Bridging Foreign Policy and Working Families
Elizabeth Warren has been challenged by the Working Families Party to challenge Hillary Clinton in the 2016 democratic primary. While this bodes well for progressives to the left of Hillary and to the right of Glenn Greenwald, many are reminded of the limits of progressive campaigns in a globalized context, namely, in the dark rooms of policy makers in Washington and Geneva. The question of Elizabeth Warren's support for sanctions against Iran has many asking questions about the ability to reconcile cosmopolitan solidarity with the hardships of pleasing one's constituents as a domestic representative in a democratic government. Warren's support for sanctions against Iran infamously translated into the denial of accessible and modern medications which were previously afforded through global trade agreements. As an internationalist, I beget questions of solidarity first with one's capacity to build this bridge. Elizabeth Warren, in the coming weeks, may benefit from a reflection on the nature of sanctions, the roll of the west in the eyes of the developing world and among their respective governments, moreover. In any given case, the politics of elected officials should by no means translate into collective punishment whether they are in the form of sanctions or war, the doctrine of collective punishment by otherwise progressive actors is one which must be on the table this primary season and among Democrats and Progressives, alike.
