Book Talk – The National Interest: Politics After Globalization
In the past thirty years, skepticism of globalization has spread across the globe, a trend driven by the belief amongst various populaces that bureaucrats and elites have lost touch with a given country’s national interest. President Trump’s “America First” mantra has encapsulated this movement, an attempt to restore U.S. trade and foreign policy to national interest above all else.
In his new book, The National Interest: Politics After Globalization, Philip Cunliffe explains the recent ascendance of ‘the national interest,’ positing it in opposition to both liberal globalism and populist demagoguery, and makes a case for forging nations anew as the key to democratic renewal in diverse societies. In making his case for a new statecraft based on the loadstar of the national interest, Cunliffe argues that the neoliberal era has eroded state authority but not necessarily the role of the state, and that liberal efforts to discredit nationalism have not succeeded in excising chauvinism from elite mainstream opinion. Zachary Paikin, research fellow in the Grand Strategy program at the Quincy Institute, will speak with the author.
The conversation will take place on Wednesday September 3rd from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Eastern Time.
Program
Countries/Territories
Entities
Panelists
Philip Cunliffe
Philip Cunliffe is associate professor of International Relations at the Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London. He has authored seven books, including Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy After Brexit (2023) co-written with George Hoare, Lee Jones and Peter Ramsay. He has taught international relations at the university level for 14 years, including at the University of Kent and in the Defence Studies and War Studies departments of King's College London. Across his academic career, Philip has helped to establish new disciplinary research networks and scholarly journals, as well as serving on the editorial boards of various journals, including the 'Journal of Intervention and State-building' and 'International Peacekeeping'. He completed his BA with first class honours at the University of Oxford and his Master's in International Politics at Aberystwyth.
Zachary Paikin
Dr. Zachary Paikin is deputy director of the Better Order Project and research fellow in the Grand Strategy Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is also senior fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD), a Canadian international affairs think tank. Previously, Dr. Paikin was researcher in EU Foreign Policy at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels from 2021 to 2023 and senior researcher in the International Security Dialogue Department at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) from 2023 to 2024. Paikin holds a Ph.D/ in International Relations from the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK. His research focuses on Russian foreign policy, European security, Canadian foreign policy, and international order.