Introducing “Course Correction” at War on the Rocks

Tomorrow, we will be publishing the first installment of a new series, “Course Correction.” This series will feature adapted articles from the Cato Institute’s recently released book, Our Foreign Policy Choices: Rethinking America’s Global Role. American foreign policy has been operating on autopilot since the end of the Cold War. The articles in this series challenge the existing bipartisan foreign policy consensus and offer a different path. Although readers may not agree with all of the ideas presented in “Course Correction,” a debate about the future of U.S. foreign policy is urgently needed. Join us in this important conversation. The end of the Cold War ushered in a unipolar world, cementing U.S. dominance over a generally liberal international order. Yet where once it seemed that U.S. foreign policy would be simpler and easier to manage as a result, the events of the past 15 years — the 9/11 attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Arab Spring, and Russia’s invasions of Georgia and Ukraine — strongly suggest otherwise. The world today is certainly safer for Americans than a generation ago, when the Soviet Union posed an existential threat to the freedom and security of Europe and ultimately the United States. But the world is also more complex, as non-state actors, shifting alliances, and diverse domestic political factors complicate U.S. foreign policy formulation and implementation.

Image: Alex.ch, CC