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.
International relations theorists have described the United States at the end of the Cold War as a kind of liberal leviathan, focused on how to integrate former enemies into post-conflict international organizations. The historical evidence now available, however, suggests a different understanding of U.S. foreign policy in 1989–1990. In particular, the response of the United States toward German unification, completed twenty years ago October 3, reveals a power concerned with maintaining its preeminence in the post-conflict era, not seeking to integrate its foes. The legacy of this policy has had profound consequences for everything from NATO to European monetary union and calls into question whether the end of the Cold War was truly a high-water mark in liberal foreign policymaking.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.