If the United States is to protect and rejuvenate its economic foundations and approach autocracies like China and Russia from a position of strength, its strategy cannot be merely trans-Pacific or transatlantic. Instead, America must openly source its approach from across the democratic world.
WASHINGTON, DC – The liberal international order remains trapped in the twentieth century. As autocracies like China and Russia increasingly develop spheres of cooperation, the United States is responding by building or strengthening regional groupings of its own, from NATO to the Indo-Pacific Quad (the US, Japan, Australia, and India). But America should instead take a global approach that focuses on values and visions rather than on countries.
Emerging strains of authoritarianism pose new challenges to democratic aspirations from Crimea to Taiwan. In both Eastern Europe and East Asia, proliferating “gray-zone” warfare tactics are jeopardizing countries’ territorial integrity, open trading systems, democratic elections, technology supply chains, and the rule of law. These illiberal threats are no longer just European, American, or Asian issues. They target all open societies, international human rights, and democracy itself.
Unfortunately, America’s post-1945 international frameworks are ill-suited to fostering a common conversation among liberal societies. The G7, NATO, the European Union, and the Quad are too regionally disparate to forge a strong global response.
WASHINGTON, DC – The liberal international order remains trapped in the twentieth century. As autocracies like China and Russia increasingly develop spheres of cooperation, the United States is responding by building or strengthening regional groupings of its own, from NATO to the Indo-Pacific Quad (the US, Japan, Australia, and India). But America should instead take a global approach that focuses on values and visions rather than on countries.
Emerging strains of authoritarianism pose new challenges to democratic aspirations from Crimea to Taiwan. In both Eastern Europe and East Asia, proliferating “gray-zone” warfare tactics are jeopardizing countries’ territorial integrity, open trading systems, democratic elections, technology supply chains, and the rule of law. These illiberal threats are no longer just European, American, or Asian issues. They target all open societies, international human rights, and democracy itself.
Unfortunately, America’s post-1945 international frameworks are ill-suited to fostering a common conversation among liberal societies. The G7, NATO, the European Union, and the Quad are too regionally disparate to forge a strong global response.