GREAT POWER REVISIONISM BEFORE GLOBAL CONFLICT: LESSONS FROM GERMANY'S PRE-1939 DIPLOMACY AND THE UNITED STATES' “AMERICA FIRST” FOREIGN POLICY

Shifts in the foreign policy posture of major powers have historically played a critical role in shaping international stability and, in some cases, paving the way for large-scale conflict. This study examines great power revisionism by comparing Germany's diplomatic behavior between 1933 and 1939 with the United States' “America First” foreign policy under Donald Trump, with the objective of identifying shared patterns of revisionist conduct and assessing their implications for the international order. Anchored in revisionist state theory and offensive realism, the study adopts a qualitative comparative methodology, drawing on historical documents, official policy statements, treaties, speeches, and secondary scholarly sources, which are analyzed through thematic and process-tracing techniques. The findings indicate that in both cases, dissatisfaction with existing international arrangements translated into unilateral actions, weakened commitment to multilateral institutions, and generated uncertainty within alliance systems, thereby increasing systemic instability without necessarily involving immediate military aggression. The study further finds that revisionism by a dominant or system-leading power produces disproportionate disruptive effects compared to that of rising or weaker states. Based on these findings, the study recommends stronger alliance coordination, clearer signaling mechanisms, and adaptive institutional reforms as practical measures for managing revisionist behavior and reducing the risk of miscalculation in the international system.