdependence Economic interdependence is the mutual dependence of the participants in an economic system who trade in order to obtain the products they cannot produce efficiently for themselves. Such trading relationships require that the behavior of a partici ...

, and

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment (biophysical), environment, par ...

enable international governance to advance national interests. The policy emphasizes the need to convert "hard" power and "soft" power into "smart" power.

References

Foreign policy doctrines of the United States Progressivism in the United States Political realism {{US-poli-stub