Unlike the Cold War, when the national strategies of the United States and Soviet Union shaped the course of world development, changes in the international pol

A tragic sensibility after the experience of two world wars compelled the United States to establish a new international order backed by American power. After decades of relative peace and prosperity, however, this sensibility is waning – as the United States demonstrates a lack of collective will to maintain its position on the global stage. As China increasingly assumes the position of a world power, it must maintain its tragic sensibility and awareness of crisis.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly expressed to the world that the United States is pushing an increasingly nationalist agenda, much to the concern of many other nations. What are the implications of Trump’s message for the rest of the world?

US President Donald Trump has been accused of weaponizing economic globalization. Sanctions, tariffs, and the restriction of access to dollars have been major instruments of his foreign policy, and he has been unconstrained by allies, institutions, or rules in using them.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has shown little interest in public diplomacy. And yet public diplomacy – a government’s efforts to communicate directly with other countries’ publics – is one of the key instruments policymakers use to generate soft power, and the current information revolution makes such instruments more important than ever.

Washington’s sudden hostility to its former role as a guardian of global stability has raised questions about how the international order will evolve. At the UN this week, Trump slammed multilateral diplomacy and global cooperation. President Xi Jinping of China (who was absent from the UN meetings) has continued to embrace these ideals.

The soft power of inspiration is not the only ethical tradition in American foreign policy. There is also an interventionist and crusading tradition.

Mike Pompeo, President Trump’s likely nominee to be the next Secretary of State, should be seen as a signal that the administration of President Trump is about to paint China as the new public enemy number one.

Regarding China, Pompeo is likely to offer more of the same mixed approach that has thus far characterized the Trump administration’s policy. On the one hand, Pompeo has endorsed the notion that China is an economic threat to the United States, and on the other hand, Pompeo has spoken positively of Xi Jinping, particularly with reference to China’s role in helping to place pressure on North Korea.

Trump has made a mess of US diplomacy. How has he gotten away with it?