Blog
Difficult Ethical Choices on China
Andrew Sullivan pulls no punches: It’s time we treated China as the rogue dictatorship it is. When a totalitarian nation is enacting genocide, has a dictator for life, is showing itself to be a health menace to humankind, has crushed an island of democracy it pledged to protect, and is militarily acting out against its […]
Where Do Human Rights Fit In?
Policy Narratives Re-examined
Nahal Toosi has a fascinating read in Politico about a subtle but major shift in the international landscape: human rights groups focusing on the United States’s human rights record. While there has always been criticism of America’s shortcomings in living up to its own self-professed standards (as well as the terms of international treaties signed […]
The Breonna Taylor/George Floyd Narrative?
Impacts on U.S. Foreign Policy and International Standing
If the Covid-19 pandemic has called into question America’s role as leader of the world community of nations, will the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd by law enforcement personnel–and the subsequent protests and demonstrations that have resulted, both in the United States and around the world–have an impact on U.S. foreign policy? In […]
Vox Populi: After the Event
This past week, the Carnegie Council (virtually) hosted Mark Hannah of the Eurasia Group Foundation and Dina Smeltz of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to discuss what Americans think about foreign policy and how this relates to the forthcoming election. The “Vox Populi” discussion reiterated earlier themes that policymakers and politicians must, as Smeltz […]
TIGRE: The Missing Link?
Operationalizing the Democratic Community Narrative
The “democratic community” narrative sounds appealing on paper: decoupling from autocracies and reorienting both security and economic ties to allies who share similar values. Yet while these themes often find their way into speeches and addresses, they have proven difficult to translate into practical policies. Does the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as renewed concerns about […]
Justifying Lockdown
Throughout most of the world, significant restrictions have been placed on freedoms to move about, to associate in public, and to be in many public spaces. These practices are often collectively referred to as “lockdown.” What arguments can be presented for why, given the significant costs a lockdown may impose, it can nevertheless be required?
Inequality and Austerity: Our Weak Links in Countering COVID-19
There are weeks where decades happen. These are those weeks. COVID-19 has shaken the whole world. Established orthodoxies have disappeared overnight. Our ways of living have changed overnight, and the rules of our societies and economies are being rewritten.
Further on Pandemics, Solidarity and Narratives
Building on an earlier piece in Ethics and International Affairs on the erosion of international solidarity in a time of pandemic, the Carnegie Council held a webinar this past week to explore the question of dissolving ethics at a time when globalization is fracturing. A point raised in that discussion: My sense is that when […]
