The war in Ukraine and China’s challenge to the global order have brought the Right’s foreign policy divide to the surface. Populists and libertarians, critical of Bush-era interventions in the Middle East, are trying to push the Republican Party into a retrenchment. Defenders of an active and energetic Western alliance keeping rogue states in check see the current conflicts as proof of concept.

Both sides, however, are correct about key aspects of the larger foreign policy debate. In this moment of international crisis, the Right should be creatively integrating insights from these differing camps to develop a sturdier strategic viewpoint. There is a path to an updated consensus on national security, and conservative leaders would do well to pursue it.