Photograph © abc Matthew Duss is Executive Vice President of the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC. He previously served as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and, from 2017 to 2022, as foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, including as foreign policy director for the Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. Earlier, he was president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The Nation, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, the American Prospect, and other publications. He holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Washington. Born in Nyack, New York, he lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, two daughters, a cat, and a dog, and cooks and plays music as often as possible.

For too long, US American foreign policy has been shaped by a narrow consensus that serves the powerful few rather than the democratic many. That old consensus—plagued by militarism, corporate power, and the selective application of international law—has now collapsed, its foundations rotted away by corruption and hypocrisy.

This book asks what progressives should offer as a replacement. It begins from a simple premise: that the United States should be promoting peace, not endless war. It explains how, to achieve that goal, we must confront the concentration of wealth and power that has warped both our domestic politics and our role in the world. And it offers an alternative approach, rooted in enlightened self-interest and genuine partnership, that recognizes our common humanity.

Underpinning this book is the central question of who will govern, the many or the few—democracy or oligarchy. This contest will determine whether we meet the climate crisis or succumb to it; whether technology like AI is regulated in the public interest or used as a tool of control; whether democracies deliver for ordinary people or continue ceding power to billionaires and multinational corporations. This struggle is playing out around the world, from Washington to Brussels, Brasília to Budapest, and New Delhi to Riyadh.

The challenge is daunting. Today, almost 3.6 billion people live in poverty while the richest 1 percent own nearly half of all global wealth. In the United States of America, three people own more wealth than the bottom half of society. Despite enormous gains in productivity, people across the industrialized world are working longer hours for lower wages. Pensions have been cut, social safety nets shredded, and public services hollowed out. People increasingly fear that their children will have a lower standard of living than they do.

Meanwhile, as governments fail to meet the needs of working families, the billionaire class has siphoned an estimated $21 to $32 trillion into offshore tax havens. This money is never taxed or even spent; it simply ensures the super-rich get even richer. These oligarchs spend freely to protect their wealth and power, buying influence and elections to ensure that governments serve them rather than ordinary citizens. The present scale of corruption and kleptocracy is staggering, now supercharged by the embrace of cryptocurrency.

It is therefore no surprise that so many people feel abandoned by their governments. Some turn away from politics altogether, while others embrace authoritarian demagogues who channel people’s fear and economic insecurity into resentment. These demagogues blame immigrants or minorities to distract from the real causes of widening inequality: multinational corporations and the billionaire class who capture an ever-larger share of global wealth for themselves. Both outcomes—apathy and authoritarianism—erode the foundations of democracy and threaten the universal human rights that should anchor any just foreign policy.

Photograph © abc Matthew Duss is Executive Vice President of the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC. He previously served as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and, from 2017 to 2022, as foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, including as foreign policy director for the Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. Earlier, he was president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The Nation, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, the American Prospect, and other publications. He holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Washington. Born in Nyack, New York, he lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, two daughters, a cat, and a dog, and cooks and plays music as often as possible.

For too long, US American foreign policy has been shaped by a narrow consensus that serves the powerful few rather than the democratic many. That old consensus—plagued by militarism, corporate power, and the selective application of international law—has now collapsed, its foundations rotted away by corruption and hypocrisy.

This book asks what progressives should offer as a replacement. It begins from a simple premise: that the United States should be promoting peace, not endless war. It explains how, to achieve that goal, we must confront the concentration of wealth and power that has warped both our domestic politics and our role in the world. And it offers an alternative approach, rooted in enlightened self-interest and genuine partnership, that recognizes our common humanity.

Underpinning this book is the central question of who will govern, the many or the few—democracy or oligarchy. This contest will determine whether we meet the climate crisis or succumb to it; whether technology like AI is regulated in the public interest or used as a tool of control; whether democracies deliver for ordinary people or continue ceding power to billionaires and multinational corporations. This struggle is playing out around the world, from Washington to Brussels, Brasília to Budapest, and New Delhi to Riyadh.

The challenge is daunting. Today, almost 3.6 billion people live in poverty while the richest 1 percent own nearly half of all global wealth. In the United States of America, three people own more wealth than the bottom half of society. Despite enormous gains in productivity, people across the industrialized world are working longer hours for lower wages. Pensions have been cut, social safety nets shredded, and public services hollowed out. People increasingly fear that their children will have a lower standard of living than they do.

Meanwhile, as governments fail to meet the needs of working families, the billionaire class has siphoned an estimated $21 to $32 trillion into offshore tax havens. This money is never taxed or even spent; it simply ensures the super-rich get even richer. These oligarchs spend freely to protect their wealth and power, buying influence and elections to ensure that governments serve them rather than ordinary citizens. The present scale of corruption and kleptocracy is staggering, now supercharged by the embrace of cryptocurrency.

It is therefore no surprise that so many people feel abandoned by their governments. Some turn away from politics altogether, while others embrace authoritarian demagogues who channel people’s fear and economic insecurity into resentment. These demagogues blame immigrants or minorities to distract from the real causes of widening inequality: multinational corporations and the billionaire class who capture an ever-larger share of global wealth for themselves. Both outcomes—apathy and authoritarianism—erode the foundations of democracy and threaten the universal human rights that should anchor any just foreign policy.