China

When the forces of tyranny were far stronger and the world’s roster of democracies far smaller, President Reagan argued that “we must take actions to assist the campaign for democracy.” America took those actions in the twentieth century; it should do no less in the twenty-first.

When it comes to democracy promotion, it seems the Obama-Trump era is the aberration.

Last November, a government squad in Henan Province, China, removed the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” from a display at a state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement church because an official determined it was inconsistent with Chinese policy.

In Safe Passage, Kori Schake details how transitions in geopolitical power lead to violence, except when the United States slowly and peacefully took over the hegemonic role Great Britain played.

A socially responsible Christian ethic understands that the ordinance of the nation-state—even in a fallen world—calls for prophetic scrutiny in hopes that it would be brought back in alignment with civic and moral righteousness.

Recently, in China, over 100 Christian pastors were imprisoned, charged with “inciting subversion to state power.” Among those jailed was…

All in all, American Power and Liberal Order is an excellent book providing a spirited defense of what has largely been a successful American grand strategy for the past 70 years. The big question remains whether the same framework could work for the next 70 years, or whether new external challenges and internal political changes call for a different approach.

We were mostly right about his hateful rhetoric, fundamental dishonesty, trade wars, admiration for foreign dictators, and wild inconsistency. But we overestimated Trump’s competence and work ethic. His ability to bring material harm to the United States has been limited by how little he works and how little he knows about the presidency.

The Trump foreign policy is like the administration’s domestic policy: a little irreverent, ambitious, and completely impervious to experts’ warnings.