The United States of America has been the world’s foremost economic and military power, in the aftermath of World War II President Truman set out his Four Point Plan which stated that the U.S must uphold its unique responsibility to promote democracy and economic development around the world.
Many in the world see the influence of the United States as a force for good. It applies pressure on authoritarian regimes such as Iran to abide by human rights, and it supports nations such as Ukraine defending themselves against imperial aggression. But others argue that the Afghanistan and Iraq interventions show that American exceptionalism and the attempt to play the world’s policeman have wreaked irrevocable havoc which the rest of the world is still paying a price for today. So who’s right? In early November 2022 we were joined by foreign policy experts Shadi Hamid and Samuel Moyn as they went head-to-head on whether American power is a force for good.
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