May the 4th be with you!
The Economist has a very thoughtful essay on American foreign policy. It is a comprehensive view of the various issues facing the US, and its viewpoint is sobering. As the US continues to disengage from world affairs, it will leave a partial vacuum in its wake. How other nations perceive that vacuum may lead to conflict. On the whole, however, the American people have signaled very clearly that they no longer wish to use power in a world that they do not really understand and that really does not understand the US very well. We can clearly identify the point at which American disengagement began: it started with the Iraq War in March 2003. The essay is reprinted on Business Insider.
On Tuesday, the Obama Administration will release the National Climate Assessment. Advance copies of the report have been leaked to the press, and the report allegedly argues that climate change has already happened and it should not be considered a threat only in the distant future. It is a 1,300 page document assembled by 300 scientists, and it will form the basis for the Administration’s climate policies in the future. Whether the report actually changes US policies remains to be seen.
Liberalism fostered the growth of representative democracy, and the democratic process has been hailed by many as the most important contribution of the Enlightenment. But the definition of democracy has never been defined outside of the framework of liberalism–as implemented by European societies, the meaning has always been rooted in the rights of individuals to participate in their political governance. But globalization has brought about different frameworks in which the rights of individuals needs to be assessed in light of other societal values. The meanings of democracy are long overdue for a reconsideration, and the traditional definitions seem to be fraying.
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