The United States has managed to avoid foreign policy catastrophes during the first two years of the Trump administration, but defenders of American primacy espy trouble on the horizon. Most Americans have no living memory of the 1930s and World War II, and younger Americans, who have known only the inconclusive wars of the last fifteen years, are far less likely than their parents and grandparents to support higher levels of military spending. They favor a different kind of global engagement, one not predicated on American hard power. But can the liberal international order, such as it is, survive without America’s “big stick” military to back it up? And what, if anything, would replace it? On the lighter side, Melanie and Bryan also discuss binge-watching foreign television series over the holidays, and Chris shines the light on our safer, healthier, and wealthier world.

 

Links 

• Eliot A. Cohen, “America’s Long Goodbye: The Real Crisis of the Trump Era,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2019
• The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, "The Clash of Generations? Intergenerational Change and American Foreign Policy Views," June 2018
• Dorothy Manevich and Hanyu Chwe, “Globally, More People See U.S. Power and Influence as a Major Threat,” Pew Research Center, August 1, 2017
• Micah Zenko, “James Mattis Wasn’t Ready to Serve in a Democracy,” Foreign Policy, December 27, 2018
• Katie Bo Williams, “The Biggest Difference Between Inhofe and Smith? How Much Danger They Think the US Faces,” Defense One, December 18, 2018
• Greg Ip, “The World Is Getting Quietly, Relentlessly Better,” Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2019
• Faith Karimi, "Pentagon Chief of Staff Kevin Sweeney Resigns," CNN, January 7, 2019
• Mathilde Boussion, "As Congo Delays Election Results, People's Suspicions Rise," Washington Post, January 8, 2019
• Scott Shane and Alan Blinder, "Secret Experiment in Alabama Senate Race Imitated Russian Tactics," New York Times, December 19, 2018
• Paul Staniland, Tweets, December 21, 2018
• "The Ocean Clean Up"
• "HumanProgress"