Illustration by Esha Maharishi From the unannounced raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound that surprised and humiliated Pakistani officials, to a badly botched NATO operation that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, 2011 was not a great year for US-Pakistani relations. Many American policymakers are dismayed that neither friendship nor financial assistance has induced Pakistan to cooperate with American objectives in South Asia. Moreover, the strategic...
In 2008, President Barack Obama had a clear idea for Latin American foreign policy. The Bush administration, distracted by events in the Middle East, had pursued a harmful hemispheric policy of blustering unilateralism and neglect; Obama, conversely, would pursue a “new partnership” with the Americas, one marked by cooperation and mutual interests. His subsequent election was heralded throughout Latin America as an opportunity to repair the dam...
...t useful, particularly because it is not really a debate between realists and idealists. The acceptability of targeted killings, alternatively, touches on a deeper and more important debate between differing understandings of America: between American exceptionalism and what I will call “American normalism.” Dennis Blair, the former director of national intelligence, revealed to the Times why the U.S. government conducts the strikes. “It is...
...o bolster its own number of international students. The untrammeled embrace of globalization is born of twin optimistic impulses (both explicitly present in Columbia’s report). On the presumptuous and self-congratulatory end, American universities ostensibly believe in their ability to change the world by enlightening the benighted children of dictatorial and underdeveloped nations. On the domestic sales call, universities would have Americans be...
...t it also hinted at another truth: that come November 4th, for most people, the work would be over. Even though this year’s presidential primaries marked the highest voter turnout in over three decades, less than one-fifth of Americans expect to be involved in political issues after the election. It would be Obama’s job from there on out. What should we expect of citizens beyond voting and campaigning for representatives? McCain and Obama discuss...
The protracted economic crisis that has entangled America since 2007 has produced an uproar of political reaction, galvanizing the public consciousness to demand answers to the bigger questions of our time: the role of government, the challenges of globalization, and the rapid rise of inequality have all been furiously debated. Furthermore, the pitch of political discussion and action has remained particularly feverous and ferocious, whether ma...
...security interests of the United States stem from the sea (power projection, access to energy, and promoting free commerce), the United States should move to preserve its maritime forces, while avoiding interventionist wars. America should adopt a strategy in which it reduces deployments in areas like Europe and the Middle East, rebuilds at home, and develops a response to the growing naval power of an increasingly confident and assertive China....
America’s ability to wield power effectively in the global commons is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy and a key source of American influence, but today’s world is witnessing a dramatic expansion of those commons—into outer space. America’s response to this broadening terrain will carry tremendous weight for the stability of the international system. Satellites allow U.S. forces to communicate, navigate, gather intelligence, and use precisi...
One of the most difficult elements of coping with terrorist attacks is managing the emotions that it elicits from victims. It is a simple enough argument to state that another terrorist attack on U.S. soil would be unbearable to the American people, but such an attack is inevitable-if not from abroad, then from the new crop of “home-grown” extremists materializing everywhere from Portland, Oregon, to Fort Hood, Texas. The future of t...
Illustration by Justin Walker The Obama campaign’s direct and wide-scale efforts to mobilize the public in 2008 resulted in voter turnout rates unheard of since the 1960s. However, a report released by the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University predicts that there will be a drop in voter turnout for the 2012 elections due to political disenchantment among young voters. As the report summarizes, “Obama the preside...
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