If the party tilts farther toward an activist foreign policy, antiwar conservatives might begin searching for a new political home.

Grant and Fish together pursued an activist foreign policy, befitting the United States' emergence as a world power.

The reaction against democracy promotion and an activist foreign policy may not end there.

The activist policies of Calpers, meanwhile, are aimed at promoting respect for minority shareholders' rights, independent boards of directors and greater openness in setting executive pay.

As the historian Ronald Steel put it: "The huge deficit made it impossible for the Administration to fund an activist foreign policy.

Algeria has traditionally practiced an activist foreign policy.

Absent an activist policy to protect China's nascent industries, it would not have emerged as an export power, Mr. Rodrik said.

Some investors have also worried that the nation's activist foreign policy could hurt businesses that rely on exports.

"This is not the time for an activist monetary policy," Mr. Frenkel said.

Signaling an activist foreign policy, he emphasized that his visit was one of substance and that it was "urgent" to get the European Union out of what he called its "paralysis."