--- title: Anne-Marie Slaughter Talks Donald Trump and Barack Obama description: 'Look around at the rest of the world. Try living in a country where they stop talking and start shooting.' canonical: https://time.com/4703316/anne-marie-slaughter-7-questions/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-16T10:56:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:52:14.143Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 7 Questions With Anne-Marie Slaughter og:description: 'Try living in a country where they stop talking and start shooting' og:url: https://time.com/4703316/anne-marie-slaughter-7-questions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0da669edaeb9c47/6988be9f656a3f2562bcf2a9/anne-marie-slaughter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5152 og:image:height: 2898 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At The Bloomberg Year Ahead Summit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 7 Questions With Anne-Marie Slaughter twitter:description: 'Try living in a country where they stop talking and start shooting' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0da669edaeb9c47/6988be9f656a3f2562bcf2a9/anne-marie-slaughter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 7 Questions With Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [David Von Drehle](https://time.com/author/david-von-drehle/) ## David Von Drehle Mar 16, 2017 10:56 AM UTC  Anne-Marie Slaughter, president and chief executive officer of the New America Foundation, speaks during Bloomberg's fourth-annual Year Ahead Summit in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Anne-Marie Slaughter, president and chief executive officer of the New America Foundation, speaks during Bloomberg's fourth-annual Year Ahead Summit in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016.Michael Nagle—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [David Von Drehle](https://time.com/author/david-von-drehle/) ## David Von Drehle Mar 16, 2017 10:56 AM UTC _The CEO of New America and former State Department official on her new book about how networks are upending statecraft_ **You write in**[ **_The Chessboard and the Web_**](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300215649/?tag=timecom-20) **that national security today requires the use of networks, not just traditional rivalries and alliances, which you call “the chessboard.” How does that square with the rise of** [**nationalism**](http://time.com/4641064/trump-inauguration-speech-nationalism/)**?** If [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-hillary-clinton-runner-up/) had been elected, my book would have been aligned with government policy. Instead, the chessboard is resurgent. Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address was a classic statement of chessboard politics. **You write, “The starting point here is not competition between states but the well-being of citizens globally,” which seems like the opposite of “America first.” Yet President Trump, with his** [**millions of Twitter followers**](http://time.com/4693347/stephen-colbert-anderson-cooper-trump-twitter/)**, seems to understand the power of networks.** I think he deeply understands–or intuitively feels–the power of direct connections with voters. But like Barack Obama, he is finding there is a big difference between connecting with voters and creating actual networks that effectively let you get things done. **How is Syria an example?** When you have crimes against humanity targeted at a village or tribe or a particular faith, that problem will spread. The survivors have connections in other countries, and they will move. Or they end up in refugee camps, which become nodes of dangerous connections. What happens to human beings is not unconnected to what happens to states. **Perhaps nationalism is a wish for a less complicated world?** When you hear “Make America great again,” that nostalgia is not just for a time when America was more homogenous in terms of jobs, race and gender roles. It may also be a longing for the clear lines of the Cold War — dangerous, but clear. **But surely you’re not saying nations no longer matter?** I don’t think states are going to be less important. But we are going to have to learn to “see in stereo,” as I call it. The world of the chessboard is still there in our relations with Russia, China, Iran — places where we are still playing a straight power game. But we also need to be able to see how we can manage networks strategically for our national security. We have no choice. People are already exploiting networks to threaten us: terrorists, drug cartels, cybercriminals. **The chessboard seeks power over other nations. The web seeks power with other people, right?** Interestingly, among the people who really get the networked world are the military out in the field. They are used to messy stuff. But we need to elevate that to the level of strategy. We have a manual for the strategy of conflict; my book is a manual for the strategy of connection — and not just in foreign policy. Webcraft is for everyone. **Who else gets it?** At the State Department, the women and the young people get it, while the older men might look confused. Women because they never had “power over,” so they had to learn to develop networks; young people because it’s the world they’ve grown up in. **For years you were dean of the Wilson School at Princeton, where you were known for attracting an intellectually diverse faculty. Are you alarmed at the intolerance we’re seeing on campuses like Middlebury and Berkeley?** I was appalled by the Middlebury experience \[where protesters attacked a faculty member\]. The woman who was injured is a close friend. All of us have to stand up for the belief that we can have civil discourse. Look around at the rest of the world. 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