WHAT ARE AMERICA’S NATIONAL INTERESTS TODAY?

What are America’s national interests today, and how does our foreign policy best serve those goals? The end of the Cold War ushered in a “unipolar moment” of American geopolitical dominance, in which we enforced a “rules-based liberal international order” of freedom and increasing economic prosperity across the world. The last 30 years have almost unquestionably been the highpoint of American exceptionalism. But the rise of great power competitors––Russia and China––coupled with strategic setbacks for America in Iraq and Afghanistan, have triggered a reconsideration of the “unipolar moment.” More recently, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has forced Americans to grapple with the question of the future of the post-WWII order and America’s role in shaping it. Specifically, what does the war in Ukraine mean for the future of American foreign policy and for the future of the liberal international order? What should America’s role be in defending that order?

If you’re interested in these and related questions, then you won’t want to miss the upcoming debate between Michael Anton and Noah Rothman. They will discuss whether America’s defense of Ukraine is vital to upholding the liberal international order.

Bring your friends and help us pack the house!

The event, which is co-sponsored by the Civitas Institute and ISI, will take place at the Thompson Center Auditorium, 1.110.

Reception will begin at 6 pm and the debate at 7pm.

Email Tom Sarrouf at tsarrouf@isi.org with questions or concerns.

Michael Anton

Michael Anton is a lecturer and research fellow at Hillsdale College, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, and a former national security official in the Trump administration. He is also the author of the well-known “Flight 93 Election” essay as well as of The Stakes: America at the Point of No Return.

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. He is the author of The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back against Progressives’ War on Fun as well as Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America.

Daniel McCarthy

Daniel McCarthy is vice president for the Collegiate Network at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and editor of ISI’s journal Modern Age. He is responsible for ISI’s college journalism programs, which support independent campus publications and provide internships and fellowships to outstanding student reporters, writers, and editors. He has an extensive background in journalism, including as a columnist for The Spectator and past editor of The American Conservative. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, The National Interest, First Things, Reason, and a wide range of other publications. Before coming to ISI, he was director of the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program at The Fund for American Studies. He is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (where he edited a Collegiate Network paper) and lives in Alexandria, Virginia.