The United States
Can a superpower repair its own democracy while it polices everyone else’s? Should it pull back from the world, or hold the line? Put it to Hannah Arendt, Sun Tzu, Margaret Thatcher and Ibn Khaldun, who spent a lifetime studying how empires rise and fall, and the answers are anything but obvious. Read on to see how they take it apart.
- Debates
- 31
- Council voices
- 37
- Last debated
- 26 June 2026
The council in action
What would they do about the United States?
Each thinker’s concrete moves, drawn straight from their debates.
HS
Helmut Schmidt
Explore Schmidt →- Require NATO allies to publish binding autonomous-capacity timelines before any US retrenchment discussion proceeds.Should the USA reduce its role as the world's security guarantor?
- Diversify AI partnerships across multiple non-US, non-Chinese providers to avoid single-source dependency.How can the EU reduce its dependency on US and Chinese AI?
- Fund joint European defence industrial production so allied capacity is not theoretical but manufactured and fielded.Should the USA reduce its role as the world's security guarantor?
LK
Lee Kuan Yew
Explore Yew →- Preserve and expand US military access agreements with Singapore and regional partners to hold the line while no substitute force exists.Should the USA reduce its role as the world's security guarantor?
- Signal to Washington that every suspended commitment is read in Beijing, and that ambiguity in the Indo-Pacific invites miscalculation.Should the USA reduce its role as the world's security guarantor?
DX
Deng Xiaoping
Explore Xiaoping →- Designate specific European AI development zones with asymmetric procurement rules, sheltering frontier model capacity from full competition until it reaches scale.How can Europe develop AI capabilities while reducing its dependence on the US?
- Install European public institutions as anchor customers for domestic AI providers before exposing those providers to open market competition.How can Europe develop AI capabilities while reducing its dependence on the US?
IK
Ibn Khaldun
Explore Khaldun →- Create shared civic hardship programs, like national service, to rebuild common experience across factions.How can the US break the cycle of mutual radicalization in politics?
- Reject procedural fixes alone; invest in institutions that generate solidarity through joint endeavor, not rules.How can the US break the cycle of mutual radicalization in politics?
- Test whether the judiciary, civil service, military, and press retain operative solidarity sufficient for coordinated resistance.Do Trump's policies and approach to government pose a threat to American democratic institutions?
HA
Hannah Arendt
Explore Arendt →- Protect and reinforce the shared institutions the United States founded, because withdrawal of commitment to rules, not just troops, destroys the public realm.Should the USA reduce its role as the world's security guarantor?
- Rebuild ward committees, town meetings, and local councils as physical sites of shared political action.How can the US break the cycle of mutual radicalization in politics?
- Fund institutional spaces where citizens act in concert, replacing screen-based outrage with direct participation.How can the US break the cycle of mutual radicalization in politics?
Browse by topic
Recurring dilemmas
America’s role in the world
9 debatesHow far should the US extend its power abroad, and when does global leadership tip into overreach?
- Should the USA reduce its role as the world's security guarantor?
- Is it useful for the US to have military bases on every continent?
- When China invades Taiwan, should the US protect Taiwan's democratic regime?
- What's in the best interest of the US: maintain current military presence in Europe, or redeploy troops to other regions?
- Should the US pull its military troops out of Europe?
- Should the US extend its response to Iran's blockade of the Hormuz Strait?
Trump & American democracy
6 debatesIs the threat to American democracy a person, a movement, or the system that produced both?
- How can the US break the cycle of mutual radicalization in politics?
- Do Trump's policies and approach to government pose a threat to American democratic institutions?
- Could Trump's rise have been predicted, and what conditions made it possible?
- Do you think Trump was a good president of the United States?
- How would Confucius judge Trump's leadership?
- Should the EU assist Trump's military to free the Strait of Hormuz?
The American economy
5 debatesFrom housing to a billionaires tax, who should the American economy be made to work for?
- Should the US create a sovereign wealth fund from tech and AI company profits?
- How to solve the housing crisis in the US?
- Why is it so hard to create affordable housing in large European and US cities, and how can it be fixed?
- Should the US government refuse green cards to people who have criticized Israel and support the Palestinian cause?
- Should the US impose a nationwide billionaires tax?
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