Peter Beinart’s “Shield of the Republic”: debating the sledgehammer, not the nut

Abstract

In “Shield of the Republic” (The Atlantic, September 16, 2018), Peter Beinart joins the chorus of foreign policy commentators who stress that America’s time as the world’s sole superpower has come to an end. However, Beinart’s argument for American decline rests on a conception of power that privileges the link between economic strength and military might, rather than geopolitical influence. Chinese expansionism, as this essay will show, has nothing to do with territorial gains, and everything to do with spreading influence through Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative. Beinart’s focus on military threats to U.S. interests, at the exclusion of even mentioning the BRI, is an omission in line with Washington’s approach to date. In reckoning with the future of Chinese expansion, the U.S. must seek to understand its rival in a 21st century context and begin to play to its own strengths.