Departments

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international relations

  • SOURCE: Woodrow Wilson Center and National History Center
    5/16/2023

    Chad Williams on W.E.B. DuBois and the First World War

    Michelle Moyd and David W. Blight comment on Chad Williams's discussion of DuBois's unfinished manuscript about the deep questions of race, democracy, and world affairs raised by the first World War. 

  • SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
    5/3/2023

    The Liberal Order Can't Defend Itself by Repeating History

    by Peter Trubowitz and Brian Burgoon

    Political leaders hoping to defend the liberal international order often invoke the Cold War idea of nations joining forces against the threat of Communism. They forget the lesson that western industrial nations built a sense of shared purpose around expanded democracy and domestic social security. 

  • SOURCE: Boston Review
    4/26/2023

    How to End the War in Ukraine and Build Peace

    by Michael Brenes

    "The foundation of a progressive foreign policy, in my view, entails providing material support to countries suffering from deprivation and aggression in multiple forms—with such assistance reflecting the security and democratic interests of the United States and its people."

  • SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
    3/29/2023

    Do Subtle Shifts in China's References to Divided Korea Signal Pragmatism on Taiwan?

    by Hu Ping and Perry Link

    In seeking to navigate Beijing's seeming intransigence on recognizing Taiwan, the United States can look to the PRC's subtle shift in rhetoric: it has stopped including divided Korea as a comparison to an unacceptable "two China" policy and categorized it as "one country, two governments," suggesting steps toward pragmatic acceptance. 

  • 3/26/2023

    O'Hanlon: Policymakers Need to Know More History

    by James Thornton Harris

    "Studying war in this way should humble us about our ability to control and contain it in the future," says the Brookings Institution scholar, who urges security policymakers to read as much history as they can. 

  • 3/26/2023

    The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon

    by Zachary Jonathan Jacobson

    Richard Nixon's famed foreign policy ruse—encouraging adversaries to think him capable of seemingly insane decisions—had one essential component: Nixon himself, and his commitment to the tightrope-walking performance. 

  • SOURCE: Jacobin
    3/20/2023

    Iraq Discredited Liberal Interventionists. Why are they Still in Charge?

    by Daniel Bessner

    "War for oil" explains only part of the push to invade Iraq in 2003; the ideological belief that American militarism serves a noble and righteous cause appealed to many liberals. That general belief has been frustratingly immune to 20 years of exposure of facts about the falsehoods that sold the war. 

  • 3/5/2023

    Whose "Red Lines"?

    by Lawrence Wittner

    Far from promoting clarity and stability, when powerful nations declare "red lines" in their dealings with the world they declare their intentions to impose their will on others. Peace-promoting red lines must be drawn by more robust international cooperation. 

  • SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
    2/28/2023

    America Remains Trapped by the Dream of Global Hegemony

    by Andrew Bacevich

    American victory in World War II remains a source of dangerous myths and delusions about global supremacy. Both popular culture and foreign policy need to adopt the Iraq War as a less affirming, but more realistic, touchstone. 

  • SOURCE: The New Republic
    2/14/2023

    Review: Can Robert Kagan Reboot Interventionism?

    by Samuel Moyn

    "All along, not much ever separated neocons such as Kagan from a nationalist such as Trump, except the pretense that what is good for the United States, including all its war-making, is good for the world." But does the public buy it? 

  • SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
    1/3/2023

    The Ghosts of Kennan and Lessons of the Cold War

    by Frederik Logevall

    George Kennan was instrumental in defining the doctrine of containment, but later objected to the bellicosity undertaken in its name. Key parts of his intellectual journey have remained obscure; a new book tries to examine them and draw lessons for foreign policy today.