Deadline: June 1, 2022
Suggested Themes:
It is by now legendary that the 20th century was “the American Century.”
But, did the West celebrate prematurely the implosion of the Soviet
empire? Apart from “Havana Syndrome” (microwave attacks on U.S.
diplomats), Putin’s Russia, and its war to reclaim Ukraine, remains a
major geopolitical rival, with its hackers holding U.S. companies
hostage for ransom. Of the remaining communist one-party
states–People’s Republic of China, N. Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and
Cuba–“China” poses the greatest challenge. China’s hackers excel at
stealing U.S. civilian and military tech secrets, while its trade and
investment policies aim to create dependent “vassal” states. Thus, U.S.
companies are constrained by lack of parts that are manufactured abroad,
including strategic high tech and medicines. The question arises: Can
the U.S. heal its unprecedented internal social divisions of identity
politics, and find the courage to withstand China’s “smoke-and-mirrors”
gambit for world domination? According to David P. Goldman’s You Will Be
Assimilated: China’s Plan to Sino-Form the World, “China” has thrown
down the gauntlet globally, whose success would signify the ultimate
triumph of its “Made in China” strategy. Can democracies compete with
dictatorships in the 21st century without becoming like their
adversaries? If so, how can the American experiment in popular
self-government meet the challenges of an uncharted future?