Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship

Former career Ambassador Victoria Nuland unwinds the tangle of issues around Russia, Ukraine, and Syria.

Testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment. Testimony by: Amanda Sloat, Robert Bosch Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

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.

President Trump’s Iran policy, even if it does not lead to war, is one of the worst examples of self-inflicted harm and collateral damage to the international community in the history of US foreign policy.

This article identifies the importance of NATO’s role as a facilitator of multinational collaboration. The Alliance’s established processes and standards worked well, enabling countries whose available resources might otherwise prohibit their participation to fully-contribute to the mission in Afghanistan.

When the July 24 congressional testimony of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III deflated the impeachment hopes of Democrats, President Trump crowed “no collusion” and claimed vindication from accusations that he had conspired with Russia in the 2016 election.

The UN Charter focuses on states as the central actors in the international system, defining as a multilateral action when three nation-states cooperate in a field of common interest. Today, nation-states are increasingly paralysed into inaction due to political divisions or great power rivalries. Hence, they are failing to effectively utilise collective action. Subnational entities are stepping into this vacuum to deliver on core functions embedded in the UN Charter, redefining effective collaboration on a transnational scale – what we call micro-multilateralism. Cities have emerged as particularly skilful champions of micro-multilateralism, even though their role as independent actors is not specifically addressed by the UN Charter. With 70 per cent of the world’s population projected to be urban by 2050, cities are now effectively tackling transnational issues once the prerogative of states.

The newly chosen leadership of the European Union (EU) must reform and deepen the EU and project its influence around the world. The state of innovation in Europe should be at the very top of their priority list. The digital economy is producing a G2 world, with the United States and China in the lead and Europe at a distant third. There is not one European firm among the world’s largest internet companies. Additionally, most technology unicorns are outside of the EU. Places like Shenzhen or Silicon Valley transfer significantly more technology to the market than their European counterparts. Allowing these trends to continue will be detrimental to Europe’s future generations for a number of reasons. The EU should establish a radically ambitious innovation and technology agenda.

As every year the General Assembly will have to address the multitude of problems in the world from the war in Yemen and the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, the turmoil in Venezuela to the challenges of development. But this year it must in addition focus on trends that threaten the very basis of world order.

John Bercow has become an unlikely international celebrity and YouTube star amid the heated, high-profile Parliamentary debate over Britain’s planned withdrawal from the European Union. Speaker of the House of Commons for a decade, Bercow has become famous for his sharp wit and scathing takedowns of rowdy colleagues, his bellowing calls for “Order!,” and his efforts to democratize Parliament by giving greater voice to backbenchers, or nonparty leaders. (A quick online search will yield several video compilations of him in action during the so-called Brexit deliberations.) Bercow, who has announced plans to step down from his post soon, was able to pay a visit to campus Monday to speak at the Harvard Kennedy School, in an event moderated by Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship. Parliament is currently on hiatus until Oct. 14, a decision made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is trying to rush Britain out of the EU by Oct. 31, with or without a transition agreement. In an interview with the Gazette, Bercow reflected on the Brexit discussions, what he does to relax, and the key qualities that make a great speaker.