Episode description

Chris, Zack, and Melanie discuss Hal Brands and Charles Edel’s article “A Grand Strategy of Democratic Solidarity.” Is it possible, and is it wise, to construct a grand strategy of democratic solidarity to counter China and Russia? How might the United States and other countries implement this strategy in practice?  Should President Joe Biden host a “summit for democracies,” or would that cause more problems than it would solve?

Melanie criticizes Biden’s infrastructure plan, Zack praises Congress for bipartisan work on the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, and Chris has some tender words for his daughter, Katelyn, as she finishes her time in high school just as she’s spent the last few years — enjoying every moment.

Links

• Hal Brands and Charles Edel, “A Grand Strategy of Democratic Solidarity,” Washington Quarterly, March 23, 2021
• Kori Schake, “The US Doesn’t Know How to Treat Its Allies,” The Atlantic, March 28, 2021
• Brian Reidl, “Biden’s Infrastructure Proposal is a Giant Boondoggle,” The Dispatch, April 5, 2021
• Michael Wood, Tweet, April 11, 2021
• “Strategic Competition Act of 2021,”  U.S. Senate Foreign Relation Committee, April 8, 2021
• James Goldgeier and Bruce W. Jentleson, "A Democracy Summit Is Not What the Doctor Ordered," Foreign Affairs, December 14, 2020
• Graham Brookie, Tweet, April 11, 2021
• “Sharp Partisan Divides in Foreign Policy Priorities,” Pew Research Center, February 23, 2021
• Christopher Preble, “Covert Wars, To What End?” War on the Rocks, August 7, 2019
• Ted Galen Carpenter and Malou Innocent, Perilous Partners: The Benefits and Pitfalls of America’s Alliances with Authoritarian Regimes (Cato Institute, 2015)