International Relations

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.

The Coronavirus and its variants know no borders. Despite falling numbers in Germany, the virus continues to have a firm grip on Europe. The reason? Vaccine procurement is worse in Europe than anywhere else in the world. Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook discusses the current state of the pandemic in the EU. [partially translated from German; interview in German]

Joseph Nye analyzes Trump's misguided approach to China  and concludes that it could lead the United States to discard its aces of alliances and global institutions or to severely restrict immigration. He advises that since the United States cannot solve problems like pandemics and climate change alone, Americans and its leaders must learn to distinguish power with others from power over others.

Stephen Walt writes that both U.S. and Chinese citizens have reason to be grateful; given how poorly their leaders have performed, it's a small miracle the other side hasn't taken better advantage.

Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, the transatlantic community faced enormous domestic and geopolitical challenges. The pandemic reinforces these tendencies and at the same time makes it clear why cooperation will remain essential in the future.

If Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump in November, the question he will face is not whether to restore the liberal international order. It is whether the United States can work with an inner core of allies to promote democracy and human rights while cooperating with a broader set of states to manage the rules-based international institutions needed to face transnational threats.

Nicholas Burns spoke to former President of the Congress Party in India, Rahul Gandhi, about COVID-19, U.S.-India Relations, and the George Floyd protests in the United States.

The panel considers how the US, UK and EU can contribute to a global response. It also asks what a global response to the health and economic crisis in the developing world would look like.

As the world's two largest economies, the United States and China are condemned to a relationship that must combine competition and cooperation. For the United States, exceptionalism now includes working with the Chinese to help produce global public goods, while also defending values such as human rights.

During times of crisis, the most effective leaders are those who can build solidarity by educating the public about its own interests. Sadly, in the case of COVID-19, the leaders of the world's two largest economies have gone in the opposite direction, all but ensuring that the crisis will deepen.