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Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Writing for PS since 2002
254 commentaries
3 videos & podcasts

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., an emeritus professor at Harvard Kennedy School and a former US assistant secretary of defense, is the author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump (Oxford University Press, 2020) and A Life in the American Century (Polity Press, 2024).

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  1. Is Nuclear Proliferation Back?
    nye253_TEH ENG KOONAFP via Getty Images_nuvclear TEH ENG KOON/AFP via Getty Images

    Is Nuclear Proliferation Back?

    Mar 5, 2024 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. considers lessons from his own work on preventing the spread of the technology in the 1970s.

  2. American Greatness and Decline
    nye252_TIMOTHY A. CLARYAFP via Getty Images_elections TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

    American Greatness and Decline

    Feb 1, 2024 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. warns that populist nationalism at home is by far the biggest threat to US power.

  3. What Killed US-China Engagement?
    woo7_Getty Images_ us china Getty Images

    What Killed US-China Engagement?

    Jan 4, 2024 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. revisits the events and trends that led to the policy’s demise in the mid-2010s.

  4. American Exceptionalism in 2024
    nye203_Gary HershornGetty Images_usflag Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

    American Exceptionalism in 2024

    Dec 11, 2023 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. identifies three strands of the concept and their implications for US foreign policy after next year’s election.

  5. What Is the Global South?
    nye249_Carol YepesGetty Images_worldmap Carol Yepes/Getty Images

    What Is the Global South?

    Nov 1, 2023 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. worries that commentators and political leaders alike have coalesced around a misleading term.

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  1. bloomberg7_Chris HondrosGetty Images_UScaloriesmenu Chris Hondros/Getty Images

    What Can Stop the Shortening of American Lives?

    Michael R. Bloomberg shows how a loss of public trust in public-health professionals is undercutting US life expectancy.
  2. roach163_ROBERTO SCHMIDTAFP via Getty Images_mikegallagher Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

    American Sinophobia

    Stephen S. Roach warns that fear has driven US policymakers to level a litany of unsubstantiated charges against China.
  3. kabubomariara2_Gerald AndersonAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_motherkenya Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    Africa’s Prosperity Depends on Achieving Gender Equality

    Jane Kabubo-Mariara outlines steps policymakers can take to redistribute unpaid domestic work among households and communities.
  4. lacroix2_ Michael GonzalezGetty Images_texasUSflags Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images

    Texas and the Perpetual Crisis of American Federalism

    Alison L. LaCroix

    By asserting its right to pursue an immigration policy at odds with that of the US federal government, Texas is reviving a constitutional debate that recurred throughout the early nineteenth century, culminating in the Civil War. It is an ominous reminder that the perpetuation of the Union can never be taken for granted.

    highlights the constitutional threat posed by the state's attempt to impose its own immigration policy.
  5. james216_Dave Tschorn Dave Tschorn

    Europe’s High Noon

    Harold James

    With Ukraine depleted and overstretched, and with Russia posing a security threat to the Baltics and Europe more broadly, diplomatic and strategic coordination is more necessary than it has been since the end of the Cold War. Yet political leaders in Europe and the United States look too weak to rise to the occasion.

    worries that Western political leaders lack the will to take the risky decisions that security demands.
  6. alkuwari1_Getty Images_AI governance Getty Images

    A Breakthrough Opportunity for Global Governance

    Mubarak Al-Kuwari, et al. propose new international institutions to confront today’s AI-regulation and peacebuilding challenges.
  7. fubini11_Antonio MasielloGetty Images_meloni Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

    Why Is Europe Moving Rightward?

    Federico Fubini considers why nationalist parties are gaining ground in countries that renounced nationalism decades ago.
  8. krebs2_Omer MessingerGetty Images_germanygaspricesafd Omer Messinger/Getty Images

    Who’s Afraid of Price Controls?

    Tom Krebs & Isabella M. Weber explain why Germany's economy is paying dearly for the government's failure to cap energy costs in 2022.
  9. mazzucato64_BRUNO FAHYBelgaAFP via Getty Images_pandemic BRUNO FAHY/Belga/AFP via Getty Images

    How to Save the Pandemic Treaty

    Mariana Mazzucato explains what it will take to prevent or minimize the costs of future contagious outbreaks like COVID-19.

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