international relations

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• 12/21/2021
  

  The U.S. Can Legally Intervene in the Ukraine Should Russia Invade

  by Anthony J. Colangelo

  The United States should seek to prevent war between Russian and Ukraine. But if the US intervenes, it's vital that it articulate a rationale that validates and strengthens international law. 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Policy
  12/3/2021
  

  Adam Tooze: How Sanctions Work (and Why they Often Don't)

  On the "Ones and Tooze" Podcast, Adam Tooze examines economic sanctions against Iran, which have inflicted pain on the population without impacting the country's nuclear program. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Review of Books
  12/3/2021
  

  Not Humane, Just Invisible: A Counternarrative to Samuel Moyn’s “Humane”

  by Priya Satia

  A historian of empire takes issue with a recent book examining the contradiction between changes that make war supposedly less brutal while also making it les 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
  11/29/2021
  

  Can Cold War History Help Stop a Disastrous US-China Conflict?

  by Li Chen and Odd Arne Westad

  The emerging superpower rivalry between the US and China is not exactly like the Cold War, and simplistic historical analogies are a poor strategic guide. But Cold War history does offer examples of potential pitfalls. 

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• 10/10/2021
  

  Imagine a World Remade by US-China Cooperation

  by Lawrence Wittner

  The world has everything to gain from remaking the US-China relationship around cooperative approaches to global problems. Will Xi and Biden follow the example of Reagan and Gorbachev? 

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• SOURCE: Woodrow Wilson Center and National History Center
  9/17/2021
  

  The Last Good Neighbor: Mexico in the Global Sixties (Washington History Seminar, Mon. 9/27)

  Eric Zolov addresses the Washington History Seminar to talk about his revisionist interpretation of Mexican history in the 1960s, when the government tried "to broaden Mexico's international relations and break free of economic subordination to Washington." Zoom, Monday, Sept. 27, 4:00 PM EDT. 

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  9/12/2021
  

  The Winner in Afghanistan? China

  by Alfred McCoy

  While the similarities between the American exits from Vietnam and Afghanistan are superficially obvious, the differences are more significant, and signal a steep decline in America's ability to influence world affairs. 

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  9/15/2021
  

  On the Eve of Destruction: Breaking the Double-Bind of the Nuclear Arms Race

  by Richard Rhodes

  Politicians and defense contractors who wanted American nuclear supremacy won out over scientists seeking international effort to contain the extinction-level threat posed by thermonuclear weapons, even to the point of denying the planet-destroying power of the H-bomb. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/18/2021
  

  Will the US's Answer to Failure in Afghanistan be More War?

  by Stephen Wertheim

  "The war was given so long to work that advocates of a new surge hope Americans have forgotten the last one."

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• SOURCE: War on the Rocks
  7/30/2021
  

  History and Military Policy: Are We Asking the Right Questions?

  by Francis J. Gavin

  Foreign policy makers have often use superficial interpretations of the past to advance particular agendas. What might a deeper historicism in the field look like?   

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• 7/25/2021
  

  America's Leaders Haven't Learned from Past International Rivalries

  by Danielle Taana Smith

  American leaders have failed to learn from the past and are staking the nation's health to competition with foreign adversaries instead of improvement of American lives. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/20/2021
  

  Is the US Ready to Stop Being the World's Policeman?

  Historians Daniel Immerwahr and Stephen Wertheim are among the experts quoted on the rise of the idea of American interventionism and its reconsideration after twenty years of the War on Terror. 

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  7/13/2021
  

  On the Brink in 2026 U.S.-China Near-War Status Report

  by Michael Klare

  The Pentagon's call for more funding to strengthen deterrence against China portends an escalation of tensions that could, in five years, plausibly put the two superpowers on the verge of war.

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• SOURCE: Dissent
  7/13/2021
  

  The Ethics of Coalition-Building

  by Samuel Moyn

  Can progressives justify alliances with the America-First right to push Biden to stop America's "forever wars"? 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/14/2021
  

  Sorry, Liberals. But You Really Shouldn’t Love NATO

  by Stephen Wertheim

  It's time to rethink America's commitments to NATO, an organization that puts military partnership ahead of international cooperation. 

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• SOURCE: Boston Review
  5/27/2021
  

  Beyond the Nation-State

  by Claire Vergerio

  Much of what has been told about the rise of the nation-state from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 is wrong. Reevaluating the history of the nation-state is essential for conceptualizing solutions to local and global problems that defy the logic of the nation-state.

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• 4/25/2021
  

  Russia vs. Ukraine Redux? Mapping the Way Forward from the Recent Past

  by Walter G. Moss

  Historical context suggests that Vladimir Putin's intentions toward Ukraine are pragmatic and comprehensible (whether one favors Russian objectives or not); a broader imagination and diplomatic engagement can do more to prevent open war than saber-rattling. 

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• SOURCE: Responsible Statecraft
  3/30/2021
  

  Will Afghanistan make Biden's Presidency Turn Out like Truman's or LBJ's?

  by Joe Cirincione

  "Joe Biden can be a great president. But not if he is so afraid of attacks from the right that he repeats LBJ’s blunder and stumbles into a war we cannot win and never need fight."

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• 3/28/2021
  

  Can Biden Fulfill JFK's Incomplete Promise of a Peace Presidency?

  by Martin Halpern

  Today's global problems require leadership from a "peace presidency" that prioritizes global public health, international cooperation, and human rights over militarism and arms. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/22/2021
  

  Does Biden Really Want to End the Forever Wars?

  by Jack Goldsmith and Samuel Moyn

  Recent presidents, including Joe Biden, have relied on an expansive view of presidential powers under Article II of the Constitution to conduct military action outside of the framework of declared war.