It is nearly thirty years after the end of the Cold War. Amidst China’s rise and Russia’s revanchism, and in a historic moment of crisis, will American policymakers reconceive the role alliances should play in 21st century national security strategy and recapture one of the country’s great strategic successes? Or will they let them wither? How will this affect Australia?

In her new book, Shields of the Republic: The Triumph and Peril of America's Alliances, Mira Rapp-Hooper reveals the remarkable and unheralded success of the United States’ alliance system, charts its dangerous strategic drift, and proposes an agenda for its renewal.

To discuss these issues, USSC hosted a webinar event featuring Dr Mira Rapp-Hooper, Senior Fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in conversation with Dr Charles Edel, Senior Fellow at the US Studies Centre and Dr John Lee, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the US Studies Centre.

Dr Mira Rapp-Hooper is the Stephen A. Schwarzman senior fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. Dr Rapp-Hooper’s academic writings have appeared in Political Science QuarterlySecurity Studies, and Survival. Her policy writings have appeared in The National InterestForeign Affairs, and The Washington Quarterly, and her analysis has been featured in The New York TimesThe Washington Post, and on NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and the BBC. Dr Rapp-Hooper was the Asia Policy coordinator for the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

Dr Charles Edel is Senior Fellow at the US Studies Centre. Previously, he was Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the US Naval War College, and served on the US Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff from 2015-2017. In that role, he advised Secretary of State John Kerry on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. He is the co-author of The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (2019) and author of Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (2014).

Dr John Lee is an adjunct professor and non-resident senior fellow at the US Studies Centre. He is also a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. From 2016-2018, he was senior adviser to the Australian Foreign Minister, the lead ministerial adviser for the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, and her principal adviser on Indo-Pacific strategic affairs in the lead-up to the reinstitution of the Quad in 2017.