The policy of detaching one's country as much as possible from international affairs. American foreign policy in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and then again between the two world wars, was dominated by isolationism. It was made possible by America's relative physical isolation, with oceans on either side of it. This policy was abandoned after World War II, in part because of the decline of British power, the rise of the Soviet Union, and the technological revolution in weaponry that rendered the U.S. vulnerable to attack as never before. In today's interdependent world it would be hard to imagine a situation in which America, or any major power, could pursue a pure isolationist policy. However, in recent years isolationist tendencies have surfaced in some right-wing quarters, under the guise of a lack of support for the United Nations, and opposition to American participation in it.