The human rights and democracy promotion agenda in US foreign policy arrived as the handmaiden to neoliberalism in economic policy, and it will depart along with the latter
Niles, I admire your work. You effectively utilize history to forensically uncover the roots of doctrine, policy and rule. I am in awe of the complexity of task you accomplish! Anyway, you brought up some great points, but the lag between neoliberalism and what comes next, mostly depends on China, not us.
Stating the obvious, the U.S. will continue to do what is has to do in order to remain in power, which includes fighting dirty. I don't want to mention any methods of how we actually conduct this but you've touched upon a few in your work. Now selective/manipulative use of the human rights agenda happens to be one of the more potent tools found in the constructivists armory and China seemingly never replies to this attack. Somewhat sadly, I sometimes think they never will. It's sort of ironic that the famous chengyu "seek truth from facts" finds its evil twin hiding in Constructivism where (at least) social facts are all just considered nothing but human creations, human constructs. In my view, we won't be able to meaningfully move ahead globally without China "coming clean" about what happened in the XUAR. At the very least it should begin by "constructing" a few facts of its own, some that hopefully endear it to the West. The world today seems lost at times, we are in desperate need of someone new, a new player, like China, to start delivering more than just cheap labor. They have an old civilization, one rich in tradition. We see their culture espousing essential virtuous traits like love, honor, dignity, obedience, hard work, tolerance with a disciplined pursuit of facts. I hope Xi Jinping realizes this, because this is precisely what we need, not just the production of more cheap goods! China needs to get more media savvy, they need to become more socially active and they need to develop a better, more complex IR strategy. Not just for their own good, but for ours also.
Hate starting out by being a little pushy or direct but I really dig your work and perspective. I think I have a book in mind, one that'll help tilt that already heady perspective in an even more meaningful direction. Sure, maybe I am being solipsistic, but as a fan, I think you need to read this...it's that important.
I discovered your Substack from Nicolas Colin. Great articles! And I especially liked your interview with Tobias Rees on Noema. They will be in my favourites.
Niles, I admire your work. You effectively utilize history to forensically uncover the roots of doctrine, policy and rule. I am in awe of the complexity of task you accomplish! Anyway, you brought up some great points, but the lag between neoliberalism and what comes next, mostly depends on China, not us.
Stating the obvious, the U.S. will continue to do what is has to do in order to remain in power, which includes fighting dirty. I don't want to mention any methods of how we actually conduct this but you've touched upon a few in your work. Now selective/manipulative use of the human rights agenda happens to be one of the more potent tools found in the constructivists armory and China seemingly never replies to this attack. Somewhat sadly, I sometimes think they never will. It's sort of ironic that the famous chengyu "seek truth from facts" finds its evil twin hiding in Constructivism where (at least) social facts are all just considered nothing but human creations, human constructs. In my view, we won't be able to meaningfully move ahead globally without China "coming clean" about what happened in the XUAR. At the very least it should begin by "constructing" a few facts of its own, some that hopefully endear it to the West. The world today seems lost at times, we are in desperate need of someone new, a new player, like China, to start delivering more than just cheap labor. They have an old civilization, one rich in tradition. We see their culture espousing essential virtuous traits like love, honor, dignity, obedience, hard work, tolerance with a disciplined pursuit of facts. I hope Xi Jinping realizes this, because this is precisely what we need, not just the production of more cheap goods! China needs to get more media savvy, they need to become more socially active and they need to develop a better, more complex IR strategy. Not just for their own good, but for ours also.
Hey Nils,
Hate starting out by being a little pushy or direct but I really dig your work and perspective. I think I have a book in mind, one that'll help tilt that already heady perspective in an even more meaningful direction. Sure, maybe I am being solipsistic, but as a fan, I think you need to read this...it's that important.
I discovered your Substack from Nicolas Colin. Great articles! And I especially liked your interview with Tobias Rees on Noema. They will be in my favourites.