THE GENESIS OF US FOREIGN POLICY: THE WISCONSIN SCHOOL OF DIPLOMATIC HISTORY (1950S–1970S)

the historiography of US foreign policy faces a problem: stereotypes introduced into academic discourse by scholars without comprehensive sources of study. This problem is explored using the example of the «Wisconsin School of Diplomatic History». The aim of this work is to assess the state of development of the genesis of US foreign policy in the works of representatives of the school. The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that the intellectual heritage of the school is studied as a complex whole. Its novelty lies in the use of a previously unexplored research format – a combination of an unexplored topic, a specific thematic organizational model, sources, and methodology. The results allowed the following conclusions to be drawn. First, the relevance of the topic for scholars was established, as they were unable to find irrefutable evidence in 18th-century sources, which they did not attempt to analyze comprehensively and extensively. Secondly, historians have failed to advance scholarly knowledge in their examination of the topic, limiting their adoption of theses that had been studied in scholarship (expansion, mercantilism, the use of global balance as a universal means of achieving the results of «empire»). Thirdly, scholarly leaders have been guided by the principle of presentism, which has led to a change in their assessment of historical processes.