Foreign policy during the Cold War served as a model for the US for decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but recent years have shown increased dissatisfaction with US international leadership and alliance management—whether you look at Obama's reduction in US commitment to NATO, Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, or Trump's sharp breaks with NATO and challenges to international trade. Is international leadership no longer central to US security and prosperity? Or do the costs of leadership simply exceed the benefits? Does the US need to reduce its international role and commitments, or is this reduced international footprint a mistake? Frank Lavin takes us back to the Reagan era of Cold War foreign policy for an examination of what worked during that period and in what ways might America have fallen short - and discusses why the lessons of that era still might apply today, as different as circumstances might be.
Frank Lavin served in the White House during the Reagan presidency, a moment he captures in his just-published "Inside the Reagan White House." After the Reagan Administration, Lavin went on to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Singapore and U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade. He also served in banking and business roles in Asia and is now the Parikh Family Fellow at the University of Southern California, Dornsife Center (Full Bio).
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