Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson with his book, “America’s Entangling Alliances: 1787 to the Present.”

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson delivered a virtual presentation entitled “Defense and Security Relations Between the U.S. and Italy: Challenges and Prospects” on Dec. 13 to a conference on U.S.-Italy relations at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Davidson was one of just five academics invited to present. An article (in Italian) about his lecture can be found here: https://formiche.net/2021/12/relazione-italia-usa-iai-davidson/.

On Dec. 3, Dr. Davidson also presented (with co-author Carla Monteleone of the University of Palermo) a paper titled “The G20 and Italy in the International System:  Keeping Our Dreams Alive?” at a virtual, invitation-only conference on Italian Politics hosted by the Johns Hopkins University’s Europe program in Bologna, Italy.

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson with his book, “America’s Entangling Alliances: 1787 to the Present.”

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson’s book, America’s Entangling Alliances: 1778 to the Present, recently received a positive review essay in H-Diplo, a well-respected digital international relations publication.

Teachers of United States foreign relations know that the myth of isolationism is strong among their students. The axioms of presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson about steering clear of permanent and entangling alliances hold great power in the discourse of U.S. history. Modern scholarship, though, shows clearly that the U.S. has long engaged in active and often complex foreign relations with the wider world in pursuit of real or perceived national interests: from war and peace with indigenous peoples in North America since the colonial era to missile strikes in the Middle East under modern Republican and Democratic administrations. Many of these actions were often unilateral, but alliances and other agreements with other countries like France in 1778 or Latin American states in 1823 or the United States’ twentieth century coalitions were not unusual. For scholars today, the question is not so much ‘did the U.S. entangle itself with others’ but ‘how’ and ‘why.’

Jason W. Davidson’s America’s Entangling Alliances: 1778 to the Present is a useful addition to this scholarship and a good tool for teachers and researchers alike. Written from a decidedly political science perspective. Davidson engages in a meaningful way with the more recent standard U.S. foreign relations historiography, especially surveys by scholars and writers like George Herring, Walter McDougall, and Walter Russell Mead. Refreshingly, Davidson makes use of a variety of published primary sources and online archival resources to ground his analysis in an evidentiary record historians will appreciate. Read more.

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson gave an invited Zoom lecture entitled America’s Entangling Alliances: 1778 to the Present in the Robert Elgie Brown Bag Seminar Series at Sapienza University in Rome, Italy.

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson with his book, “America’s Entangling Alliances: 1787 to the Present.”

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson was recently interviewed by Voice of America about the death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. “What his legacy should be, and what I hope in the broader scope of time people remember him as, is a skeptic of war and the use of force…,” said University of Mary Washington Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson. “When he was sitting around the table … and he expressed cautions about how war could get out of control and how it could have these adverse consequences, he did so from a perspective of direct personal experience.” Listen here.

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson’s Costs of War project was cited in an article on EUReporter.com entitled, “Afghanistan Insurgency: Cost of War on Terror.” Read more.

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson recently shared insights from his book, America’s Entangling Alliances: 1778 to the Present, in a panel webinar presented by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“What I hope will be an important consequence of this book is pointing out that some of the many reasons the United States has entered into new alliances in the post-Cold War period … was because of the benefits those allies provide that have nothing to do with their aggregate defense spending, have nothing to do with their payments for offsetting U.S. expenses for basing on their territory.” Watch here.

Dr. Davidson also commented on the following news stories:

Is a new war starting? The West could launch military attacks against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (Capital)

“The West could reject all economic aid and launch periodic military attacks against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State” (La Razon)

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson was interviewed about the situation in Afghanistan on LBC News in London.

“I don’t personally think that it made sense from a strategic perspective for the United States or for Britain to stay in Afghanistan forever. Both countries have other important interests and we certainly have other things to be doing with our resources … particularly if you look at a situation that didn’t really have the prospect of improving dramatically no matter how long we had stayed.” Listen here.