Essays
Selected writing on international relations and American foreign policy, organized around five recurring themes.
Part I: The Illusions of Empire
Essays on hegemony, imperial ambition, and the tension between the pursuit of dominion abroad and the preservation of republican purposes at home.
- “Toward Universal Empire”
World Policy Journal, Fall 2002 - “A Dissenter’s Guide to Foreign Policy”
World Policy Journal, Spring 2004 - “The Flip Side of the Record”
Foreign Affairs, 2005 - “The Curious Case of American Hegemony: Imperial Aspirations and National Decline”
World Policy Journal, Summer 2005 - “Preemption, Unilateralism, Hegemony: The American Tradition?”
Orbis, Spring 2006 - “In the Mirror of Antiquity: The Problem of American Empire”
in Enduring Empire: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics, David Tabachnick and Toivo Koivukoski, eds. (University of Toronto Press, 2009) - “Making Peace with War: The National Security Complex and the American Purpose”
in American Strategy and Purpose: Reflections on Foreign Policy and National Security in an Era of Change, William H. Natter III and Jason Brooks, eds. (Council for Emerging National Security Affairs, 2014) - “Is America an Empire?”
The National Interest, 2017 - “At the End of Its Tether: U.S. Grand Strategy of Advancing Democracy”
Defense Priorities, June 30, 2022
Part II: The Costs of Intervention
The moral, constitutional, and strategic consequences of intervention, together with the traditions of international peace and legal restraint.
- “International Peace: One Hundred Years On”
Ethics & International Affairs, Summer 2013 - “The Democratic Values at Stake in Ukraine”
The National Interest, March 18, 2014 - “The Thrasybulus Syndrome: Israel’s War on Gaza”
The National Interest, July 29, 2014 - “Revolution and Intervention: A Delicate Balance, Destroyed”
The National Interest, August 28, 2014 - “How Many Cheers for the Peace Pact?”
Review of Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro, The Internationalists, in American Political Thought, Winter 2020 - “Punishment Won’t Cut It for Policy in Afghanistan”
The National Interest, August 19, 2022
Part III: The Trump Era and Beyond
Assessments of the competing realist, liberal, and nationalist arguments that shaped American foreign policy during and after the Trump presidency.
- “John Mearsheimer and the Future of the Damaged Liberal Dream”
The National Interest, January 10, 2019 - “Fractured: Trump’s Foreign Policy after Two Years”
H-Diplo/ISSF, January 29, 2019 - “Robert Kagan: Machiavellian in Liberal Disguise”
Raritan, Spring 2020
Part IV: Ukraine, Russia, and the New Cold War
The origins and conduct of the Ukraine war, the diplomacy that might have prevented or ended it, and the worldwide consequences of economic warfare.
- “Why Washington Has Lost Its Mind Over Ukraine”
The National Interest, February 11, 2022 - “Will Tensions in Ukraine Boil Over?”
The National Interest, February 22, 2022 - “How the West Got Russia and Ukraine Wrong”
The National Interest, February 25, 2022 - “Dark Parallels: The Ukraine War in Historical Perspective”
The American Conservative, March 2, 2022 - “The Causes of the War”
The American Conservative, March 4, 2022 - “How America Can Really Help Ukraine”
The National Interest, March 7, 2022 - “Weapons of Financial Destruction and the New World Disorder”
The American Conservative, March 9, 2022 - “We Have Yet to See the Full Economic Costs of War with Russia”
The National Interest, March 14, 2022 - “The People Will Split the Baby”
The American Conservative, March 14, 2022 - “Why This Economic War on Russia Breaks All Rules of the Game”
Responsible Statecraft, March 23, 2022 - “Sanctions Won’t Bring Down Putin, But They Will Punish the World”
The National Interest, March 25, 2022 - “The West’s Economic War Against Russia Is Imperiling the World”
The National Interest, May 3, 2022 - “Sovereignty’s Other Half: How International Law Bears on Ukraine”
Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, May 17, 2022 - “Europe’s Energy Disaster”
The American Conservative, September 13, 2022 - “No, The US Did Not Sabotage the Russia-Ukraine Peace”
The National Interest, December 12, 2023 - “Reconstructing the Istanbul Accords”
The National Interest, January 24, 2024
Part V: The Future of American Foreign Policy
Essays on restraint, diplomacy, alliances, sanctions, and the search for a sustainable American role in an increasingly plural world.
- “Dominium and Libertas Done Wrong by Imperium”
The American Conservative, March 29, 2022 - “The JCPOA: A Eulogy”
The American Conservative, March 21, 2022 - “Will Biden Turn the Sanctions Weapon on China?”
The National Interest, March 21, 2022 - “National Insecurity: America Held Hostage”
The American Conservative, May 31, 2022 - “The Grand Bargain is a Great Delusion”
The National Interest, October 8, 2023 - “Why Do We Let Israel and Ukraine Wag the US Dog?”
Responsible Statecraft, November 8, 2023 - “Endgame for Gaza”
The American Conservative, November 24, 2023 - “The Morality of Ending War Short of ‘Total Victory’”
Responsible Statecraft, December 5, 2023 - “Hawks Pushing for More Fronts in Israeli Military Operations”
Responsible Statecraft, December 13, 2023 - “We Became the Late 18th Century British. What Now?”
Responsible Statecraft, July 1, 2026