From The National Interest, a symposium on What Should Be the Purpose of American Power? Wising up to the wise men of American foreign policy: Jeet Heer reviews American Foreign Policy and its Thinkers by Perry Anderson. What do elites think about when they think about American foreign policy? American imperialism’s most ambivalent salesman: For Robert D. Kaplan, there’s nothing imperialism can’t fix — except for all the problems it creates. Imperial nostalgia: Nick Danforth on who did it better — and why it matters. Just how entangling are America’s alliances? Many international relations scholars warn that alliances entangle the U.S. in foreign conflicts — new data suggests maybe not so much. Musa Al-Gharbi on the case for an unprincipled foreign policy: “Grand Strategies” are great for winning elections, but they’re terrible for governing. Amitav Acharya on how the two big ideas of the post-Cold War era failed. Rosa Brooks on how to speak foreign policy like a Beltway native.
From Foreign Affairs, Chris Murphy, Brian Schatz, and Martin Heinrich on principles for a progressive foreign policy; Gideon Rose on what Obama gets right; and Bret Stephens on what Obama gets wrong. Karen DeYoung on how the Obama White House runs foreign policy. The hawks return: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were reviled at the end of their administration — now their disastrous ideas are flying high. Nicole Hemmer and Tom Switzer on why Republicans reject the Iran deal — and all diplomacy. America’s never been safer, so why are Republicans convinced it’s in mortal peril? Russia or ISIS, who is America’s No. 1 enemy? Karoun Demirjian wonders. If the Pentagon and the Obama administration can’t even get on the same page about the top existential threats to America, what hope is there for humanity? An interview with David Vine, author of Base Nation: How the U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. As America is blowing billions by using its military as a one-size-fits-all solution for emergencies around the world, USAID is understaffed, underfunded, and on the cusp of crisis.
