Mission Failure—America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era

Amid an abundance of views and agendas for the future of American foreign policy in this year’s U.S. presidential campaigns, Professor Michael Mandelbaum, Professor Emeritus at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, sits down with AGI president Dr. Jackson Janes to discuss his recent book Mission Failure: America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era, and to offer insight on the changing global political environment, to which future U.S. foreign policy needs to adjust.

In the interview, Professor Mandelbaum points out that the post-Cold War era freedom which allowed the United States to engage in nation building on an unprecedented scale has ended. The failed exercise of nation building, coupled with a public sentiment to withdraw from over-extended international engagement demands that the United States utilize its resources more strategically, while demonstrating a strong commitment to international engagement as a continuity in American foreign policy. In the case of Europe, he suggests, while the continent is trying to resolve multiple serious crisis, the United States should maintain its commitment to protecting its European allies from outside interference.