The Bidens are serving the Macrons US-made wine and cheese. A cute gesture or a clumsy diplomatic move?
Say “cheese”!
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US Foreign Policy
Centering George W. Bush in the Etiology of the Iraq War
The second- and third-most downloaded articles at the journal Security Studies both tackle the causes of the Iraq War. This might reflect an imbalance of supply and demand: there aren't that many...
From “Wilsonian” to “Rooseveltian” Liberalism
Daniel Deudney and John Ikenberry recently published a ‘big think’ article in Foreign Policy. They note that the Biden administration’s approach to foreign and domestic policy – including its particular understanding of the relationship between them – is best understood as “Rooseveltian” in character. What should we make of this?
Putin-Biden summit, but make it an 18th century gossip column
Gentle reader*, People that have an itch at scribbling generally entertain their visitors with their happy projects, high flights, and wonderful publications, therefore 'tis to be supposed...
More US Foreign Policy Posts
WPTPN: Defining the Trumpist Insurgency
This World Politics in a Time of Populist Nationalism (WPTPN) guest post is written by Simon Frankel Pratt, a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. His research is on institutional politics, international norms, and the US's security apparatus. For further information, see his website or find him on Twitter (@simon_the_pratt) Unlike other contributions to this essay series, mine will be somewhat more informal in tone. I am going to share some concepts (and neologisms) that I find helpful for making sense of ‘Trumpism’—by which I mean Trump, his rogues’ gallery (or carnival), and...
Ethical Robots on the Battlefield?
Every day it seems we hear more about the advancements of artificial intelligence (AI), the amazing progress in robotics, and the need for greater technological improvements in defense to “offset” potential adversaries. When all three of these arguments get put together, there appears to be some sort of magic alchemy that results in widely fallacious, and I would say pernicious, claims about the future of war. Much of this has to do, ultimately, with a misunderstanding about the limitations of technology as well as an underestimation of human capacities. The prompt for this round of...
Sending Iran Back Out into the Cold
Since the U.S. election Iranian-American relations have gone into a rapid tailspin, with Iran reacting to the triumphalist tenor of the Trump campaign and the improvised response of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn that sought to “put Iran on notice.” The arrival of his replacement in General H.R. McMaster offers the U.S. a fresh opportunity to tone down its approach to Iran, beginning with guarding against any dramatic escalation of the stakes. For unless the Administration is actually willing to go to war with Iran, this confrontation actually won't get the U.S. anywhere...
We Have Studied the World. President Trump Should Too.
This is an open letter signed by US international affairs scholars to their fellow citizens. If you hold a PhD in international relations or an extant field and wish to add your name to the list, please tweet #StudytheWorld with your name and institutional affiliation or send this information in an email to ir.scholars.openletter@gmail.com. Dear Fellow Americans, Recently, President Trump tweeted that people should “Study the world!” to understand his foreign policy. As scholars of international relations, we have studied the world, and we are concerned that the actions of the President...
International Affairs Scholars Talk Back to Trump at #Duckies2017
Trump told us we should study the world. IR scholars had something to say about that. Earlier I promised to turn some of these quips into a special blog post, which also happens to be my Ignite talk at this year's Duckies' Awards in Baltimore. Happy #ISA2017.
The Downsides of Burden-Sharing
Abe Newman and I have a piece in Vox on Trump's attempt to pressure allies into spending more on defense. You should ignore the title. The gist of the argument is that, first, there are upsides to having wealthy and technologically advanced allies dependent on the US for their security needs; second, while it would be great to get NATO allies to spend more on defense, this is a very dangerous way to go about doing it; and, third, the benefits of burden-sharing are likely overblown. Since it went live, I've had a few interesting exchanges. One of the claims that we make is that Trump's calls...
Trump’s Randian Foreign Policy
This is a guest post by Zachary C. Shirkey, an Associate Professor of Political Science, Hunter College, CUNY. Attempts by observers to give Trump’s foreign policy some coherence by finding an underlying ideology that motivates it have largely focused on Jacksonianism. Certainly, aspects of Trump’s outlook and those of a number of his advisers fit the description of Jacksonianism. Jacksonians see US interests in white ethno-nationalist terms and they emphasize strength, unilateralism, self-reliance, and coercion. Jacksonians also seize upon simple solutions for complex problems. Early Trump...
Trump Wants People to “Study the World!” IR Scholars Can Jump All over This.
"Study the world!" brayed Trump on Twitter last week, in defense of his travel ban. Dan Drezner, who studies the world for a living, shot back: "I have studied it, and I can tell you with some certainty that your words and actions have harmed US national security." On Facebook, I've seen friends and colleagues with PhDs in international relations post their own versions of Dan's tweet: Andrew Moravcsik: "I have studied the world, and people who say they are going to change history generally repeat it." Richard Price: "Those who seek power by dividing ultimately succumb to those who unite to...