A Grand Strategy of Democratic Solidarity
The overarching question of this century is whether the United States and other democracies can preserve a system predicated on the dominance of liberal governments and liberal ideas, or whether the world will see illiberal regimes and coercive practices ascendant. After the Cold War, the world’s democracies had the wind at their back; today they are often divided, demoralized, and on the defensive against revisionist powers – principally China and Russia – seeking to reshape global order.
President Biden has called for putting the idea of deeper democratic cooperation at the center of his statements on foreign policy. But what exactly this will entail, conceptually and operationally, and how it might overcome the challenges offered by its critics, has remained elusive.
Hal Brands and Charles Edel’s new essay, “A Grand Strategy of Democratic Solidarity,” attempts to point the way forward by describing what democratic solidarity would look like in practice, laying out the eight pillars around which such a strategy should revolve, and anticipating the tensions and critiques such a strategy would face.
About this Lecture
Lectures of Opportunity offers U.S. Naval War College (NWC) students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn more about national and international socio-political subjects that may be of relevance to the NWC community.