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In 2022, Alexander Sorg and Julian Wucherpfennig wrote “Before Deploying More U.S. Forces to Europe, Consider the Consequences,” where they argued that U.S. military deployments abroad can lead to a lower willingness among host populations to contribute to national defense. In the wake of continued debate over U.S. military deployments abroad, we invited Alexander and Julian back to reflect on their article.Read more below:In your 2022 article, “Before Deploying More U.S. Forces to Europe, Consider the Consequences,” you presented a complex question: Is a global American military footprint worth the host of negative repercussions it sometimes brings? Two years into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, what have we learned and how does it affect this question? Ukraine’s resilience has defied initial expectations. Ukraine has not only held out but also recaptured significant territory and even launched incursions into Russian regions like Kursk Oblast. Moreover, Russia has been deterred from expanding its imperial ambitions toward NATO members like the Baltics or Poland. These successes are deeply shaped by the U.S. military presence in Europe. While Ukrainian resolve has been impressive, its success would have been impossible without substantial Western military, financial, and humanitarian aid. The United States has been the largest single donor, especially in military aid, but Europe’s total contributions surpass those of the United States by nearly 50 percent. This European support would not have been as robust without the security guarantee provided by the American military presence. It is difficult to imagine European nations like Germany depleting their armament reserves without being able to depend on U.S. security guarantees. Increased European defense spending is hardly surprising given heightened military threats, but this partly goes against our earlier finding that U.S. deployments may reduce public support for national defense. However, recent discussions regarding U.S. intermediate-range missile deployments to Germany reinforce the key mechanism underlying our argument: U.S. military deployments are not always