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Why Do We Fight in Afghanistan?

More people have been asking that question lately. For years Americans have been told that despite setbacks we are making progress there. Making progress toward what, people wonder. What is the mission of the United States in Afghanistan? After more than a decade since the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom, it is worth revisiting what [...]

Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Biographies / Memoirs / Diaries, Central Asia, George W. Bush administration: 2001-2008, United States | No Comments »

A Center-Left Leader, Missed Opportunities, and Anti-Americanism: A Possible new Direction in U.S. Policy Towards the Western Hemisphere?

by James Siekmeier

I received an email from a former colleague and friend of mine recently who concluded that Lula’s (Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva) two terms in office as President of Brazil (2003-2010) represented a missed opportunity for the United States–and United States-Latin American relations in general. Here was a center-left leader, in one of the world’s [...]

Posted in Americas, Brazil, South America, Uncategorized | No Comments »

A New Cold War at the Water’s Edge?

by Andrew Johnstone

An essential rule for politicians: always make sure the microphone is off. On March 26 at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, Barack Obama was overheard discussing missile defence with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. With an open mic, Obama told Medvedev “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”[1] Russia currently [...]

Posted in Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Domestic politics, Mitt Romney, Post-9/11: 2001-present, Ronald Reagan administration: 1981-1989, Russia | No Comments »

Is the System the Solution? Past Policies, Current Dilemmas, and Inter-American Relations in the 21st Century

by James Siekmeier

More than 20 years have passed since the last full-fledged U.S. military intervention in Latin America (Panama, 1989, in case your memories are hazy). Starting in the 1980s, democratization flowered in the region for numerous reasons—but mostly internal reasons based in Latin American history and society. Starting in the 1990s, with the end of the [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Visions of War

by Susan Brewer

On December 15th President Barack Obama welcomed home U.S. troops from a war he once had called “dumb.” His speech avoided the reasons why the Iraq War was fought and focused instead on honoring the American servicemen and women who fought it. Inspiring words–“extraordinary achievement,” “honor,” “sacrifice,” “finest fighting force,” “unbroken line of heroes,” “progress [...]

Posted in Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Iraq, Iraq War: 2003-present, Middle East, Post-9/11: 2001-present | No Comments »

Newt Gingrich and the (ab)Uses of History

by Andrew Johnstone

It is an honor to join the SHAFR blogging team for 2011-12. While SHAFR is (as the name makes perfectly clear) a society that focuses on the history of American foreign relations, there is no doubt that we are as well placed as anyone to make connections between historical events and contemporary issues in American [...]

Posted in Presidency, Public Opinion | No Comments »

Issues for the 2012 Presidential Election

by Nick Sarantakes

The United States of America is about to enter a presidential election year. Actually, it already has entered the political season. The election of 2012 will most likely turn on economics, but as Andy Johns pointed out in his blog, foreign policy is always important and next year’s contest will be no different. In addition, [...]

Posted in Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, China, India, Middle East, North Korea, Pakistan, Policymaking--American | No Comments »

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SHAFR.org is the website of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR). As such it provides SHAFR members with information that supports their teaching, research, and other professional endeavors, including their participation in the work of the organization.

SHAFR.org also seeks to extend the Society’s mission of promoting the “study, advancement, and dissemination of a knowledge of American foreign relations” to a wider community. To that end, it offers informed commentary and analysis on contemporary foreign relations issues from a historical perspective and provides an online forum for scholars, practitioners, teachers, and the general public to discuss issues related to foreign relations.

State Department

The State Department Wants You! (or does it?)

by Molly Wood
Monday, November 23rd, 2009

In October 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama promised a new approach to American foreign policy. “It’s time to make diplomacy a top priority,” he announced. “Instead of shuttering consulates, we need to open them in the tough and hopeless corners of the world. Instead of having more Americans serving in military bands than the diplomatic [...]

Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, iraq, U.S. Foreign Service, U.S. State Department
Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Iraq War: 2003-present, Post-9/11: 2001-present, State Department, Theodore Roosevelt administration: 1901-1909, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Weekly Digest: 11-3-09

by Nick Ducote
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

The mess that is Afghanistan just got messier for Washington. Abdullah’s withdrawal from the presidential runoff leaves Hamid Karzai in power but without legitimacy. [more]
There is a new humanitarian crisis unfolding in Somalia, and the United States is partly to blame. Despite sending $2 million and 40 tons of arms and ammunition to the country’s [...]

Tags: Afghanistan, Foreign aid, Hamid Karzai, Hilary Clinton, Israel, Palestine, Somalia, space
Posted in Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Africa, Around the Web, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Culture and international relations, Foreign aid, Horn of Africa, Ideology, International Economic Relations, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Post-colonial Third World, State Department, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Weekly Digest – 9/28/09

by Nick Ducote
Monday, September 28th, 2009

The new “must-read book” for President Obama’s war team is “Lessons in Disaster” by Gordon M. Goldstein. This book’s intimate account of White House decision-making is almost literally being replayed in Washington (with Holbrooke himself as a principal actor) as the new president sets a course for the war in Afghanistan. [more]
President Barack Obama’s week [...]

Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, international diplomacy, missile shield, Russia, Terrorism, treaties, War on Terror
Posted in Afghanistan, Afghanistan War: 2001-present, Around the Web, Barack Obama administration: 2009-present, Honduras, International Economic Relations, International Organizations, Internationl law and treaties, Iran, John Kennedy administration: 1961-1963, Late Cold War: 1961-1991, Lyndon Johnson administration: 1963-1969, Pakistan, Peace and dissent, Presidency, Russia, State Department, Terrorism, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations

SHAFR Opinion

Why Do We Fight in Afghanistan?

A Center-Left Leader, Missed Opportunities, and Anti-Americanism: A Possible new Direction in U.S. Policy Towards the Western Hemisphere?

A New Cold War at the Water’s Edge?

Is the System the Solution? Past Policies, Current Dilemmas, and Inter-American Relations in the 21st Century

Visions of War

Newt Gingrich and the (ab)Uses of History

Issues for the 2012 Presidential Election

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State Department

The State Department Wants You! (or does it?)

Weekly Digest: 11-3-09

Weekly Digest – 9/28/09

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