Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that the competing forces of nationalism and protectionism could plunge the United States into a crisis.
"I've seen the return of what I've called the four horsemen of the apocalypse," Rice told "CBS This Morning," referencing biblical figures. "Populism, I'll say nativism, not nationalism, isolationism and protectionism.
"We did that before," she continued. "It was the period between World War I and World War II. It led to a Great Depression, it led to a war.
"And the system we put in place after World War II, of free markets and free trade and kind of global commons that we talk about here, that system worked awfully well," she added. "It's under challenge now."
Rice, 64, who served in the George W. Bush administration, appeared to take a veiled jab at the Trump White House, as critics have used such terms used to describe the president and his policies.
She has largely avoided commenting on President Donald Trump and his administration since it began in January 2017.
Now the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at Stanford University, Rice said she was troubled by the growing polarization within in the United States.
"I'm also worried that we're tearing ourselves apart, and that's something we have to deal with," she said.
Rice is the co-author, with Philip Zelikow, of a new book, "To Build a Better World: Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Commonwealth."
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