About this episode

The episode discusses the future of U.S. foreign policy and its implications for global order with insights from key political figures.

Ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, a big question has loomed over any discussion of global politics: How much of the change he has brought to U.S. foreign policy, and to the international system, will endure beyond this presidential term? Two essays that open the new issue of Foreign Affairs offer different answers to that question. Kurt Campbell and Rush Doshi, two senior officials in the Biden administration, argue that the U.S. alliance system will not just survive Trump but can emerge stronger, even better suited to countering China and its partners. Mark Leonard, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, argues that policymakers in allied capitals and beyond must accept that the United States has fundamentally changed—and get ready to survive a more turbulent and contested world. Dan Kurtz-Phelan wanted to bring Campbell, Doshi, and Leonard together in one conversation to lay out and test these contrasting arguments. They spoke on August 12 about possible futures for U.S. foreign policy—and what those paths mean for a global order built by a very different United States. You can find sources, transcripts, and more episodes of The…

People in this episode

Host: Dan Kurtz-Phelan

Guests: Kurt Campbell, Rush Doshi, Mark Leonard

Topics covered

• U.S. foreign policy
• global politics
• international relations
• U.S. alliance system
• China
• global order
• Biden administration

Keywords

• foreign policy
• Trump
• Biden
• U.S. alliances
• China relations
• global order
• international system

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Foreign Affairs Magazine, European Council on Foreign Relations

Places: United States, China

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