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Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Writing for PS since 2002
268 commentaries
3 videos & podcasts

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Professor Emeritus at Harvard University and a former dean of Harvard Kennedy School, is a former US assistant secretary of defense and the author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump (Oxford University Press, 2020) and the memoir A Life in the American Century (Polity Press, 2024).

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  1. How World Order Changes
    nye268_John MooreGetty Images_trumpUN John Moore/Getty Images

    How World Order Changes

    Apr 1, 2025 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. examines the role of evolving power dynamics and norms in bringing about stable arrangements among states.

  2. The Future of World Order
    nye267_SAUL LOEBAFP via Getty Images_USflagcapitol Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

    The Future of World Order

    Mar 4, 2025 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. considers whether US President Donald Trump's second presidency represents a global paradigm shift.

  3. Does Globalization Have a Future?
    nye266_Apu GomesGetty Images_LAfires Apu Gomes/Getty Images

    Does Globalization Have a Future?

    Feb 3, 2025 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. worries that we will end up with only harmful long-distance dependencies, rather than beneficial ones.

  4. What Are the BRICS Good For?
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    What Are the BRICS Good For?

    Jan 2, 2025 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. explains why the group of major emerging economies will not become the new fulcrum of world politics.

  5. Anticipating Trump’s Foreign Policy
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    Anticipating Trump’s Foreign Policy

    Dec 4, 2024 Joseph S. Nye, Jr. considers what can be gleaned from the president-elect’s past statements, recent appointments, and US history.

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  1. fbirol4_UCGGettyImages_south_africa_power_grid UCG/Getty Images
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    What African Electrification Requires

    Fatih Birol & Alain Ebobissé highlight the need for greater private-sector participation to boost investments in power grids.
  2. nye268_John MooreGetty Images_trumpUN John Moore/Getty Images
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    How World Order Changes

    Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

    World order is a matter of degree: it varies over time, depending on technological, political, social, and ideological factors that can affect the global distribution of power and influence norms. It can be radically altered both by broader historical trends and by a single major power's blunders.

     examines the role of evolving power dynamics and norms in bringing about stable arrangements among states.
  3. buruma226_Picture AllianceGettyImages_tel _aviv_antiwar_protests Picture Alliance/Getty Images
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    Israel’s Blind Spot

    Ian Buruma explains the lack of sympathy, even among the country’s many anti-war protesters, for Palestinian suffering.
  4. sirimanne1_Visual China Group via Getty ImagesVisual China Group via Getty Images_robotelderly Visual China Group via Getty Images
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    Will AI Close or Widen the Development Gap?

    Shamika Sirimanne & Xiaolan Fu call for multilateral action and grassroots pressure to ensure that the technology serves all countries.
  5. dickinsongoodman1_DrAfter123Getty Images_datasurveillance DrAfter123/Getty Images
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    Don’t Let Governments Break Encryption

    Jessica Dickinson Goodman & Ezequiel Passeron Kitroser urge citizens and lawmakers to fight for the privacy that previous generations took for granted.
  6. wmoore1_Sofiia PetrovaGetty Images_babyvitamins Sofiia Petrova/Getty Images
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    Philanthropy in an Era of Declining Development Aid

    William Moore urges practitioners and policymakers to focus on already proven, scalable solutions.
  7. adebajo14_Bill PuglianoGettyImages_trump_wrestlemania Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
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    South Africa’s Wrestling Match With Trump

    Adekeye Adebajo considers whether the current G20 president can still advance its agenda in the face of US obstruction.
  8. haldar44_ Ann Ronan PicturesPrint CollectorGetty Images_aristotle Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images
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    How Aristotle Can Save Us

    Antara Haldar touts a conception of society in which politics and education cultivate the virtue of its members.
  9. laidi35_Pacific PressGettyImages_kaja_kallas_un Pacific Press/Getty Images
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    Trump vs. Europe

    Zaki Laïdi

    Donald Trump has left no doubt that he wants to build an authoritarian, illiberal world order based on traditional spheres of influence and agreements with other illiberal leaders. The only role that the European Union plays in his script is an obstacle that must be pushed aside.

     warns that the European Union has no place in Donald Trump’s illiberal worldview.

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