The year 2019 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Paris Peace Conference and the drafting of the Covenant of the League of Nations. While the peace negotiated in Paris did not last long, the debates over the terms of peace and the effort to create a worldwide international organization left a deep imprint on international politics.

The current issue examines various aspects of the peace negotiations and the legacy of Wilsonianism, named after U.S. president Thomas Woodrow Wilson, one of the leading architects of the treaty and the league. As the essays show, Wilsonianism allows for a wide array of approaches. Some examine ideas behind Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy; others discuss how non-United States actors reacted to Wilson’s ideas and tried to incorporate or resist the so-called new diplomacy. Yet others examine how Wilson’s legacy influenced the trajectory of international politics during the interwar years and through the Second World War and beyond. All in all, the essays demonstrate how Wilsonianism has affected the transformation of international and transnational relations over the years.

As an introduction to the special issue, this article seeks to explain why Wilsonianism has continued to fascinate scholars and pundits and how it has become a reference point when talking about both United States foreign policy and international politics in general. One reason is its relevance. Every generation, starting with the immediate contemporaries of Wilson, has found something relevant in Wilsonianism, either from a laudatory or critical point of view. The 1920s and 1960s were the periods during which “revisionism” was ascendant, whereas the immediate post-Cold War years saw a resurrection of Wilson’s ideas espoused by those favoring multilateral institutions under United States leadership. Another reason for the durability of Wilsonianism grows out of Wilson’s tenacity in defending his principles, such as self-government, democracy, and justice. Recent scholarship tends to emphasize the practical and pragmatic aspects of Wilson’s foreign policy, but while making compromises in Paris, Wilson was adamant that his ideals and principles would become a driving force in the future. Such tenacity and strong belief in his principles might not have ingratiated him to his contemporaries, but they made Wilson a lasting figure to contend with.