A balance-of-power approach to diplomacy, particularly at a time when a consensus considers the international order to be in a moment of systemic transition, is an idea worthy of investigation. Read More Here
The right China strategy for the United States depends on the correct assessment of Beijing’s strategic ambitions and its options to achieve them. Read More Here
Methodology is not a sexy topic of discussion. But it should be. Nothing is more important to an accurate retelling of diplomatic history than good methods. What we believe happened, how it happened, and why it happened, all come from good methods. Read More Here
This year is shaping up to be a pendulum year—a moment in history when the big formative forces of world affairs reverse direction. There are telling parallels with the year 2001. Europe, however, needs to draw the right lessons. Read More Here
China is the obvious winner in the present international crisis. It has the luxury of choosing between two outcomes that increase its power: to act as a friend of all the parties in the Ukraine dispute and mediate the conflict, or to gain the battered Russian Federation as an ally. It probably can do both. […]
In a world of sovereign states, foreign-policy decisions naturally should account for national interests and the broader balance of power. But unlike the World War II era, when this realist perspective gained greater purchase, today’s international politics call for a much more nuanced approach to power. Read More Here
The current crisis between Russia and Ukraine is a reckoning that has been 30 years in the making. It is about much more than Ukraine and its possible NATO membership. It is about the future of the European order crafted after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Read More Here
President Joe Biden doesn’t have a plan for China. Or, more precisely, the Biden administration has failed to articulate its approach to grand strategy in East Asia. Read More Here
A key element of Ms. Merkel’s effort to build a more independent Europe—strongly anchored in the West when it came to democracy and the rule of law but economically and diplomatically standing on its own two feet—was the revival of Germany’s partnership with France. Read More
An ascendant China. A revanchist Russia. The failure of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to achieve U.S. objectives. Climate change. The threat of nuclear proliferation. Rising authoritarianism. The challenges to U.S. influence on the world stage have become so numerous, serious, and complex that some experts see the “unraveling” of American power. Read More Here
looking beyond borders 