Help keep Salon independent

Alfred McCoy

Alfred W. McCoy is the Harrington professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of "In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power." His new book is "To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change."

US President Donald Trump (L), Global Chairman of Pratt/Visy Industries Anthony Pratt and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (R) visit Pratt Industries during the plant's opening in Wapakoneta, Ohio on September 22, 2019. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

American soft power is evaporating in the Age of Trump

Alfred McCoy
President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Feb. 26, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Slouching toward Mount McKinley: Trump and the end of the American century

Alfred McCoy
Donald Trump and an American flag on fire (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Requiem for an empire: How Trump’s second term could reshape the world

Alfred McCoy
World and money burning (Getty Images/dimdimich)

Will climate change bring an end to America’s world order?

Alfred McCoy
Joe Biden | A view of damaged houses as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Dolyna, Ukraine on March 13, 2024. (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Facing three global crises, the American empire may be nearing final collapse

Alfred McCoy
A screen grab captured from a video shared online shows Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Russian private security company Wagner, holding a rifle in a desert area while wearing camouflage in a video for the first time after his rebellion against the Russian administration in an unspecified location in Africa on August 21, 2023. (Wagner Account/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Moscow’s man in Africa: Yevgeny Prigozhin and the collapse of the French empire

Alfred McCoy
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a photograph during their meeting in Beijing, on February 4, 2022. (ALEXEI DRUZHININ/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Peace for Ukraine courtesy of China?

Alfred McCoy
Vladimir Putin | A destroyed tank lies in rubble, in central Mariupol (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

How to end the war in Ukraine: Sanctions against Russia won’t work — but this might

Alfred McCoy
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Adolph Hitler (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Geopolitics and the Ukraine conflict: A tale of Putin, Xi Jinping — and Hitler

Alfred McCoy
Pro-Marcos soldiers face supporters of opposition leader Cory Aquino across metal barricades strung with barbed wire outside Malacanang Palace home of President Ferdinand Marcos, Manila, Feb. 25, 1986. The mass demonstrations, which came to be known as the People Power Revolution, toppled Marcos after four days. (Alex Bowie/Getty Images)

Recurring nightmares: How the American coup attempt summoned memories of another

Alfred McCoy
(Anders Raaf/Getty Images)

Washington’s delusion of endless world dominion: Is it finally collapsing?

Alfred McCoy
Tattered American flag flapping in ominous sky (Getty Images)

While America was sleeping

Alfred McCoy
In this Friday, April 22, 2016 photo, a jar containing a strain of marijuana nicknamed "Killer D" is seen at a medical marijuana facility in Unity, Maine. A growing number of health experts and law enforcement officials are making the case that marijuana could help reduce the numbers of overdoses and redirect money into fighting heroin and other opiates. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) (AP)

Decriminalizing the drug war?

Alfred McCoy
FILE - This is an April 4, 1999, file photo, provided by the Department of Defense shows a US Air force F-15C jet. (AP Photo/US Department of Defense) (AP)

What does it take to destroy a world order?

Alfred McCoy
(AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Trump’s trade Czar, the latest architect of imperial disaster

Alfred McCoy
Xi Jinping; Donald Trump (Getty/AP/Salon)

Beijing’s bid for global power in the age of Trump

Alfred McCoy
(AP/Evan Vucci)

Beyond Golden Shower diplomacy: Preserving the positive legacy of an empire in decline

Alfred McCoy
(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

A new age of gunboat diplomacy — and a new area of conflict

Alfred McCoy
(Shutterstock/Getty/Photo montage by Salon)

How to fail geopolitics: The world according to Trump

Alfred McCoy
Men bury a victim of a suicide attack on the Supreme Court in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017. (AP)

Into the Afghan abyss (again)

Alfred McCoy
(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel. File)

How World War III with China might be fought

Alfred McCoy
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Exploring the shadows of America’s security state

Alfred McCoy
(AP)

The demolition of U.S. global power

Alfred McCoy
(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

How opium defeated America in Afghanistan

Alfred McCoy
« Previous
Page: 1
Next »