Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is pleased to announce the appointment of Nikolas K. Gvosdev as Senior Fellow, U.S. Global Engagement Program.
Dr. Gvosdev is a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, the director of the Policy Analysis sub-course in the National Security Affairs Department, and the Captain Jerome E. Levy Chair in economic geography and national security. He also sits on the editorial advisory board for Ethics & International Affairs and is a frequent contributor to the EIA blog.
At Carnegie Council, he will be focusing on American disengagement from global affairs in the Trump era. His work will advance discussion on one of the most pressing questions for U.S. foreign policy today: To what extent does the present international order rely on active and sustained U.S. engagement and support to function?
The traditional bipartisan consensus has always maintained that American leadership is indispensable for preserving a global environment that enhances the security and prosperity not only of the United States but of the global community of nations. The 2016 election campaign, however, demonstrated that the old tried and true slogans about "strength" and "global leadership," requiring American expenditures to maintain the international order, are increasingly disconnected from the lived experiences of voters who believe, rightly or wrongly, that they derive no benefit from those policies. The subsequent "narrative collapse," in turn, has undermined the ability of the United States to reassure friends and warn competitors that it has the staying power to continue to play its traditional role in the international system.
"One aspect of my project for Carnegie Council is to assess the impact that the recession of American power and the inconsistent and more haphazard role of the U.S. in international affairs will have, both in the maintenance of liberal norms and values and in the defense of American geopolitical and geoeconomic interests," said Gvosdev. "Linked to this assessment, however, is the exploration of the broad parameters of a revived American pragmatic internationalism that can resonate with voters."
ABOUT THE U.S. GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM (USGE)
USGE seeks to reshape wider discussions on U.S. foreign policy to address the causes and consequences of U.S. disengagement; move ethical considerations to the center of policymakers' thinking about international relations; and inform citizens' understanding of international affairs, global engagement, and U.S. foreign policy making.