This Week: Evaluating Exceptionalism

Plus: New Conversations with Kathleen Doherty, Dana Shell Smith, Taylor Cofield & Others

The core concepts underlying American democracy return to the spotlight this week with the impeachment trial, which is set to begin on Tuesday. There will likely be renewed chatter around the much lauded (and derided) notion of so-called American exceptionalism. It’s a theory that has come under renewed scrutiny over the last four years — but perhaps no more so than during the month since the deadly insurrection, particularly as Joe Biden’s foreign policy team attempts to implement a diplomatic ‘reset’ with the world.

Greg Jaffe @GregJaffe

Jake Sullivan, the next national security adviser on redefining American exceptionalism for a generation that distrusts it: "Many of my students aren’t naturally inclined to see American foreign policy through a lens of optimism or aspiration."

theatlantic.comWhat Donald Trump and Dick Cheney Got Wrong About AmericaWe allowed an important idea—American exceptionalism—to be hijacked and misused. Now we need to rescue that idea and let it guide America at home and abroad.

We’ve recently had some probing discussions about how to frame or understand or even challenge this very concept. In today’s conversation with former U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Doherty, we talk about whether it might have been a mistake to engage in American exceptionalism from the beginning.

“We were — we are — and will be — a great nation, but starting off with the premise that we are THE exceptional nation is certain to provoke a negative reaction,” says Doherty, who was the U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus until 2019. Instead, she offers this:

It is useful to know our history, to talk about the times when we faced internal divisions — even a civil war — but even as recent as the 1950s with McCarthyism and the 1960s, when the country was bitterly divided… We often emerge better and renewed. And that is what makes the U.S. different — we constantly re-invent ourselves.

Our wide-ranging conversation, which is available for paying subscribers, also touches on increasing domestic buy-in for diplomatic efforts by maintaining attention on the U.S. economy. Plus: She reflects on the time she had to arrange a meeting between Bono (at his request) and Condoleezza Rice.

Attention Paid Subscribers: Check back later this week for conversations with former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith; Foreign Service Officer Taylor Cofield; and former Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer.

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On Tap This Week:

• Depending on the schedule of impeachment proceedings, the Senate is expected to confirm Linda Thomas-Greenfield as America’s ambassador to the United Nations. She will be joined at Turtle Bay by Sohini Chatterjee, senior policy adviser to the US Ambassador to the UN; Olivia Alair Dalton, spokeswoman for the U.S. Mission to the UN; Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, acting alternate representative for special political affairs; Aditi Gorur, policy adviser; Laurence Pevsner, speechwriter; Kelly Razzouk, deputy chief of staff for policy; Zach Vertin, senior policy adviser; and Jasmine Wyatt, special assistant.

• This morning, Brookings is hosting a webinar on strengthening the multilateral order in a nationalist age.

• On Tuesday, Feb. 9, Network 20/20 hosts a virtual discussion, Gender and Geopolitics: The Role of Women in Foreign Affairs.

• On Thursday, Feb. 11, the Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy hosts a virtual program, The Legacy of African American Diplomats: Past, Present, and Future.

• And on Friday, Feb. 12, the World Affairs Council of Connecticut hosts a virtual discussion on Feminist Foreign Policy.

• Finally, ICYMI:

  The New York Times @nytimes

  Known widely as the United Nations' “first feminist,” Margaret Snyder's liberal Roman Catholic upbringing inspired a pioneering career in which she refocused global development aid to include millions of women. She has died at age 91.

  

  nyti.msMargaret C. Snyder, the U.N.’s ‘First Feminist,’ Dies at 91Inspired by her liberal Roman Catholic upbringing, she refocused the organization’s development efforts to include women’s empowerment.

  Nicholas Burns @RNicholasBurns

  A fitting tribute to the great George Shultz by ⁦@CondoleezzaRice⁩

  

  washingtonpost.comOpinion | George Shultz will be remembered as one of the most influential secretaries of state in our historyHe loved his country and loved serving it.

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Q: What is a pressing foreign policy issue that you think is too often misunderstood, overlooked or ignored?

The Global Fragility Act, based in part on the SAR report, was passed on a strong bipartisan basis well over a year ago, and was signed by President Trump. It fundamentally reordered how we approach fragile states so they do not become failed states. It takes our failures in and lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, and elsewhere, and rethinks the problem to one of prevention rather than intervention. State is given the lead; USAID the implementation; and, the military, back-up and support. While Trump signed this bipartisan/bicameral legislation, it was never funded or implemented. It needs focus, funding, political will and the right personnel - primarily at State, but also at USAID, to make it a reality. 

— Former Ambassador Barbara Bodine

Share your own answers in the comment section or send me a message at jennifer.koons@protonmail.com