international relations

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• 5/21/2023
  

  Stronger Global Governance is the Only Way to a World Free of Nuclear Weapons

  by Lawrence Wittner

  The war in Ukraine and escalating tensions between the PRC and Taiwan are just two examples of the resurgent danger of nuclear war. A revived movement for true international governance is needed to ensure that the unthinkable becomes impossible. 

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  5/16/2023
  

  China is Cutting the US Out of the Middle East with an Axis of the Sanctioned

  by Juan Cole

  Recent American policies have squandered an opportunity to engage poductively with Iran and Saudi Arabia and instead pushed them toward stronger economic development relationships with China. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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."

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• 4/9/2023
  

  The Path from Isolated Nationalism to Global Citizenship is Hard but Necessary

  by Lawrence Wittner

  International organizations and social movements have pointed the way to a future in which national boundaries do not interfere with the ability of humanity to survive and solve global problems like climate, hunger, and the threat of annihilatory war. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/7/2023
  

  Ignoring International Relations Scholars is Leading the US to Mistakes on Ukraine

  by Max Abrahms

  Punditry on the Ukraine-Russia war ignores a host of scholarship on international relations that suggests Russian apprehension about NATO is a legitimate influence on Putin's actions, and not just an excuse for aggression. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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? 

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• 2/6/2023
  

  Can the Ukraine Crisis Push the UN To the Reforms it Needs to Remain Relevant?

  by Gary B. Ostrower

  The United Nations' power to prevent war has long been subordinated to the protection of traditional national sovereignty. Will instability push the powerful nations on the Security Council to accept change? 

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• 1/29/2023
  

  On Ukraine, International Law is Against Russia—But to What Consequence?

  by Lawrence Wittner

  If the United Nations can define the rules of international relations, but sufficiently powerful nations can flout them without consequence, it's time for a change in global governance. 

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• 1/22/2023
  

  Do Sanctions on Russia Portend a Return to the Interwar Order of Trade Blocs?

  by Carl J. Strikwerda

  The economic response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of a new Cold War. But a better—and scarier—analogy might be the drastic contraction of global trade and the rise of colonial and imperial trade blocs between the World Wars. 

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• 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. 

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• SOURCE: Catalyst
  12/20/2022
  

  The Redistributive Agenda of the New International Economic Order, and How the IMF Thwarted It

  by Sarah Babb

  Henry Kissinger responded diplomatically to demands from Third World nations for changes in trade and investment rules to alleviate inequality with a pragmatic approach that recognized inequality as a major issue, but prevented poor nations from forming a united front or organizing around their more radical demands. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/7/2022
  

  Gaddis Smith, 89: Legacy of Teaching and Modernizing at Yale

  "Dr. Smith was a Yale institution. He arrived on campus as a freshman in 1950, received his doctorate from the university in 1961, and, aside from a short teaching stint at Duke, never left."