The Capitol Attacks make clear that the US can't lead abroad if democracy is undermined at home.

MLK taught that same lesson...we just didn't learn it.

[THREAD]
In particular, I am referring to the warnings and lessons in King's 1967 "Beyond Vietnam" Speech

kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/do…
King had become an outspoken critic of the war. This is not surprising. In his 1964 Nobel Prize speech, he highlighted war as the third great plague on modern society (the other two being racial injustice and poverty)
nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1…
Indeed, King opens the speech by saying that those who think his criticism of the Vietnam war is undermining the Civil Rights movement "don't know him"
He offers several (seven, to be precise) reasons that he thinks its necessary for him to discuss Vietnam.

I won't cover all 7, but two are especially salient in light of January 6 attacks
First, he points out that the war is taking resources and government attention away from the struggles at home
With respect to the Capitol Attacks, @EmmaMAshford in @ForeignPolicy makes a similar point regarding US efforts to promote democracy abroad distracting from US efforts to protect democracy at home
foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/07/ame…
Second, MLK notes that it's difficult (if not impossible) to condemn violence at home if the US is overly violent abroad
With respect to the Capitol Attacks, @WonkVJ picked up on this very point in his recent take

inkstickmedia.com/the-liberal-in…
While the most famous line in MLK's speech is "If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read `Vietnam'", MLK goes on to say "The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit".
For MLK, the US seemed to no longer be a force for good in the world. The line by JFK drives home the point.
MLK says that if the US is "to get on to the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values."
With respect to the Capitol Attacks, this is another way of thinking about the point @kelly_zvobgo raised in her recent @ForeignPolicy piece: maybe America is not the shining "city on a hill"

foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/08/gre…
In his speech, MLK wants the US to lead the way in global justice: but this can only be done my transforming our values within
With respect to the Capitol Attacks, getting our domestic "house in order" is exactly the theme @JimGoldgeier & @BWJ777 hit in @ForeignAffairs: can't hold a "summit of democracies" abroad until we fix our democratic priorities at home

foreignaffairs.com/articles/unite…
Overall, the theme of King's speech is that Vietnam points to how foreign and domestic policies are inter-linked, particularly when the country is a major, hegemonic power like the United States.
Indeed, I think MLK would agree with @thomaswright08 in the @TheAtlantic: standing up for democracy abroad and at home are necessarily reinforcing
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
But MLK's point is this won't happen just because "American is America". It's a choice.
In sum, as we reflect on MLK's legacy, we shouldn't continue to forget the lesson he taught for how America can lead in the world: it starts at home.

[END]

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More from @ProfPaulPoast

12 Jan
Was the attack on the US Capitol an attempted coup?

Rather than debate that question here (or in another forum), I'm making it an assignment. Specifically, I'm asking my Quantitative Security students to determine if it belongs in our coup/attempted coup datasets.

[THREAD]
A core goal of this course is to introduce students to how Large-N data on violence and security are created.

We put WAY TOO much emphasis on estimators & software (Stata v R 🙄); not enough on the quality of the data going into the analysis.
First, what happened? @johncarey03755 offers a succinct explainer

facebook.com/Dartmouth/vide…
Read 21 tweets
8 Jan
According to The Polity Project, the US is no longer a democracy.

Why does that matter? Why is the Polity Project wrong?

[THREAD] Image
Why does the Polity score matter?

There are a host of other democracy measures out there, such as @freedomhouse or @vdeminstitute.

But the Polity Project offers what is probably the most widely used social science measure of a country's regime type.
The Polity Project assigns to every country in the world from 1800 to the present an annual "Polity score" from -10 to 10.

10 = Purely Democratic
-10 = Purely Autocratic
Read 28 tweets
7 Jan
Rather than share an "IR Book of the Week", here are 5 political science books (and 1 history book) shaping how I'm processing and understanding this moment in America (largely from a Comparative politics perspective)

[THREAD]
Sarah Birch on violence as an instrument for manipulating election outcomes.

press.princeton.edu/books/paperbac…
@monika_nalepa's work on transitional justice. Addresses how societies (namely new governments) come to terms and address the wrongs committed by the previous government.

cambridge.org/core/books/ske…
Read 7 tweets
6 Jan
Political Scientist here:

Yes, that is political violence.

Yes, this is an attempted coup.

Yes, the US Polity score will take a hit.
To elaborate:

- "electoral violence" to be exact.

- military wasn't involved (canonical case), but *attempt* is key (and that it was incited by commander in chief is significant).

- I say it goes to 6. Democracy held, but we ain't "consolidated"
Though (h/t @_ChristinaBoyes) it appears that the Polity Project had already downgraded the US to a 5 (systemicpeace.org) Image
Read 14 tweets
1 Jan
When teaching Intro to International Relations, I love referencing "IR Movie Easter eggs": explicit international politics lessons/references from movies NOT overtly about international politics.

For those teaching IR classes this coming term, here are my 10 favorite!
A quick note on the rankings: They basically go from #10 "Not subtle and sort of critical to the plot" to #1 "very subtle and not essential at all to the plot at all"

But all were probably unexpected when you sat down to watch the movie for the first time !
#10 Captain America: Civil War

Was NOT expecting a super hero movie to offer a one-scene master-class in the meaning of sovereignty, power, and legitimacy in international politics

Read 13 tweets
29 Dec 20
Folks have discovered my various "IR and Movies" threads from 2020. Therefore, I'm breaking my "end of 2020 Twitter break" to post a thread of these threads.

If you want to bring popular movies into the IR classroom, this thread is for you!
Read 8 tweets

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