To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure, energy, trade, and even social policy to protect and advance that era’s key source of power—manufacturing. In this century, democracies must better account for information geopolitics across all dimensions of domestic policy and national strategy.
Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a vigorous public and academic debate on which grand strategy the United States should pursue. It has also narrowed to essentially three positions. First, deep engagement proponents define U.S. interests broadly and advocate an expansive role for the U.S. military in the world. Second, restraint proponents define U.S. interests narrowly and advocate a moderately reduced U.S. military role. Third, neo-isolationists also define U.S. interests narrowly but advocate a drastically reduced U.S. military role.
While each group makes strong claims, a careful reading shows that oftentimes there is less disagreement than the rhetoric implies, the logic remains under-specified, and there is limited evidence to support specific positions. The speakers advance the debate in two ways. First, they disentangle the policy prescriptions and underlying logic to show where disagreement exists, focusing on the relationship between policy levers and nuclear proliferation. Second, they examine what evidence there is to support the respective positions and suggest future research.
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