As Dr. Johnson observed long ago, “When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Donald Trump’s dressing-down of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in […]

Last week President Macron surprised everyone by suggesting that some European countries might send troops to Ukraine if necessary to prevent a Russian victory. Perhaps that’s putting what he said […]

Germans have never warmed to Emmanuel Macron, even in the early days when he was busily trying to patch up the Franco-German “couple.” But the couple now appears to be […]

In his famous survey of the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville wondered what effect democratic politics might have on the new nation. Specifically, he worried about democracy’s influence on foreign […]

Review: The Atlantic Realists: Empire and International Thought Between Germany and the United States, by Matthew Specter (Stanford University Press, 2022)   Open any textbook on International Relations today, and […]

Macron’s recalling of France’s ambassadors isn’t so much sound and fury as it is a shrewd move to shape the future of European security, and ensure France’s position at its […]

The surprise announcement on Wednesday, September 15, of a new naval defense partnership between Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom blindsided French President Emmanuel Macron. In 2016, Australia […]

France is angry. She has recalled her ambassadors from the US and Australia. Yesterday, not one but two major news organizations contacted me for comment. “I can’t help you,” I […]

This week, multiple articles highlight the continued waffling of the professional foreign policy establishment. In The National Interest, David V. Gioe offers a vision of American security imperatives wherein concerns abroad […]

We held our first editorial meeting the morning after the attack on the US Capitol. This is a blog dedicated to exploring twentieth-first century democracy, and while much about the […]

Yesterday I had harsh words for Emmanuel Macron. Today I must pay respect: à tout seigneur, tout honneur. About yesterday’s post a friend commented, “Yes, but there is no alternative.” And […]

Boulevard Extérieur has organized a very interesting debate on the premises of French foreign policy, responding to an article in Esprit by Justin Vaïsse. Worth checking out.