Derek Mitchell: Three articles on democracy and international security

Posted on Friday February 3 2023

Ambassador Derek Mitchell thought the following three articles would provide a helpful background for his February 2023 presentation on Democracy and International Security.

“The Ground Game: Supporting Democracy Must Be Part of America’s Global Strategy,” by Derek Mitchell, The Hill

Today’s International Day of Democracy offers an opportunity to review the state of global democracy and also democracy’s essential, if often overlooked role, in U.S. global strategy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with China’s and Russia’s freshly minted “no limits” partnership, emerging alliance with brutal authoritarians around the world, and unapologetic affirmation of illiberal values at home and abroad, validate the Biden administration’s view that the contest between democracy and autocracy is a defining challenge of our times… To continue reading, click here.

The world is mired in a deep, diffuse, and protracted democratic recession. According to Freedom House, 2021 was the 16th consecutive year in which more countries declined in freedom than gained. Tunisia, the sole democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring protests that began in 2010, is morphing into a dictatorship. In countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Hungary, and Turkey, elections have long ceased to be democratic… To continue reading, click here.

“The Bad Guys Are Winning,” by Anne ApplebaumAtlantic, November 15, 2021

The Future of Democracy may well be decided in a drab office building on the outskirts of Vilnius, alongside a highway crammed with impatient drivers heading out of town. I met Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya there this spring, in a room that held a conference table, a whiteboard, and not much else. Her team—more than a dozen young journalists, bloggers, vloggers, and activists—was in the process of changing offices. But that wasn’t the only reason the space felt stale and perfunctory… To continue reading, click here.

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Articles

Two Articles by James Bosworth

Posted on Sunday December 1

“Existentially important politics,” by James Bosworth, Latin America Risk Report, December 26, 2023. In recent years, we don’t get many boring elections in the hemisphere. Instead, it feels like every president is elected in a moment of crisis with a mandate to change the direction of the country. In the space between elections, political systems […]

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3 Articles from Clark Adams

Posted on Saturday November 2

“New Supply ‘Front’ for Afghan War Runs Across Russia, Georgia and the ‘Stans,” by Bill Marmon, The European Institute, February – March 2010. The U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, including the 30,000 “plus-up” currently underway, represents one of the most difficult logistical challenges in the annals of war – a challenge even for the United States, […]

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Two Articles from Jeremy Konyndyk

Posted on Thursday October 10

“War Unbound: Gaza, Ukraine, and the Breakdown of International Law,” by Oona A. Hathaway, Foreign Affairs, April 23, 2024. Hamas’s attack on Israel and Israel’s response to it have been a disaster for civilians. In its October 7 massacre, Hamas sought out unarmed Israeli civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, killing close to 1,200 […]

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3 Articles by John Lee

Posted on Tuesday September 3

“Success in the Struggle against the People’s Republic of China,” by Dr. John Lee and Dr. Lavina Lee, Hudson Institute, June 2023. In April 2023, the Australian government released the officially commissioned but independently produced Defence Strategic  Review. Intended to assist the government of Australia with its strategic and defense policies over the next decade […]

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3 Articles by Steven Koonin

Posted on Tuesday August 6

“The ‘Climate Crisis’ Fades Out,” by Steven E. Koonin, Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2023. The 2015 Paris Agreement aspired to “reduce the risks and impacts of climate change” by eliminating greenhouse-gas emissions in the latter half of this century. The centerpiece of the strategy was a global transition to low-emission energy systems. After nearly […]

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5 Articles from Elizabeth Cameron

Posted on Tuesday July 23

“National Security Memorandum on United States Global Leadership to Strengthen the International COVID-⁠19 Response and to Advance Global Health Security and Biological Preparedness,” by US White House, National Security Memorandum, January 21, 2021. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a grave reminder that biological threats, whether naturally occurring, accidental, or deliberate, can have significant and […]

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3 Articles from Ambassador Lawrence Butler

Posted on Friday June 28

“NATO Ready for Battle, but Lacks Stamina, Report Finds,” by Laura Heckman, National Defense, June 11, 2024. Since NATO’s adoption of a “back to the future” strategy at its Madrid Summit two years ago on the heels of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the alliance has made significant strides toward forward defense and deterrence, and […]

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3 Articles by Jack Goldsmith

Posted on Tuesday June 4

“The Middle East and the President’s Sweeping Power Over Self-Defense,” by Jack Goldsmith, Lawfare, October 23, 2023. The Middle East may be on the verge of large-scale war, and the U.S. military is literally on the firing line. Late last week, the USS Carney intercepted and destroyed three missiles and several drones fired from Yemen even though […]

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Robert Einhorn on Nuclear Proliferation

Posted on Monday May 13

“A way forward on a US-Saudi civil nuclear agreement,” by Robert Einhorn, Brookings Institution, April 12, 2024. The Biden administration has responded positively to Saudi Arabia’s interest in civil nuclear cooperation with the United States—both because such cooperation is a Saudi condition for the normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations, which the administration strongly supports, and because […]

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Sea Change: Nordic-Baltic Security in a New Era

Posted on Friday March 22

By Edward Lucas, Catherine Sendak, Charlotta Collén, Jan Kallberg and Krista Viksnins, Center for European Policy Analysis, September 28, 2023. For the countries around the Baltic Sea, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine both highlighted a problem and created a potential solution to it. The Kremlin’s unambiguous demonstration of aggressive intent and capability underlined the risks of dismantling […]

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The Inescapable Two-State Imperative

Posted on Saturday March 2

By Jake Walles, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 19, 2021. The arrival of a new U.S. administration offers a welcome opportunity for a reset of U.S. policy vis-á-vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Donald Trump’s administration followed an approach that diverged sharply from those of its predecessors, but its so-called new thinking achieved little and unnecessarily alienated […]

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Two Essays by Ron Lehman

Posted on Saturday December 30

Lehman, Ron. “Sputnik-like Events: Responding to Technological Surprise.” In Strategic Latency: Red, White, and Blue — Managing the National and International Security Consequences of Disruptive Technologies edited by Zachary S. Davis and Michael Nacht, pp 33-51. Center for Global Security Research, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2016. National security costs imposed by technological surprise can be […]

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Symposium: Advancing Cyber Diplomacy

Posted on Wednesday December 6

Council on Foreign Relations, March 2023. This symposium convenes senior government officials and experts from academia and the private sector to address the U.S. Department of State’s newly created Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, the goals of American cyber diplomacy, and how major public and private international stakeholders can advance global cyber cooperation amidst […]

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Is Net-Zero a Possible Solution to the Climate Problem?

Posted on Monday October 30

By John M. Deutch, MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, October, 2023. Historically, the objective of climate policy has been to maintain the global average temperature increase under a specified level. Increasingly, countries and organizations today express the objective as a specific target date for reaching Net-zero emissions. Over ninety countries, including China […]

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Yes, the government keeps way too many secrets

Posted on Thursday September 28

By Zachary B. Wolf, CNN, September 3, 2022. We don’t yet know what classified documents and information former President Donald Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago. But all of this talk about the secrets the government keeps from its citizens gets to a gripe of mine as a journalist: The US government often misapplies classification […]

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