"Engage.”
This was the captain’s signature command in the liberal internationalist sci-fi classic Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is clear why. Engagement is the lifeblood of diplomacy. Maintaining dialogue and manifold ties with allies and rivals alike is the way to nourish relationships and forge new common ground. In U.S. foreign policy, expansive engagement can be defined as “a broad-based grand strategic orientation,” or as President Bill Clinton’s national security advisor Anthony Lake described it, “active American engagement abroad on behalf of democracy and expanded trade.”
Read Dr. Dayna Barnes' book chapter in Chaos Reconsidered: The Liberal Order and the Future of International Politics, edited by Robert Jervis, Diane N. Labrosse, Stacie E. Goddard, and Joshua Rovner with George Fujii (Columbia University Press, 2023).
eBook ISBN: 978-0-231-55626-2