Militarization and US Policy — Costs, Consequences, and COVID-19

Many argue that the Trump Doctrine in foreign policy has been characterized by a retreat from global leadership in multilateral institutions, abandonment of traditional diplomacy, strained relationships with allies, and an enhanced projection of military strength. The response to the coronavirus pandemic has been similar; an insistence on going solo. What have been the costs and consequences of an over-reliance on the militarization of U.S. policy abroad and at home? What role should the military play in U.S. democracy and how has the pandemic impacted our ability to respond to national security threats, both traditional and new, such as COVID-19 and climate change? "Politics in the Time of Global Pandemic" is a Suffolk University lecture series presented with the Ford Hall Forum and WGBH Forum Network. It is designed as a broad examination of the themes of interest to political scientists and public policy experts. The series is part of a novel online course offered to incoming Suffolk students and made available to the public. This week, Andrew Bacevich, president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joins Michal Ben-Joseph Hirsch, an assistant professor in the Political Science & Legal Studies Department at Suffolk University. **Civic Engagement Activity & Reflection** Engage in at least one civic / political event of your choice during the course and document this with a short reflection essay. Try a virtual town or city hall meeting with local or state representatives, a meeting of an activist group, etc. The reflection should draw on readings from assignments and your own additional research. Members of the public who wish to share their reflections should post a link on Twitter and tag [@GBHForumNetwork ](https://twitter.com/GBHForumNetwork) and [@supolscilegal](https://twitter.com/supolscilegal).

Andrew Bacevich

Andrew J. Bacevich is Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. A graduate of the US Military Academy, he received his Ph. D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University. Before joining the faculty of Boston University in 1998, he taught at West Point and at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Bacevich is the author of *The Limits of Power: American Exceptionalism *(2008). His previous books include *American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U. S. Diplomacy* (2002), *The Imperial Tense: Problems and Prospects of American Empire* (2003) (editor), *The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War* (2005), and *The Long War: A New History of US National Security Policy since World War II* (2007) (editor). His essays and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of scholarly and general interest publications including *The Wilson Quarterly*, *The National Interest*, *Foreign Affairs*, *Foreign Policy*, *The Nation*, *The American Conservative*, and *The New Republic* . His op-eds have appeared in *the New York Times*, *Washington Post*, *Wall Street Journal*, *Financial Times*, *Boston Globe*, *Los Angeles Times*, and *USA Today*, among other newspapers. In 2004, Dr. Bacevich was a Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. He has also been a fellow of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch, Ph.D.

Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch is an Assistant Professor in the Political Science & Legal Studies Department, at Suffolk University. Michal holds a B.A. in Political Science from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Shse is a former Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2007-9; 2012-14) and at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University (2009–2012). Her teaching and research interests include international relations theory with a focus on the role of ideas and norms, transitional and historical justice, and the conflict in Israel / Palestine. Her work has been published in Perspective on Politics, Cooperation and Conflict, European Journal of International Relations and Foreign Affairs.

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