Sublime

In effect, the president, quite aware of his and his staff’s inexperience in drafting legislation (in fact, nobody on his senior staff had any experience at all), decided to outsource his agenda—and to a heretofore archenemy. Watching Ryan steal the legislative initiative during the transition,

But even for a strong country an alliance involves risks and costs. It can find itself pushed into or worse yet trapped in situations not of its own choosing by the actions of an alliance member. It can also find itself constrained on occasion by what allies are not prepared to support or do. And even if such situations do not arise, alliances can

The United States and the Soviet Union were allies in the all-out struggle against Germany and Japan in World War II.

The overriding question is whether the Chinese government can maintain political stability amid lower levels of economic growth, and, if it cannot, whether it resorts to a more nationalist foreign policy in order to distract attention from domestic frustrations.

revolutions and wars that have caused changes in the domestic and world orders.

All of this also requires that the United States get its own house in order—reducing government debt, rebuilding infrastructure, improving public education, investing more in basic research, adapting the social safety net, adopting a smart immigration system that allows talented foreigners to come and stay, tackling political dysfunction by making

Russia has violated several of the most basic elements of the liberal world order, including respect for the borders of others and the rights of noncombatants in a war zone, while China is ignoring international legal rulings regarding the South China Sea and implementing economic and trade policies that are inconsistent with what was expected of i

People like Asher were regularly told, and had come to believe, that there were less hostile ways of solving problems than systemic reform.

This is the world’s least economically integrated region; trade between and among the region’s states is small and represents only a fraction of their foreign trade.