Alfred McCoy

Alfred McCoy is the J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A TomDispatch regular, he is the author of In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power and Policing America’s Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State.

Armed ConflictsMarch 7, 2023

The Devastating Consequences of a War Over Taiwan

Cities devastated, untold thousands dead, and the global economy, with its epicenter in Asia, left in ruins—a war would be ruinous to the region and the world.

Alfred McCoy
North AmericaJanuary 12, 2023

The United States’ Global Power Is Fading Fast

Becoming a primarily regional power is actually an opportunity to fundamentally reconsider relations with our home region, North America.

Alfred McCoy
Nuclear Arms and ProliferationOctober 19, 2022

What Do We Do in a Rapidly Heating World?

The climate and geopolitics are only getting hotter—both urgent existential threats.

Alfred McCoy
June 23, 2022

What We Can Learn From the Last Cold War

There are indeed a number of parallels between our cold wars, old and new.

Alfred McCoy
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Armed ConflictsApril 21, 2022

This Is How We End the War in Ukraine

It’s time to finally deliver a bill to Vladimir Putin for a foreign policy that has involved little more than flattening one hapless city after another

Alfred McCoy
World LeadersMarch 14, 2022

Russia and China, Together at Last

At the core of recent conflicts is an entente between China and Russia that the world hasn’t seen since the start of the Cold War.

Alfred McCoy
Climate ChangeFebruary 25, 2022

Will the Fight for Hegemony Survive Climate Change?

Even if China were to become the preeminent world power around 2030, the accelerating pace of climate change would likely curtail its rise within decades.

Alfred McCoy
AsiaJanuary 20, 2022

Washington’s Dominion Is Ending—but Not Without a Struggle

We’re witnessing an epochal decline in American global power.

Alfred McCoy
Climate ChangeDecember 20, 2021

Life Circa 2050 Will Be Bad. Really Bad.

Future widespread suffering won’t be caused by some unforeseen disaster but by all-too-obvious, painfully predictable reasons.

Alfred McCoy
Climate ChangeNovember 22, 2021

America’s Decline Started at Home

When will shifting geopolitics and climate change fully cripple Washington’s current world order?

Alfred McCoy

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Alfred McCoy

Armed ConflictsMarch 7, 2023

Cities devastated, untold thousands dead, and the global economy, with its epicenter in Asia, left in ruins—a war would be ruinous to the region and the world.

North AmericaJanuary 12, 2023

Becoming a primarily regional power is actually an opportunity to fundamentally reconsider relations with our home region, North America.

Nuclear Arms and ProliferationOctober 19, 2022

The climate and geopolitics are only getting hotter—both urgent existential threats.

June 23, 2022

There are indeed a number of parallels between our cold wars, old and new.

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Armed ConflictsApril 21, 2022

It’s time to finally deliver a bill to Vladimir Putin for a foreign policy that has involved little more than flattening one hapless city after another

World LeadersMarch 14, 2022

At the core of recent conflicts is an entente between China and Russia that the world hasn’t seen since the start of the Cold War.

Climate ChangeFebruary 25, 2022

Even if China were to become the preeminent world power around 2030, the accelerating pace of climate change would likely curtail its rise within decades.

AsiaJanuary 20, 2022

We’re witnessing an epochal decline in American global power.

Climate ChangeDecember 20, 2021

Future widespread suffering won’t be caused by some unforeseen disaster but by all-too-obvious, painfully predictable reasons.

Climate ChangeNovember 22, 2021

When will shifting geopolitics and climate change fully cripple Washington’s current world order?