February 5, 2021

Brookings experts analyze President Biden's first foreign policy speech

In his first major foreign policy address as president, Joe Biden declared: "America is back." Experts react to what the president said on Russia, China, refugees, and more, as well as how his remarks might be interpreted overseas.

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The Trans-Atlantic Scorecard

In the tenth edition of our quarterly evaluation of U.S.-European relations, experts see trans-Atlantic ties as buoyed by the election of Joe Biden, but still damaged by the past four years.

View the scorecard

Advancing multilateralism in a populist age

Thomas Wright looks at multilateralism in the United States and Europe at a time when populism and nationalism are strong forces in many of the major powers, and identifies three pathways that multilateralism might take.

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The Middle East

The war in Yemen. "It is time to stop the carnage in Yemen," writes Bruce Riedel; halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and freezing the foreign terrorist organization designation are the right moves. 

U.S.-Turkey relations. Nicholas Danforth argues that Turkey presents the Biden administration not with a relationship to be restored, but with an unsolvable foreign policy problem to be managed.

A new Syria policy. The Biden administration has an opportunity to reengage with the diplomatic process in Syria and identify a new framework to end the suffering of its people, contend Jeffrey Feltman and Hrair Balian.

International affairs

National security and climate. In light of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's remarks that the Pentagon will treat climate change as a national security issue, Brookings President John R. Allen and Bruce Jones outline climate's effects on the dynamics of U.S. leadership.

State fragility. In responding to the challenge of fragile states, the United States should find common ground among Western donors and compete for high-standards influence against China, Russia, and others, argue Alexandre Marc and Bruce Jones.

Summit for Democracy. To inspire greater cooperation among democracies, Washington should show its capacity for self-correction through domestic reforms and consult with its democratic friends on a global democratic renewal agenda, writes Ted Piccone. 

Africa's economies. On an episode of the Dollar & Sense podcast, Aloysius Uche Ordu joins David Dollar to discuss the findings of a new report that offers recommendations for supporting a strong, sustainable, and successful Africa. 

Migration's root causes. In Central America, explains Charles Call, economic problems, violence, worsening corruption, and challenges to democracy all drive migrants to the United States.