Erik Mathisen on American Diplomacy during the era of Reconstruction

Erik Mathisen on American Diplomacy during the era of Reconstruction

Erik Mathisen joins Thomas Thurston on this episode of Slavery and Its Legacies to discuss American foreign relations during the Reconstruction era and how a generation of former Union soldiers saw slavery, free labor, capitalism, and emancipation around the world through the prism of their wartime experiences.

Values Inspire Foreign-Policy Revolution Across Borders

Values Inspire Foreign-Policy Revolution Across Borders

Values are a uniting force around the globe, slowly replacing an era of industry and economics, and soft power is more enticing than hard power for a global audience. National leaders may try to set new conditions for universal standards of justice, known as the moral high ground, but they can anticipate a struggle in justifying extreme and unreasonable claims for informed citizens in their own nations and elsewhere. Increasingly, cities, states and other entities reject the foreign policy stances of their own governments to work with likeminded people overseas, explains author and economist Joergen Oerstroem Moeller.