The Good Fight Robert Kagan on America’s Future, Foreign Policy Realism, and the War in Ukraine
18 snips
Sep 17, 2022 AI Snips
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Ideas Shape State Behavior
- Power matters but so do ideas, beliefs, and ideology in shaping state behavior.
- Robert Kagan argues realist neglect of domestic values misreads why nations act the way they do.
Hegemony Plus Ideology Created Stability
- American hegemony combined with liberal ideology produced an unusually stable international order.
- Kagan says that stability relied as much on ideological affinity of allies as on U.S. power itself.
The Jungle Always Grows Back
- The 'jungle' metaphor warns that liberal order is not permanent and can be contested.
- Kagan argues dissatisfied powers (e.g., China) naturally seek to reshape orders that weren't made for them.