Foreign Policy Updates

In Foreign policy updates

As the world changes, relations between nations are always shifting. Old friends can become rivals, and new threats emerge to challenge the security, prosperity, and well-being of billions around the globe. These challenges include humanitarian crises exacerbated by climate change; conflicts spawned by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; an erratic and unpredictable leader; autocrats that threaten democracy from within and without; and new technologies that amplify old threats and create new ones.

Having a good foreign policy requires balancing domestic political constraints with the need to act globally. A policy that does not take these constraints into account is likely to be a failure. A policy that does, on the other hand, must be based on credible arguments and supported by broad popular support, or at least a core group of power elites.

Having such a policy does not preclude the United States from engaging in cooperative multilateralism, or even pursuing some unilateralist approaches. The question is how to do so in a way that maximizes the benefits of cooperation and minimizes the costs of confrontation.