The Donroe Doctrine.
I must admit to laughing a full-blown LOL upon hearing that this is how the president of the United States justifies his actions in Venezuela. After all, the name, a portmanteau of Donald and the Monroe Doctrine, is absurd and chaotic, just like the ensuing threats he and his allies have made toward Greenland, Colombia, Cuba, and so forth.
But what's really going on here? Many have tried to explain Trump's foreign policy, if you can even call it that, with traditional political theories of spheres of influence, oil revolution, and age-old imperialism. But something has felt off, at least for me. Such traditional modes of thinking seem inadequate in fully capturing what is unfolding.
So it was something of a welcome to stumble across Abe Newman's theory on neo-royalism, which essentially argues that our inability to make sense of Trump's actions in Venezuela is because of our instinct to view them through a disintegrating world order wherein sovereignty and a basic set of rules still apply. Instead, Newman challenges us to look beyond this century-old paradigm and see the hierarchical lens through which Trump justifies domination.
It's fascinating stuff, and honestly, helps to explain so much of why Trump acts the way he does on the world stage. I highly encourage a read.
—Inae Oh
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