Mark Melton

Mark Melton was the managing editor for Providence from 2020 to 2022 and was the journal’s inaugural deputy editor from 2015 to 2020. He earned his master’s degree in international relations from the University of St. Andrews, and his bachelor’s degree in foreign language and international trade comes from Mississippi College. Prior to moving to DC, he worked as a political science adjunct professor at community colleges in Mississippi and taught English in France.

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ProvCast Ep. 39: What Boris Johnson Entails for US Foreign Policy

Deputy Editor Mark Melton speaks with Niall Walsh, the Western Europe analyst at Oxford Analytica. They cover how and whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson will deliver Brexit by October 31, rising populism and nationalism in the UK, the possibility of Scotland becoming an independent country, problems with the UK Royal Navy, what a US-UK free trade deal might entail, how the UK is responding to the Iran crisis, and more.

More than a Big Fish: Review of Tim Keller’s Prodigal Prophet
More than a Big Fish: Review of Keller’s Prodigal Prophet

For Providence readers, there are three topics of particular interest from the Prodigal Prophet’s second half: justice, politics, and patriotism.

Why Russia Didn’t Collapse Like Venezuela… For Now - Book Review of Chris Miller’s Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia
Why Russia Didn’t Collapse Like Venezuela… For Now: Review of Miller’s Putinomics

Putin’s Russia still has numerous challenges today from corruption to slow economic growth, but Chris Miller argues in Putinomics that the federation should be compared to fellow petrostate Venezuela since both were similar in the late 1990s.

ProvCast Ep. 32: American Justness in War—from Independence, WWII, Vietnam, and Beyond

In this episode of the Foreign Policy ProvCast, Eric Patterson speaks about his book Just American Wars: Ethical Dilemmas in US Military History.

ProvCast Ep. 31: Pessimism over Human Rights’ Future (Aaron Rhodes)

In this episode of the Foreign Policy ProvCast, Aaron Rhodes speaks on his article about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in the Winter 2019 issue of Providence’s print edition. He also addresses the differences between human rights and political questions, the human rights situation in various countries, how China violates these rights with its reeducation camps for Uighur Muslims, why he’s pessimistic about the future, and what the global community can do to reform and promote human rights.

From the Trenches to the Shire & Narnia: Review of Joseph Loconte’s A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War
From the Trenches to Narnia: Review of Loconte’s A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War

While Lewis and Tolkien’s faith and contributions are well-known, most do not realize they both fought in the First World War as young men. Even fewer recognize how their time in the western front’s trenches influenced their faith and later works. However, in A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War, Providence senior editor Joseph Loconte explains in his typical, approachable prose how the war affected these two men deeply and how those experiences influenced their writings and faith.

ProvCast Ep. 22: Postmortem of the Trump-Kim Summit, and What Should Happen Next

Olivia Enos—a policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation who traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, for President Trump’s second summit with Kim Jong-un—reviews the current economic and human rights situation in North Korea, what happened at the summit, Trump canceling military exercises, and Kim continuing his missile program. She also gives her advice for what the US should do next.

ProvCast Ep. 20: The Trump-Kim Summit Round 2 & Trouble on the Subcontinent
ProvCast Ep. 20: The Trump-Kim Summit Round 2 & Trouble on the Subcontinent

Providence Deputy Editor Mark Melton and Managing Editor Drew Griffin discuss the North Korean Summit, India and Pakistan and the week that was. 

Immortal Memory: What Scotland’s Robert Burns Can Teach Us about Nationalism
Immortal Memory: What Scotland’s Robert Burns Can Teach Us about Nationalism

Tonight people will gather for Burns Night to remember one of Scotland’s national heroes. But should this man’s flaws cause us to rethink his place in national mythmaking and nationalism in general?

For God and Country, Part 2: Not Necessarily the Nation-State
For God and Country, Part 2: Not Necessarily the Nation-State

Should Christians promote nation-states in all places at all times? No.

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