[7] An active faculty member at Bard's campus in Annandale and its New York-based Globalization and International Affairs Program, he taught on American foreign policy and Anglo-American grand strategy, including curriculum addressing Sun Tzu and Clausewitz.

It argues that the individualism inherent in British and American religion was instrumental for their rise to global power[12] and integrates Francis Fukuyama's "end of history" with Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilizations" in its predictions for the future.

[25] According to Mead, the ability of each of these schools to form coalitions at various points in history has allowed American foreign policy to adapt and succeed.

[26] He warns that neglect of Jacksonians on the part of political elites in the wake of the Cold War could diminish the effectiveness of American foreign policy in the near future.

[27] The New Left Review described the book as a "robust celebration of Jacksonianism as it historically was... an admiring portrait of a tough, xenophobic folk community, ruthless to outsiders or deserters, rigid in its codes of honour and violence.

Despite their general disinterest in foreign policy or the international order, Jacksonians support aggressive military action when the United States is threatened.

In the concluding chapters, Mead seeks to lay out the foundations of a new global commonwealth in which America acts as steward and helps ensure that Third World nations are able to address their development issues.

[36] Reviewing the book in Foreign Affairs, John C. Campbell called Mortal Splendor "a brilliantly written demolition of both liberal and especially conservative shibboleths concerning the political economy of the United States, both in its domestic and international arrangements.

Although the proposal was made "tongue in cheek", Mead maintained that the United States should give "Russia the money it needs in exchange for some tangible quid pro quo", offering "the highest possible price for the largest possible concession".

Via media is a Latin phrase meaning "the middle road" and is a philosophical maxim for life which advocates moderation in all thoughts and actions.

[citation needed] Via Meadia was read regularly by U.S. congressmen, foreign dignitaries, and high-level government officials in the State Department and the White House.

Writing in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea, ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, and rising tensions in East Asia, Mead argued that much of the foreign policy consensus among Western elites since the end of the Cold War had been naïve in assuming that traditional questions of geopolitics would no longer dictate international affairs.

"China, Iran, and Russia never bought into the geopolitical settlement that followed the Cold War," Mead warned, "and they are making increasingly forceful attempts to overturn it.

"[41] In many of his Via Meadia blog posts for American Interest, Mead alluded to Game of Thrones to describe the actions of revisionist powers.

He argued that Obama made an "empty statement" by condemning the attacks without accompanying military force, had damaged American credibility, and encouraged Russia and Iran to ramp up their direct support for al-Assad's regime.

[47] Mead supported arming certain elements in the Syrian resistance as a stop-gap measure, but was realistic about the character of most rebel groups as well as the prospects for a post-conflict Syria.

[48] Mead has written extensively about the decline of the "Blue Social Model," which refers to the political and economic status quo of the United States following the New Deal and the Second World War.

The Blue Social Model was able to sustain a faith that American quality of life would steadily improve and that no major disruptions in the domestic or global order would come.

[49][50] Mead has been a strong critic of the "Israel Lobby" hypothesis advanced by political scientists Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer.

In his article "What Truman Can Teach Trump" for The Wall Street Journal, Mead compares a foreign policy of Truman and Trump and states that "The U.S. needed to take on the global role that the British Empire had played at its zenith" and "A Trumanist approach would start by showing some trust in the foreign policy instincts of the American People.

[54] In February 2020, Mead published an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal titled "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia".