Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University and author of The Short American Century: A Postmortem, discusses his article “The Passing of the Postwar Era;” the major factors leading to a “transformative” decline in US power and prestige on the world stage; the American political elites who are driving the country into a ditch; the redundancy or counter-productivity of overseas bases (excepting the Asia Pacific region); and the lack of “prudent” decision making in...

Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University and author of Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War, discusses his article “War Fever Subsides in Washington” at tomdispatch.com; Robert Gates on excessive war costs and the end of “wars of choice;” why the US should eliminate the unnecessary and counterproductive military bases in Europe and the Middle East, respectively, while maintaining those in Japan and South Korea; the failure of militaristic “hard...

Andrew Bacevich, professor of international relations at Boston University and author of The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, discusses the negative net returns of U.S. expansionism from the 1960s onward, the establishment of a permanent national security apparatus that made non-interventionism impossible, the Carter Doctrine's faulty premises and continued influence in Middle East policies and the current Pentagon reassessment of U.S. military limitations that may inhibit...