The incoming Biden administration will aim to mend America’s strained relations with allies in Europe and Asia. In this episode of The President’s Inbox, CFR experts discuss the prospects for this diplomatic challenge.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Experts from leading global think tanks welcome the prospect of a Biden administration restoring long-standing U.S. alliances and commitments to multilateral institutions. But they anticipate a rocky path toward better global cooperation.
Transition 2021
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Joe Biden will have his work cut out for him rebuilding Washington’s credibility to lead on human rights. Restoring the United States’ moral authority must begin at home.
Tony Blinken discusses multilateral diplomacy and U.S. global leadership.
Labor
The kafala system regulates the lives of tens of millions of migrant laborers in the Middle East, but growing outrage over human rights abuses, racism, and gender discrimination has fueled calls for reform.
Coronavirus
COVID-19 cases are surging across the United States, forcing Americans to weigh the risks of gathering for the Thanksgiving holiday. How have other countries handled holidays amid the pandemic?
Public Health Threats and Pandemics
Panelists examine challenges and best practices in providing primary care around the world, the vitality of access to primary care, and how healthcare settings have evolved in the era of COVID-19.
Russia
Azerbaijan’s success in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh means Putin’s peace deal is likely to last. It also rules out further diplomacy.
Peru
President Martin Vizcarra’s ouster has caused turmoil and a leadership vacuum, amid economic turbulence and severe pandemic strains. Why has Peru endured so much political upheaval?
Events
Prime Minister Shtayyeh discusses the Palestinian Authority’s relations with the United States, its security and economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the broader Middle East peace process.
President von der Leyen discusses her vision for a new transatlantic agenda, prospects for cooperation between the European Union and the United States, and the future of multilateralism.
Panelists discuss U.S. democracy, including current challenges, possible reforms, and lessons learned from other democracies.
Adam Smith discusses his role as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the need for the United States to address growing competition with China.
Expert Spotlight
Philip H. Gordon
Mary and David Boies Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy
Middle East and North Africa Europe and Eurasia U.S. Foreign Policy
Thomas J. Bollyky
Senior Fellow for Global Health, Economics, and Development and Director of the Global Health Program
Explainers
1
5
Food and Water Security
Rising Hunger: Facing a Food-Insecure World
Global food insecurity has surged amid the coronavirus pandemic, threatening to worsen humanitarian crises and spur further mass migration.
China
China’s Approach to Global Governance
Learn about China's evolving approach to global governance and how it has shifted strategy under President Xi Jinping related to trade, the belt and road initiative, and the coronavirus pandemic.
Public Health Threats and Pandemics
The Coronavirus Pandemic, With Tom Bollyky
Thomas J. Bollyky, director of CFR’s Global Health program and senior fellow for global health, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the World Health Organization’s newly declared pandemic, COVID-19.
United States
How Police Compare in Different Democracies
Killings by U.S. officers in 2020 have sparked widespread calls for police reform and an end to systemic racism. Here’s how U.S. policing compares with other countries’ approaches.
Global
Women’s Power Index
Find out where women around the world wield political power—and why it matters.
Featured Publications
CFR Senior Fellow Yanzhong Huang discusses how China’s environmental crisis is undermining public health and becoming an Achilles heel in its reemergence as a global power.
The definitive account of how regime change in the Middle East has proven so tempting to American policymakers for decades—and why it always seems to go wrong.
Charles A. Kupchan mines the nation’s past to uncover the ideological and political roots of ongoing changes in U.S. foreign policy, including the sources of Donald J. Trump's “America First” doctrine.