Weekly Round-Up

Quincy in the news

November 8, 2020

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Tomorrow, the World: A discussion with Stephen Wertheim and Andrew Bacevich

Tuesday, November 10, 2020
1:30 pm Eastern

 
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For most of its history, the United States avoided making military commitments that would entangle it in European-style power politics. Then, suddenly, it conceived a new role for itself as the world’s armed superpower — and never looked back.

In Tomorrow, the World, Stephen Wertheim reveals that American leaders made a conscious decision for global dominance. In just eighteen months before the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the Second World War, U.S. officials and intellectuals decided not only to enter the war but also to enforce “world order” in perpetuity.

That decision lives on today, but it has outlived its reason for being. In the 21st century, attempting to dominate the world by force has left the United States with endless war and little prospect for peace, as Wertheim argued in the New York Times.

Bacevich has just finished writing a book on the U.S. national security state after the pandemic. He and Wertheim will discuss how to change America’s role in the world today in light of its past.

America the unexceptional: The foreign policy the American people want

Wednesday, November 18, 2020
1:00 pm Eastern

 
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The idea of “American exceptionalism” — and the worldwide military dominance that often comes with it — has long been seen as an untouchable third rail in US politics. But recent polls from the Eurasia Group Foundation and the Chicago Council show that Americans, especially younger Americans, are increasingly skeptical of the idea that America is exceptional or needs to police the world.

Join the Quincy Institute’s webinar on the public’s declining belief in American exceptionalism and the rise in their preference for a foreign policy based on military restraint. Why do Americans now want to be more like other countries? What does the changing electorate mean for future US foreign policy? Trevor Thrall of the CATO Institute will moderate as Eurasia Group Foundation senior fellow Mark Hannah, Chicago Council senior fellow Dina Smeltz, and the Quincy Institute’s own Stephen Wertheim discuss these important topics.

FEATURED

Q&A: The elephant in the room — what is the future of al-Qaida in Afghanistan?
By Adam Weinstein, Research Fellow
Responsible Statecraft, 11/5/20

The historic US-Taliban deal signed in Doha back in February requires the Taliban to provide guarantees that it will not allow terrorist groups to use Afghan soil to launch attacks against the United States and its allies. But United Nations monitors claim al-Qaida remains heavily embedded within the Taliban.


READ HERE

The integrity of the Constitution must be protected
By Andrew Bacevich, President
The Spectator, 11/4/20


As I write this, the outcome of the US presidential election remains undecided. To judge by media reports, it may take days to determine who the winner is. 

READ HERE

When America decided to rule the world
By Ishaan Tharoor/ Interviewed: Stephen Wertheim, Deputy Director for Research and Policy
Washington Post, 11/2/20


The United States had superpower status thrust upon it, the conventional view holds. Amid the collapse of European empires and the global threats of Nazism and Stalinism, America emerged as the liberal leviathan on the world stage, turning the tide of World War II and rebuilding the international order. It dominated new institutions such as the United Nations and enforced its authority for decades with an unrivaled military footprint spanning much of the globe.

READ HERE

The global nuclear bargain
By Paul Pillar, Non-Resident Fellow
Responsible Statecraft, 11/2/20

Last week Honduras became the fiftieth state to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which means the treaty will enter in force in less than three months. The treaty was negotiated and opened for signature in 2017 and 84 states have signed so far. The treaty’s imminent entry into force did not receive as much attention as is probably deserved for what is the first ever pact with global scope aimed at abolishing the most destructive type of weapon mankind has ever devised.


READ HERE

MORE. MORE. MORE.


 
 
 
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