Future of Diplomacy Project

American officials in China, Cuba and Russia say U.S. agencies are concealing the true extent of the episodes, leaving colleagues vulnerable to hostile actions abroad.

The United States has enjoyed decades-long military treaty alliances with Japan and Australia. The fact that India has joined to form the Quad, not as a formal ally but major strategic partner, is advantageous for Washington and its strategy to limit China’s military push for power in the region. The time has come for the U.S. and India to think more ambitiously about the future strategic partnership between the world’s two most important democracies. 

Few countries outside the United States have as much at stake on November 3 as Germany. If the Democratic candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, wins the U.S. presidential election, the badly bruised transatlantic relationship can yet be reconstructed. But if President Donald Trump wins a second term, the United States might take an even more hostile attitude toward Berlin and Brussels than it did during his first.

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook analyzes Kamala Harris' performance at the U.S. Vice Presidential debate.

Europeans do not approve of President Trump — by huge margins in recent surveys. Substantial majorities across the continent said they favored a Joe Biden victory over a Trump win in November. On one level, this reflects a genuine yearning for a Biden presidency after four years of Trumpian volatility. But on a deeper level, Europe’s view of America is also changing. 

On October 8, 2020 the Future of Diplomacy Project hosted Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament of India and former President of the Indian National Congress Party, who spoke about about Indian domestic politics and the U.S.-India partnership. This seminar was moderated by Faculty Chair, Nicholas Burns.

American democracy is facing pressure from all sides: For months, there have been partly violent protests against systemic racism and police violence of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The COVID pandemic has already claimed over 200,000 lives and has extreme economic consequences. Coupled with a polarized media landscape and the growing influence of social media, the pandemic has further exposed deep social divisions along ideological, economic and ethnic fault lines. In addition, the Trump administration is stepping up its escalatory description of the integrity of the American electoral system - what some consider to be a rigid electoral and party system in need of reform. How will the social conflicts affect the understanding of (American) democracy? How is the political establishment contributing to alienation from the Constitution?

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook spoke to German national radio on President Trump's COVID diagnosis and how it will affect the next few weeks of the campaign.

Unilateralism and isolationism are making a comeback in the United States. Are Trump and his America First approach to the world a cause or a symptom? What are the ideological sources of the intimate connection between isolationism and the American experience? Will the COVID-19 pandemic undercut or deepen globalization? What impact will it have on U.S. grand strategy? The United States seems headed for an inevitable pullback of its global commitments. What should retrenchment look like? Can Americans find the middle ground between doing too much and doing too little?

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook from Harvard Kennedy School criticizes the course of the debate. In terms of content, she sees Biden ahead.