logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2023
39m 19s

The Fault Lines in U.S. Foreign Policy

Foreign Affairs Magazine
About this episode

There’s a near consensus today that U.S. foreign policy has entered a new era. But how to define and navigate this new era is much less clear. 

Richard Fontaine, the CEO of the Center for a New American Security, has held senior positions across the U.S. government—in the Senate, at the State Department and National Security Council, and as an adviser to John McCain, the Republican senator and presidential candidate. There are few people who can offer as informed and comprehensive a view of U.S. foreign policy, especially at a moment when the United States is rethinking its own strategic objectives and sometimes struggling to find new ways of pursuing them.

We discuss the objectives behind the United States’ China policy, democratic backsliding in India, and a potential Republican foreign policy platform. 

Sources:

Election Interference Demands a Collective Defense” by Richard Fontaine

The Myth of Neutrality” by Richard Fontaine 

Washington’s Missing China Strategy” by Richard Fontaine

The Case Against Foreign Policy Solutionism” by Richard Fontaine

 

If you have feedback, email us at podcast@foreignaffairs.com. 

 

The Foreign Affairs Interview is produced by Kate Brannen, Julia Fleming-Dresser, and Molly McAnany; original music by Robin Hilton. Special thanks to Grace Finlayson, Nora Revenaugh, Caitlin Joseph, Asher Ross, Gabrielle Sierra, and Markus Zakaria. 

Up next
Yesterday
The Reeducation of Russia’s Military
Ever since Russia started its war in Ukraine, assessments of its military power have vacillated wildly. First, Russian forces were supposed to overrun Ukraine and crush any resistance in a matter of days. Then, they were thought to be so weak that a Ukrainian counteroffensive or ... Show More
53m 13s
Oct 2
Xi Jinping's Successor and the Future of China
When Xi Jinping took over the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, he began a new chapter in China’s history—one that would come to be defined above all by his grip on power. Xi overhauled not only the CCP but also China’s economy, military, and role in the world. Yet no matter how s ... Show More
48 m
Sep 25
Poland’s View From the Frontline of Europe
In early September, around 20 Russian drones entered Poland’s airspace. NATO and Polish forces scrambled fighter jets to shoot them down, but not before several had traveled hundreds of miles into Polish territory. To Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, the incursion was not ... Show More
41m 25s
Recommended Episodes
May 2023
Is America’s China Policy Shifting?
Recent statements by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have dominated discussions in political circles in Washington. Is America’s China policy shifting? Is the White House adapting its approach based on feedback from Europe? FP executive ... Show More
37m 18s
Apr 2021
The Economist Asks: Henry Kissinger
How does the best-known veteran of foreign policy view the great global standoff today? Henry Kissinger is a titan of US politics — as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor in the Nixon and Ford administrations he brokered detente with the Soviet Union and orchestrated ... Show More
42 m
Feb 2023
Grading Biden's Foreign Policy
Biden Foreign Policy : Two years into his first term, how has U.S. President Joe Biden fared on foreign policy? FP’s Ravi Agrawal discusses the Biden administration’s foreign-policy successes and failures, with Stephen Wertheim, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for Inter ... Show More
31m 13s
Mar 2024
How the Campaign Trail Impacts Foreign Policy
Foreign policy is not typically a priority for the American voter. And yet, the outcome of the upcoming U.S. election will have an outsized impact on world affairs. How are allies and adversaries alike weighing the 2024 election? Former diplomat Richard Haass joins Ravi Agrawal t ... Show More
43m 11s
Feb 2022
How bad could China-US relations get? With Rana Mitter
This week marks the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's visit to China. In 2022, there are warnings the US and China are entering a new Cold War, while the latter's relationship with Russia is strengthening. The New Statesman’s senior editor of China and global affairs, ... Show More
23m 33s
Aug 2022
U.S.-China tensions rise over Taiwan
As China continues its military drills around Taiwan, Oriana Skylar Mastro, Fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute and a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, explains why this is not just a show of force by China, but an actual combat rehearsal. Then, Richar ... Show More
40m 18s
Feb 2024
‘We Do Not Have an Iran Plan’
James Stavridis, a former NATO supreme allied commander and retired four-star admiral, sits down with Ravi Agrawal to share his insight on how Washington is navigating conflicts across two continents.Suggested reading:Thomas L. Friedman: A Biden Doctrine for the Middle East Is Fo ... Show More
48m 46s
Aug 2022
Should the United States Step Up or Back Off?
For much of the 20th century, the United States has toggled between two foreign policy impulses: to actively insert itself in the affairs of the world or to hang back and focus on its own domestic issues. Advocates of the two approaches to international relations have had various ... Show More
30m 33s
Feb 2023
What does Biden mean by “as long as it takes”? - with Richard Fontaine
On the topic of geopolitics, international flashpoints and the state of the war, a surprisingly optimistic Richard Fontaine returns to our podcast. Richard is the CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a bi-partisan foriegn policy think tank in Washington, DC. Prio ... Show More
59m 58s
Apr 2017
The Economist asks: Anne-Marie Slaughter
What works better in foreign policy: cooperation or coercion? North Korea and Russia pose a challenge to Western leaders in ways that hearken back to the power politics of the Cold War. But there are plenty of problems that don’t fit into that pattern, like cybersecurity, pandemi ... Show More
21m 8s