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Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Writing for PS since 2002
248 commentaries
3 videos & podcasts

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., a professor at Harvard University and a former US assistant secretary of defense, is the author, most recently, of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump (Oxford University Press, 2020).

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  1. Is America Reverting to Isolationism?
    nye246_Win McNameeGetty Images_ramaswamyhaley Win McNamee/Getty Images

    Is America Reverting to Isolationism?

    Sep 4, 2023 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. considers the implications of the Republican Party's latest flirtation with populist foreign policies.

  2. India and the Global Balance of Power
    nye245_Anna MoneymakerGetty Images_biden modi Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    India and the Global Balance of Power

    Jun 30, 2023 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. sees the country as a crucial partner to the United States, but thinks an alliance is a non-starter.

  3. Joseph S. Nye, Jr., on Chinese power, US politics, the new cold war, and more
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    Joseph S. Nye, Jr., on Chinese power, US politics, the new cold war, and more

    Jun 6, 2023 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. considers how China undermines its own soft power, traces the potential causes of a war over Taiwan, welcomes Europe’s embrace of “smart” power, and more.

  4. If Trump Returns
    nye_Joe RaedleGetty Images_trump Joe Raedle/Getty Images

    If Trump Returns

    May 31, 2023 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. considers the implications of the 2024 presidential election for America's foreign policy and global standing.

  5. Dilemmas of Deterrence
    nye242_Drew AngererGetty Images_biden deterrence Drew AngererGetty Images

    Dilemmas of Deterrence

    May 2, 2023 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. considers America’s options for risk reduction as nuclear threats escalate and China-Taiwan tensions rise.

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  1. khrushcheva171_MIKHAIL METZELPOOLAFP via Getty Images_putinkim Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    Putin and Kim’s Cartoon Summit

    Nina L. Khrushcheva thinks that Russia's recent meeting with North Korea was intended primarily as a warning to the South.
  2. haykel18_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_mbs Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

    Saudi Arabia’s New Nationalism

    Bernard Haykel explains the reasoning behind the Kingdom's ongoing domestic- and foreign-policy transformation.
  3. wagner22_Lukas SchulzeGetty Images_pollution Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

    The Green Growth Mindset

    Gernot Wagner sees doctrinaire debates about capitalism as irrelevant or even deleterious to the decarbonization effort.
  4. mallochbrown17_GIANLUIGI GUERCIAAFP via Getty Images_africawomenpolitics Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images

    Africa Is the Future of Multilateralism

    Mark Malloch-Brown explains why the continent should be at the forefront of efforts to bring about international reforms.
  5. op_yi2_PEDRO PARDOAFP via Getty Images_chinahousing Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

    A Chinese Bubble Long in the Making

    Yi Fuxian

    The Chinese government is very good at covering up small problems, but these often pile up into much bigger ones that can no longer be ignored. The current real-estate bubble is a case in point, casting serious doubts not just on the wisdom of past policies but also on China's long-term economic future.

    traces the long roots of the country's mounting economic and financial problems.
  6. bp industrial policy Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

    Industrial Policy Is Back

    From semiconductors to electric vehicles, governments are identifying the strategic industries of the future and intervening to support them – abandoning decades of neoliberal orthodoxy in the process. Are industrial policies the key to tackling twenty-first-century economic challenges or a recipe for market distortions and lower efficiency?

  7. fischer208_DrAfter123Getty Images_AIhuman DrAfter123/Getty Images

    Is AI a Master or Slave?

    Joschka Fischer wonders whether humanity can even hope to maintain control in an era of “mega-crisis.”
  8. haldar25_BettmannGetty Images_friedmanreagan Bettmann/Getty Images

    Laying Chicago Economics to Rest

    Antara Haldar

    From breakthroughs in behavioral economics to mounting evidence in the real world, there is good reason to think that the economic orthodoxy of the past 50 years now has one foot in the grave. The question is whether the mainstream economics profession has gotten the memo.

    looks back on 50 years of neoclassical economic orthodoxy and the damage it has wrought.
  9. delong254_ Samuel CorumGetty Images_january6riot Samuel Corum/Getty Images

    America’s Broken Civic Bargain

    J. Bradford DeLong worries that Republicans have abandoned one of the core principles that sustains a democracy over time.

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