John J. Tierney Jr.

Policy Periods: Isolationism and Internationalism In his classic 1997 study on American foreign policies, Walter McDougall (University of Pennsylvania) divides the subject into old and new “testaments,” between the time when the country was young and weak and since it became a global power (Promised Land, Crusader State). Both time periods were derived from the…

Crane Brinton’s views on revolution In his classic study, Anatomy of Revolution (1938), Harvard Professor Crane Brinton compared the four great political revolutions (English, American, French, Russian) to a “fever” that contained several stages, eventually ending in a new and invigorated society but still based upon  cultures inherited from the past. That is to say,…

To be “Born Again,” in Christian theology, means to be “renewed” in belief, i.e. to gain a newer and more committed faith in the meaning of Christianity. In Biblical terms, it expresses a rebirth “in spirit and water” to Christ and the path to Heaven. Born Again, thus, is a spiritual renewal and certainly not…

In 2016, my book Conceived in Liberty was published (Transaction). The title was deliberately chosen to emphasize the two terms, “conceived” and “liberty,” being careful not to extrapolate more from the title than was intended. This was not a “historical” study to determine whether or not Americans, from the start to 2016, lived up to…

As the world goes through another of history’s life-and-death struggles, it may be at least comfortable to acknowledge that today’s crisis is neither new nor unsolvable. History has recorded the nature of most past events when it seemed that life itself was on the line. It may have seemed so, but, looking back, it never…

Of all competing concepts in the political vocabulary, the term “national interest” remains both the most vital and simultaneously the most elusive. Barring outright treason, there can be no honest citizen in any sovereign nation that will deliberately advocate violation of a country’s national interest. Interests Then the fun begins. Being vital is not enough.…

For most of history, geography represented an inescapable, deterministic phenomenon that controlled how, when, and where nations and peoples lived out their short lives. Where you lived, the climate, access to outside, barriers from outside, etc. were factors that pre-technology could not overcome. If you were born in a closet, you lived in the dark.…

In the realm of World Politics, the term “Balance of Power” is the governing concept that controls the entire field, but it is rarely even mentioned in any popular media. The explanation, so far as can be seen, is that public opinion is so consumed with personality, domestic politics, self-indulgence, good or bad behaviors, and…

In its relatively short history (two and one quarter centuries), the United States of America has gone through several phases of foreign policies, each beginning with a form of strategic “doctrine” or outline of direction. The First: George Washington and Isolationism The first, and probably the greatest, came from the hand of the nation’s “Father,”…

Whenever anything occurs, there is “responsibility.” If it’s bad, it’s called “blame;” if good, it’s “taking credit.” With the COVID-19 virus, there is, as always, both. Blame of leadership First the blame. The American president, again as always, is the final arbiter of everything that happened here and the first to blame. That is nearly…