We need to get real about Russia and China—or risk being led into another disastrous war. Realism, as a theory of foreign policy, has been linked in the popular mind of the west both to cynical Realpolitik—in the mould of Henry Kissinger—and to a propensity to wage war. The first charge has a superficial validity....Read More

Princeton University Professor John Ikenberry, one of the most articulate defenders of the open, rules-based system that dominates international politics today, claims that the past two centuries should be remembered as “the liberal ascendancy.” In this narrative, conservatives have become economic liberals, socialists have become social liberals, the institutions that regulate international affairs have proliferated...Read More