About this episode

Walter Russell Mead discusses American grand strategy and foreign policy schools in celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary.

To celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, Madison’s Notes is having a special Fourth of July episode to close out the season. So in Episode 12 of Season 5, I have as our guest Walter Russell Mead to talk about American grand strategy since the Declaration of Independence. A Yale graduate, Mr. Mead is a professor at the University of Florida’s Hamilton School and a fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Foreign Affairs contributor and a Wall Street Journal columnist, as well as the host of the podcast, “What Really Matters.” Drawing on his book, Special Providence (2001), we discuss the history of the four American schools of foreign policy—the Hamiltonians, Jeffersonians, Jacksonians, and Wilsonians—and how his analysis of the American traditions has held up nearly a quarter of a century later. Hosted by Ryan Shinkel, Madison’s Notes is the podcast of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. The transcript for this interview is available on the JMP substack page, “Madison’s Footnotes.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Ryan Shinkel

Guest: Walter Russell Mead

Topics covered

• American grand strategy
• foreign policy
• Declaration of Independence
• historical analysis
• political schools

Keywords

• American grand strategy
• foreign policy
• Declaration of Independence
• Walter Russell Mead
• political schools

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Princeton University, Hamilton School, Hudson Institute, Foreign Affairs, Wall Street Journal

Books & works: Special Providence

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