The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ annual survey of American voters shows that for the first time in nearly 50 years, a majority of Republicans prefer an isolationist approach to foreign policy. Before the Trump presidency, the Republican Party was more likely to support an active U.S. presence in the world.
Former U.S. ambassador to NATO and the CEO of the Chicago Council Ivo Daalder joins Ravi Agrawal to discuss the survey and what it could mean for the 2024 election. You can listen to Daalder’s podcast, “World Review,” here.
Suggested reading:
Survey: Majority of Trump Republicans Prefer the United States Stay Out of World Affairs
Edward Alden: A Self-Absorbed America Means Disorder for the World
Doug Klain: How Europe Can Prepare for a Second Trump Term—Now
Anna Merlan: Trump’s International Fan Club Descends on Maryland

For more podcasts, check out: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510333/throughline
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Is America Becoming Isolationist?

Feb. 24 marks two years since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. The conflict has changed the face of Europe and set off a protracted war that has had ramifications reaching far beyond its borders. 
Could Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy of waiting out the West prove successful, or can Western leaders rally to continue supporting a drawn-out war? What would a future peace deal look like? 
NATO’s former secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, argues that Western leaders need to continue to supply Ukraine with weapons—and quickly, before the war results in further instability. He joined FP’s Ravi Agrawal ahead of the war’s second anniversary to discuss the state of the conflict, lessons learned, and what the future might hold for Ukraine.
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Anders Fogh Rasmussen on a Grim Anniversary for Ukraine

Economics is sometimes called the “dismal science.” But the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a surprisingly positive outlook for the U.S. economy—even if public sentiment hasn’t yet caught up. Host Ravi Agrawal discusses the state of the global economy with Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s first deputy managing director. The two begin with Gopinath’s latest essay in Foreign Policy about trade fragmentation and fears of a new Cold War. 
Suggested reading:
Gita Gopinath: How Policymakers Should Handle a Fragmenting World
Adam Posen: America’s Zero-Sum Economics Doesn’t Add Up
Adam Tooze: The IMF is an anchor adrift in a changing world economy
And FP is looking for a new producer of this show. If you’d like to work with us, please check out the job description: https://foreignpolicy.com/employment-opportunities/. 
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Gita Gopinath on the Global Economy

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 Forming. And It’s Big.
Keith Johnson: The Houthis’ Next Target May Be Underwater
Stephen J. Hadley and Richard Fontaine: Americans Need Domestic Unity for Effective Foreign Policy
FP Live: ‘We Do Not Have an Iran Plan’

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‘We Do Not Have an Iran Plan’

A drone strike by an Iran-backed militant group, which resulted in the deaths of three U.S. service members, threatens to push the Middle East into a wider regional conflict. Iran has distanced itself from the attack, while President Biden has said that the U.S. will respond.
Middle East experts Vali Nasr and Sanam Vakil join Ravi Agrawal to discuss what Tehran might be thinking at this moment. Nasr is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Vakil is the director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program.
Suggested reading:
Jack Detsch: 3 Options for How Biden Could Respond to Iran
Adam Weinstein and Steven Simon: U.S. Troops Are Dangerously Vulnerable in the Middle East
Ravi Agrawal: Ian Bremmer: Attack on U.S. Troops a ‘Red Line’ for Biden
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What Is Tehran Thinking?

Geopolitical analyst Ian Bremmer joins Ravi Agrawal to forecast the world ahead in 2024. From expanding conflict in the Middle East and a potentially partitioned Ukraine to a more optimistic take on the rise of artificial intelligence, listen in to hear his predictions.
Suggested reading:
Jack Detsch: 3 Options for How Biden Could Respond to Iran
Jared Cohen and Ian Bremmer: The Global Credibility Gap
Adam Weinstein and Steven Simon: U.S. Troops Are Dangerously Vulnerable in the Middle East
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A ‘Red Line’ for Biden?

Taiwan’s recent election resulted in the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party retaining power, prompting China-watchers to wonder how Beijing might respond. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, shares his insights with host Ravi Agrawal.
Suggested reading:
Hal Brands and Michael Beckley: China Is a Declining Power–and That’s the Problem
James Palmer: Taiwan’s New President Won’t Placate China
Howard W. French: The Reason China Can’t Stop Its Decline
The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party: Reset, Prevent, Build: A Strategy to Win America’s Economic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party
The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party: Ten for Taiwan: Policy Recommendations to Preserve Peace and Stability in the Taiwan Strait
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How America is Viewing Taiwan’s Election

Host Ravi Agrawal sits down with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for a special one-on-one conversation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 
Suggested reading:
The Economist’s Country of the Year for 2023
Elisabeth Braw: In the Red Sea, the Royal Navy Is Back
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FP at Davos: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis

The rise of artificial intelligence, and its potential risk to the democratic process, is top of mind in a year of record elections. From mis- and disinformation to deepfake videos, this emerging technology could dramatically shape election outcomes. How should policymakers and tech companies work together to combat this threat? Host Ravi Agrawal moderated a panel discussion titled “Protecting Democracy Against Bots and Plots” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Panelists:
Jan Lipavský is the foreign minister for the Czech Republic.
Smriti Zubin Irani is India’s minister of women and child development. 
André Kudelski is the CEO of the Kudelski Group.
Alexandra Reeve Givens is the CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology.
Matthew Prince is the co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare.

Suggested reading:
Ravi Agrawal: The Year the World Votes
Rishi Iyengar: What AI Will Do to Elections
Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The Specter of Nationalism
Jan-Werner Müller: The Myth of Social Media and Populism
Leslie Vinjamuri: What Another Trump-Biden Showdown Means for the World
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FP at Davos: The Year the World Votes

Jan. 15 marks 100 days since the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people. Israel then retaliated by launching a ground invasion of Gaza. More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, and numerous others face a dire humanitarian crisis. 
After months of conflict and mounting international pressure, Israel announced on Jan. 1 that it would begin to pull some troops back from Gaza. But the war’s reverberations continue to threaten the stability of the larger region as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon rise and the United States responds to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Hezbollah and the Houthis are both backed by Iran. 
Host Ravi Agrawal revisits conversations with experts on all sides of this conflict as we enter a new phase of the war.
Suggested reading:
Jon Hoffman: U.S. Middle East Policy Has Failed
Elisabeth Braw: In the Red Sea, the Royal Navy Is Back
Amy Mackinnon: How the Gaza War Could Shape Global Politics in 2024
Raphael S. Cohen: The Trouble With a Cease-Fire
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Israel-Hamas War: 100 Days Later

With wars in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the world begins the new year on high alert. Comfort Ero, the president of the International Crisis Group, joins Ravi Agrawal to share her analysis of the state of the world, building on her annual essay in Foreign Policy. 
Suggested reading:
Comfort Ero and Richard Atwood: 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2024
FP Contributors: 8 Simmering Threats You Shouldn’t Ignore in 2024
FP Contributors: 5 Issues to Watch in 2024
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10 Conflicts to Watch in 2024

We already know that 2024 will be the year that more people vote than in any other time in history. That’s an easy prediction to make. But what other global trends will impact the world this year? FP columnist and Harvard University professor Stephen M. Walt sits down with Ravi Agrawal to look ahead at the next 12 months.
Suggested reading:
Allison Meakem: Elections to Watch in 2024
Comfort Ero and Richard Atwood: 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2024
FP Contributors: 5 Issues to Watch in 2024
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The World in 2024

From wars on two continents to U.S. competition with China and the rise of artificial intelligence, 2023 has been yet another impactful year. FP Live looks back on the year with columnist and political scientist Stephen M. Walt. 
Suggested reading:
Stephen M. Walt: 5 Things in the World to Be Thankful for in 2023
Stephen M. Walt: Universities Shouldn’t Ever Take Sides in a War
Stephen M. Walt: The World Won’t Be the Same After the Israel-Hamas War
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Looking Back at 2023

FP Live host Ravi Agrawal is joined by Foreign Policy’s executive editor, Amelia Lestor, for another ask-me-anything episode. The two discuss the Biden administration’s foreign policy strategy, the wars in Europe and the Middle East, how FP covers these conflicts, and much more.
Suggested reading:
FP Contributors: How Will This War End? How Can the Next One Be Prevented?
Jared Cohen and Ian Bremmer: The Global Credibility Gap
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The Ask-Me-Anything Episode

Leaders from nearly 200 countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels at this year’s annual U.N. climate summit, known as COP28. But the agreement is nonbinding, and questions on how to finance such a transition remain unanswered. This week’s guest, however, might have those answers—and it all comes down to public-private partnerships, the reform of multilateral lenders, and better political will. 
Rajiv Shah served as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development under President Barack Obama. He is now president of the Rockefeller Foundation and the author of Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens.
Suggested reading:
Rajiv Shah: Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens
Christina Lu: Good COP or Bad COP?
Lili Pike: The Climate Envoys Who Could
Shayak Sengupta and Abhinav Jindal: Are Global Climate Partnerships Fit for Purpose?
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Good COP, Bad COP?

More than 16,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. As Israel resumes ground operations in Gaza, is there an end in sight?
Rashid Khalidi is the author of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance and a professor at Columbia University. He describes why he thinks decades of failures of diplomacy have led to this moment and why the Biden administration’s Middle East policy gets an “F” in his report card. 
Suggested reading:
FP Contributors: How Will This War End? How Can the Next One Be Prevented?
Tareq Baconi: What Was Hamas Thinking?
Steven A. Cook: Israel May End Up Reoccupying Gaza
Steven Simon and Aaron David Miller: Grading Biden on the Israel-Hamas War
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Grading Biden’s Middle East policy

The 28th edition of the international climate summit known as the Conference of the Parties—or COP—convened in Dubai this week, just as scientists announced that 2023 was likely to be the hottest year in human history. Host Ravi Agrawal spoke to Vijay Vaitheeswaran, the Global energy and climate innovation editor at The Economist, about what to expect.
Suggested reading:
Rajiv J. Shah: At COP28, the World Needs to Prioritize Financial Reform
Catherine Osborn: Will COP28 Jump-Start Latin America’s Green Energy Ambitions?
Shayak Sengupta: India Isn’t Interested in the West’s Climate Money
Vijay Vaitheeswarran: The Dark Side of Climate Finance

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A Primer for the International Climate Summit

What’s the most effective way to give to people in dire need?
Rory Stewart, a former U.K. cabinet official and the head of the charity GiveDirectly, discusses the power of unconditional cash transfers and how that could revolutionize attempts to combat poverty.
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How to Reboot Charity

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the United States for the first time in six years this week, announcing with U.S. President Joe Biden a range of new collaborations between the world’s two biggest economies. Host Ravi Agrawal convenes a panel to analyze takeaways from this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco and is joined by FP’s James Palmer, the Spectator’s Cindy Yu, and former Obama administration advisor Evan Medeiros.
Suggested reading:
Robbie Gramer: Biden and Xi Try the Personal Touch
James Palmer: Can Xi and Biden Repair U.S.-China Ties?
Agathe Demarais: Don’t Expect Much From Biden and Xi
Christina Lu: Beijing Tightens Its Grip on the Critical Minerals Sector
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Takeaways From the Biden-Xi Meeting

The State Department has a new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, and it’s run by Nathaniel Fick, a former cybersecurity executive and marine. Ambassador Fick joined the Biden administration to make sure that every department’s digital policy is connected up together. And his job is to make sure the White House can combat threats emerging from cyberspace and AI in the best possible way. Fick joins Ravi Agrawal to share his vision for this new department.
Suggested reading:
Ravi Agrawal: Why America Has a New Tech Ambassador
Rishi Iyengar: Biden Turns a Few More Screws on China’s Chip Industry
Rishi Iyengar: Inside the White House-Backed Effort to Hack AI
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