Diplomacy and International Politics

Foreign Affairs has recently published a number of articles on how the United States should engage with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, extremist forces within the regime, how the West can help ordinary Afghans, and the fate of the country’s women. To complement these essays, Foreign Affairs asked a broad pool of experts for their take. As with previous surveys, Foreign Affairs approached dozens of authorities with expertise relevant to the question at hand, along with leading generalists in the field. Participants were asked to state whether they agreed or disagreed with a proposition and to rate their confidence level in their opinion. Two Belfer Center experts participated, International Security Executive Editor Jacqueline L. Hazelton and Future of Diplomacy Project Senior Fellow Paula Dobriansky.

The following is an event write-up about the recent Future of Diplomacy Project (FDP) seminar on “The Geopolitics of Latin America amid the War in Ukraine and China-U.S. Tensions” moderated by Negah Angha, Fellow at the Institute of Politics, on March 29, 2023.

The House Democracy Partnership Commission held a hearing on the role of independent and constituent-driven legislatures and the importance of legislative strengthening efforts. Parliaments have a key role to play in promoting and advancing good governance, the sharing of best practices, and collaborating with their peers. Bodies such as the House Democracy Partnership can be formidable tools for parliaments to engage with one other and become valuable fora for strengthening democratic institutions and deepening bilateral relations.

The United States president, Joe Biden, has made restoring alliances and partnerships a central feature of his foreign-policy agenda. As he arrives in Europe for the first overseas trip of his presidency, the time is ripe for the transatlantic relationship to advance an agenda of democratic resilience.

Strengthening policy co-ordination on Russia and China will be central to this agenda—although transatlantic partners are not expected to be in lockstep with him on every issue. Instead of lamenting where our approaches toward Moscow and Beijing may diverge, however, the US and its European partners should take advantage of renewed diplomatic engagement to make progress on defending democratic values at home and abroad.

The Future of Diplomacy Project hosted a conversation with Julie Bishop, Fisher Family Fellow and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia, about China and Australia’s relationship, the increasing geopolitical role of the Quad, and how U.S. foreign policy should respond to China's rise on May 19, 2021. Research Director, Torrey Taussig moderated this discussion.

On May 12, the Future of Diplomacy Project hosted a conversation with former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright; Global Head of Sustainability and Inclusive Growth at Goldman Sachs, Dina Powell McCormick; and Ezinne Uzo-Okoro, Harvard Kennedy School midcareer student (2021) and the Assistant Director for Space Policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who have all recently been featured in President George W. Bush’s new book Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants, a collection of 43 portraits painted by the former President with accompanying stories that exemplify the promise of America. They shared how their experiences as a refugee and as immigrants have shaped their views on America’s role in the world and influenced their careers in public service.  Professor Nicholas Burns moderated the discussion.
 

On May 11, 2021, the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship hosted a panel discussion on efforts to advance an anti-racist transatlantic agenda with three policymakers: Caroline Abadie, Member of the French National Assembly; Oona King, Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Snap Inc and former Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom; and Desirée Cormier Smith, Senior Advisor in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. This discussion was moderated by Torrey Taussig, Research Director, and Erika Manouselis, Project Coordinator.

On April 16, 2021, Fisher Family Fellow and  former EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014-2019, Federica Mogherini, hosted a study group that explored European strategic autonomy and the transatlantic (im)balance in security and defense through three case studies.

On March 10, 2021, Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky testified before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the Hearing on the State of Democracy Around the World. Read her full testimony here.

The UK's vaccination program is a rare pandemic success story for Boris Johnson. It's a different story on the other side of the Channel, where Europe is still struggling to get rollout programs off the ground.