Diplomacy and International Politics

The following is an event write-up about the recent Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship (PETR) seminar on “France’s Global Role in a Changing World Order” co-moderated by Natalie Colbert, Executive Director of the Belfer Center, and Svenja Kirsch, Fellow with PETR, on April 19, 2023.

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.

Annalena Baerbock was born the same year as Germany's Green Party, then a fringe mix of peace activists, environmentalists, equal rights campaigners and members of the anti-nuclear movement, skeptical of Western power.

Forty years later — espousing a foreign policy generally in sync with the Biden administration — she hopes to lead the much-transformed Greens to an election win in September as Germany begins a new political era without Angela Merkel at the helm.

In a conversation with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, we will explore how she employed cultural diplomacy while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Japan (2013-2017), our key ally in Asia. Ambassador (ret.) Nicholas Burns, Harvard Kennedy School professor and Faculty Chair of the Future of Diplomacy Project, welcomed and introduced Ambassador Kennedy. He and Carla Dirlikov Canales, 2021 Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow, co-moderated the discussion. Dr. Joe Nye, University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus at Harvard and who introduced the world to the concept of "soft power" in the late 1980s, was also be part of the discussion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning the West. In his State of the Union address, he announced that he would react swiftly and harshly if provoked by other countries. Relations between Russia, the US, and the EU are strained, and there are several points of contention: the conflict in Eastern Ukraine and Putin's actions against his imprisoned critic, Alexei Navalny. 

How can the so-called East-West conflict be defused? What hope is there for normalization of the US-Russia relationship under President Joe Biden? [translated from German; interview in German]

Former President Bill Clinton gave the inaugural Stephen W. Bosworth Memorial Lecture in Diplomacy in honor of the late, much admired U.S. ambassador on Wednesday. He recalled some of his major foreign policy triumphs and challenges with Russia, China, and North Korea in a conversation with Professor Nicholas Burns. 

Former President Bill Clinton reflected on the foreign policy challenges of his presidency at the inaugural Stephen W. Bosworth Memorial Lecture in Diplomacy, hosted Wednesday by the Harvard Kennedy School.

Strengthening transatlantic democracies requires even more focus and attention today because of the complex interdependence that exists between our countries and China, not in spite of it. Recognizing that we must safeguard liberal democracy from authoritarian influence is not a retroactive worldview, nor is it the basis of an anti-China agenda. Rather, a shared commitment to renewing our democracies is an enduring feature of the transatlantic relationship and should remain so in the years ahead. 

"President Biden was right to say what he said: President Putin is an autocrat, and Russia is now an authoritarian dictatorial country." Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, talks about the US's allies and adversaries around the world.