Author

Michael Brenes

Michael Brenes teaches history at Yale University. His most recent book (co-written with Van Jackson) is The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy.

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July 11, 2025

Michael Brenes

What If the Political Pendulum Doesn’t Swing Back?

The Cycles of American History foresaw American voter dealignment, and an electronic age that would see voters prioritize personality over party—but it didn’t anticipate Trump.

June 3, 2024

Michael Brenes, William D. Hartung

A.I. Won’t Transform War. It’ll Only Make Venture Capitalists Richer.

The U.S. government is worried about falling behind in the literal A.I. arms race—and Silicon Valley is cashing in with ludicrous promises.

June 18, 2020

Michael Brenes, Tim Keogh

Lessons From the Long Movement to Defund the Military

What “Defund the Police” can learn from the six-decade effort to radically demilitarize U.S. foreign policy

December 18, 2019

Michael Brenes

Pete Buttigieg Is No Foreign Policy Maverick

He’s called for an end to “forever wars,” but the Afghanistan veteran’s security strategy sounds more like the status quo.

May 11, 2018

Peter-Christian Aigner, Michael Brenes

The Long, Tortured History of the Job Guarantee

How liberals, over decades, worked to undermine a proposal that has long enjoyed public support

Michael Brenes

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