Andrew Bast
Andrew Bast has reported from four continents for several publications,
including Newsweek, the Village Voice, and the New York Times. In the
wake of the 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami, he wrote about the rescue effort
from the beaches of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Later, he reported on the youth
bulge in the Middle East, backlash against political corruption, and
the best way to drink tequila from, respectively, Cairo, Quito, and
Mexico City. In New York City, where he is now based, he has published
poetry about street saxophone players, profiled literary icons, and
interviewed cabinet-rank White House officials.
He earned a master's degree
in international relations from the City University of New York
Graduate Center, where he wrote his master's thesis about the Army
Field Manual on Stability Operations, arguing against the idea that
soldiers can readily be employed as effective state-builders. Focusing
on the concept of failed states, he studied international law, the
United Nations, and revolutions, researching case studies on the
International Monetary Fund, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and
Afghanistan. For a time, he lectured on American foreign policy at
Baruch College.
His WPR column,
Under the Influence, appeared in this space through most of 2009. You can write to him at andrewcbast ((--at--)) gmail.
Articles written by Andrew Bast
By Andrew Bast
06 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
Contrary to the realists who believe that international politics is a
zero-sum game, the world is more complicated than, "If I win, you
lose." If U.S. power is waning, it remains damn strong. And that it is
waning is far less a function of choice, than the
result of a global order outside the comprehensive grasp of any single
state -- or empire, for that matter.
By Andrew Bast
30 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
It is striking how little attention the wider American discussion over foreign policy pays to Japan. Japan still claims the title of the world's second largest economy. Its relationship with the U.S. has been as intimate as any other
between major powers in the last 50 years. And to
complicate matters, experts say the Japanese have long worried about being abandoned by the Americans.
By Andrew Bast
23 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
First there was Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Then there was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran. And now there is Omar al-Bashir in Sudan. So far for President Barack Obama, dealing with tyrants has resulted in a net gain. But the 65-year-old despot who rules Sudan is arguably even further beyond the pale than the rest.
By Andrew Bast
16 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
Haiti is no haven for investment. It is dangerous. It is
underdeveloped. And despite former President Bill Clinton's recent assertion that this could be the
best moment he's seen in his lifetime for a reinvigorated economy
there, Haiti -- to put it bluntly -- has a long way to go. But
the island may very well be experiencing a harmonious
confluence of efforts by international actors to make things better.
By Andrew Bast
09 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
November will mark 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end
of communism in Europe, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Cold War has
been over for as long as it takes to educate an entirely new generation
of leaders. But although the leaders of both the U.S. and Cuba have changed, the backward view each has of the other has not.
By Andrew Bast
02 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
Not long after the so-called "civilian surge" was announced as part of
the troop buildup in Afghanistan, a veteran State Department foreign
service officer I spoke with posed a simple question: "Where are they
going to come from?" The central challenge facing the mission
in Afghanistan, and State Department operations
around the world, is a dearth of diplomats.
By Andrew Bast
25 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday
morning, President Barack Obama called the interests of nations and peoples "shared." By this logic, American power around the world depends on cooperation. The General
Assembly presents an ideal opportunity to consider how much such cooperation is possible.
By Andrew Bast
18 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
Since the turn of the
millennium, China's overtaking of the global south has grown more
concerted, more effective, and, in many ways, more disconcerting. A new book reveals just how the they are colonizing the African
continent so much more effectively than the American or British empires
of the past. Their method? Little ideology, all profit.
By Andrew Bast
11 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
As adaptive and creative as the United States claims to be, one would
think that, eight years after 9/11, the foreign policy establishment
would have come up with a workable way to communicate its strategic
message to the rest of the world. It hasn't. Call it the $10 billion
bungle, because that's a reliable estimate of how much the U.S. has
spent since 9/11 on the effort.
By Andrew Bast
04 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
With deliberations in Washington set to begin in earnest about a newly
delivered strategy by the new commander on the ground, Gen. Stanley
McChrystal, nationally syndicated columnist George Will set off a week of stormy debate by raising the most fundamental question the
country faces in foreign affairs today: Should the U.S. be in
Afghanistan in the first place?
By Andrew Bast
28 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
The yet-to-be-named director of foreign assistance at the State Department faces a daunting task. The challenges ahead include clearing bureaucratic hurdles and reshaping foreign aid for the reality of today's complicated international order. Most of all, he or she will have to offer a vision for foreign aid and explain it to the rest of the country -- and the rest of the world.
By Andrew Bast
21 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
War is, no doubt, the most powerful weapon in the foreign policy arsenal, but looking closer it's clear that war may also be the most limited. Exerting influence within an international order that more and more turns on political interventions and less and less on state-based conflict means less conquering the enemy with warfare and more engagement by innovative and constructive means.
By Andrew Bast
14 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
Will the White House approve even more troops for Afghanistan? As Gen. Stanley McChrystal reevaluates the war strategy, he has reportedly considered as many as 30,000 more, and he's making a strong case. As a single measure, however, boots on the ground is only a part of the whole picture, and that kind of counting comes up short. About 100,000 short, actually.
By Andrew Bast
07 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
With 75 troops killed, July was the deadliest month for the coalition since the Afghanistan war began. Yet, as casualties continue to mount, the U.S. is considering an escalation. But is increasing our military footprint really the answer? More soldiers are far from a panacea for increasing security, routing the Taliban, or building the Afghan state. In fact, in many ways, more troops will only bring more trouble.
By Andrew Bast
04 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
Today's struggles for security, stabilization, peace-building, reconstruction, and development in the most fragile states around the world are engaged by several different departments of the U.S. government. So many players makes cooperation challenging. Put simply, before the different factions of the U.S. foreign policy apparatus can even talk about cooperation, they first have to figure out how to talk.
By Andrew Bast
31 Jul 2009 |
World Politics Review
Ironically, the cyber-attack that shut down the Web sites of the
Department of the Treasury and the Federal Trade Commission struck on
Independence Day. Because as unsophisticated as the attacks were, they
made it clear that the U.S. is as intertwined with its enemies as it is
with its allies, in a newly emerging, little-understood, and rapidly
evolving 21st-century terrain.
By Andrew Bast
24 Jul 2009 |
World Politics Review
Last week, while I was busy writing about two fascinating scenarios for the future of U.S. influence, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was delivering the latest in a long line of brilliant speeches, this time in Chicago. In it, he nailed down exactly the kinds of concrete changes that must happen in order to retool the institutions of American foreign policy for the radical challenges of the next two decades.
By Andrew Bast
17 Jul 2009 |
World Politics Review
Two recent studies suggest that in coming decades, the U.S. will face an increasingly treacherous global order, engulfed by a concomitant energy and climate crisis. Though many signs point to the possibility of decline,
America also has the potential to remain a guiding force. But doing
so will demand a fundamental re-engineering of how the U.S. engages with
the rest of the world.
By Andrew Bast
10 Jul 2009 |
World Politics Review
Reading the reflections about Robert McNamara's life, it's striking how unforgiving they are. But to dismiss McNamara out of hand as a war criminal or a monster leaves us little with which to understand the decisions we face today. Empathy, of the kind Errol Morris delivered in his film "The Fog of War," makes the lessons of Vietnam more compelling.
By Andrew Bast
26 Jun 2009 |
World Politics Review
David Rothkopf's recent screed against the U.N. is the latest in a long line of vitriolic -- and largely misinformed -- attacks on the world's largest multilateral organization. Although Rothkopf's rant, too, will likely dissolve away into the
digital archives of misinformed foreign-policy analysis, his argument
deserves a second, serious look.