U.S. Anti-Liberalism and Retrenchment Are Weakening the Postwar Order
Foreign policy analyst Robert Kagan argues that the United States is not simply declining but voluntarily abandoning the liberal principles and global commitments that gave its power strategic purpose. In a live Aspen Ideas Festival conversation with former national security officials Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer, Kagan links America’s retrenchment abroad to an anti-liberal turn at home, warning that the result could be a more unstable multipolar world and a domestic test over whether the country still believes in the Declaration’s universal claims.
The Aspen Institute·Jun 27, 2026·19 min read