There are two simultaneous and contradictory trends occurring right now in the international system. The first is the diffusion of power, as reflected by the displacement of the old Group of Seven, which at its founding in the 1970s comprised the bulk of the world’s productive capacity, by the Group of 20, where there is no longer one dominant power capable of driving the global agenda. The second is the reality that the United States still far outstrips any other one state or group of states in terms of capabilities, ranging from the power of its currency to its ability [...]
Last week, I noted one of the ironies of the U.S. effort in Afghanistan since 2009: From the perspective of civil-military relations, the process worked. Regardless of one’s opinion of the Obama administration’s strategy in Afghanistan and despite the high degree to which the U.S. government and its allies have struggled to implement that strategy, the division of labor between civilian officials and military officers in formulating the strategy itself functioned more or less according to design. In light of the reaction the column generated, I’d like to examine civil-military relations in the United States more broadly. Today, I will [...]
When the U.S. approached eight countries with the idea to expand the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), it did not invite its North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, along. The exclusion of the two countries from what is being touted as potentially the most important economic bloc in the Pacific Rim was deliberate. The TPP seeks to liberalize trade by completely removing tariffs and other trade barriers, while also strengthening measures to protect intellectual property, two moves that Canada particularly had resisted within NAFTA. However, when the U.S., Australia, Malaysia, Peru and Vietnam join founding members Brunei, Chile, [...]
