Diplomacy and International Politics

Europe’s momentum in developing a clear-eyed approach toward China has stalled. In March 2019, the European Commission issued a white paper naming China a systemic rival and economic competitor. That publication marked a fundamental shift in how far European institutions were willing to go in raising the challenges China poses to Europe’s openness and prosperity.

PRIOR TO THE ELECTION OF DONALD TRUMP, and the current season of hand- wringing about democracy’s prospects for survival in the United States and Europe, Western social scientists tended to think of democracy as something “we” had achieved and “they”—that is, the peoples of the so-called developing world—had yet to grasp. The hypothesized reasons for this gap between “us” and “them” were many.

Rami Khouri's interview on Aljazeera TV discussing the appointment of the new Lebanese government amidst continuing protests and clashes with police.

In an event co-hosted by the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship’s (PETR) and the Asia Center, Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, moderated a panel discussion on China’s technological rise and its impact on the US-EU relationship. The panel featured Joel Brenner, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Studies; Danil Kerimi, Head of Technology Industries Sector, Digital Economy and Global Technology Policy, the World Economic Forum; Meicen Sun, PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Sciences at MIT; and Daniel Weitzner, Founding Director of the Internet Policy Research Initiative. 

The policies and conduct of the Trump administration are changing the way much of the world sees the United States. Host Marco Werman discusses the issues with Arturo Sarukhán, a former Mexican ambassador to the US, and Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, executive director of The Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. 

The Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship (PETR) and the Asia Center will be hosting a new event series over the course of the Fall and Spring semesters of the 2019-2020 academic year, focusing on China's rise and its implications on the transatlantic relationship.

The events of Oct. 17 that triggered a leaderless civilian-uprising turned-revolution caught everyone by surprise. Let us establish one important fact: No one saw this coming. The government’s inability to extinguish the wildfires, an unfolding and growing economic crisis and widespread corruption set the stage for what transpired on Thursday, Oct. 17. However, it is certain that no one imagined what precipitating cause would push the people to the streets of Lebanon.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has succeeded in amending the unpopular Brexit deal, removing the widely disliked backstop, and replacing it with a revised protocol for Northern Ireland. He brought his new plan to the House of Commons in an unusual Saturday session on October 19; Parliament had required the government to ask the European Union for an extension to the October 31 deadline if the divorce settlement was not approved by that date. But Parliament delayed consideration of his revised agreement, first wanting to ensure the U.K. would not leave the EU without a deal. Johnson begrudgingly asked the EU for an extension, which it is now considering. Parliament is expected to vote on Johnson’s deal this week, with the numbers too close to call.

Nicholas Burns, former US Ambassador to NATO and Greece, says American foreign policy has been "turned on its head" this week. How could national security be impacted by an impeachment inquiry of President Trump?

Trump's critics say that lack of success means the president is going to the United Nations in a weakened position.