The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
The Abandoned Order
English Summary
The article argues that the established U.S.-led rules-based international order is fundamentally dissolving into a state of "un-order," marked by profound fragmentation and uncertainty. This decay is evidenced by the erosion of traditional alliances, rising economic nationalism (leading to commodity price divergence), and an epistemic breakdown where shared facts are lost. Consequently, states can no longer rely on grand global strategies or institutions; instead, they must adopt flexible, localized, and "artisanal" responses to navigate a multipolar world defined by competing regional and technological systems.
中文摘要
本文論述，由美國主導的既有規則基礎國際秩序正在根本性地瓦解，進入一種「無序」狀態，其特徵是深刻的碎片化與不確定性。這種衰退的證據體現在傳統聯盟的侵蝕、日益抬頭的經濟民族主義（導致商品價格分歧），以及共享事實逐漸喪失的認識論崩解。因此，國家不能再依賴宏大的全球戰略或制度；相反地，它們必須採取靈活、在地化且「手工式」的回應方式，以在由相互競爭的區域和技術體系所定義的多極世界中航行。
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