Beware of leaders using ‘decline’ to boost military might
If history is any guide, politicians will take advantage of public opinion, which is pessimistic about America’s ‘superpower’ status.
Robert Ralston is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute and a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is also a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center. Robert studies international security, grand strategy, and civil-military relations, with a specific focus on decline and declinism and the politics of military service. Robert’s work has appeared in International Studies Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Global Security Studies, Armed Forces & Society, Journal of Human Rights Practice, and The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Additionally, his work has appeared in popular outlets such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post/Made by History, War on the Rocks, The Conversation, and The Duck of Minerva.
If history is any guide, politicians will take advantage of public opinion, which is pessimistic about America’s ‘superpower’ status.
Margaret Thatcher used victory over the Argentina to declare that Britain was ‘back’ from international decline. But at what cost?
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