U.S. Foreign Policy | Council on Foreign Relations

The End of World Order and American Foreign Policy

The United States should respond to the COVID-19 reordering moment and stop deterioration in the balance of power with China, bolster relations with India and Europe, and reform the way it deals with allies and partners.

Council Special Report by Robert D. Blackwill and Thomas Wright May 28, 2020

Higher Education Webinar: The Triumph and Peril of America’s Alliances

Mira Rapp-Hooper, CFR's Stephen A. Schwarzman senior fellow for Asia Studies and senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, discusses the U.S. system of alliances and its importance for national security.

Conference Call with Mira Rapp-Hooper Jun 18, 2020

Palestinian Territories

Plagues, War Criminals, and Palestinian Authority Views of the United States

Palestinian Authority officials have recently called President Biden a "war criminal" and the United States a "plague." Should U.S. assistance continue to pay for such insults?

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams September 10, 2024 Pressure Points
Venezuela

Oil Companies, Biden Policies, and Democracy in Venezuela

The activities of U.S. and European oil companies in Venezuela are helping the Maduro regime crush democracy there, and the Biden administration should now fully reimpose U.S. sanctions.

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams September 7, 2024 Pressure Points
Military Operations

"The Houthis Have Defeated the U.S. Navy," or, What is a Navy For?

The mission of the U.S. Navy has for centuries been to keep the sea lines of communication open, but the United States is abandoning that task in the Middle East today.

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams August 31, 2024 Pressure Points

Experts in this Keyword

Elliott Abrams

Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies

Edward Alden

Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow

Robert D. Blackwill

Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy

Max Boot

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies

Esther Brimmer

James H. Binger Senior Fellow in Global Governance

Thomas E. Donilon

Distinguished Fellow

Richard A. Falkenrath

Senior Fellow for National Security

Jendayi E. Frazer

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Studies

Will Freeman

Fellow for Latin America Studies

Gordon M. Goldstein

Adjunct Senior Fellow

Thomas Graham

Distinguished Fellow

Richard Haass

President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations

Martin S. Indyk

Lowy Distinguished Fellow in U.S.-Middle East Diplomacy (2018-2024)

Kenneth I. Juster

Distinguished Fellow

Daniel Kurtz-Phelan

Editor, Foreign Affairs; Peter G. Peterson Chair

Elise Labott

Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow

Farah Pandith

Adjunct Senior Fellow

Stephen Sestanovich

George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies

Ray Takeyh

Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies

Christopher M. Tuttle

Senior Fellow; Managing Director; Secretary of the Corporation

Matthew C. Waxman

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Law and Foreign Policy

Politics and Government

The Changing Role of Foreign Policy at the U.S. National Conventions

The quadrennial U.S. presidential nominating conventions often focus on domestic themes. But they have at times been flavored by global economic concerns and national security threats, offering competing Democratic and Republican visions about the United States’ role in the world. In the 2024 race, Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, and his challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris, are projecting starkly different worldviews.

Timeline by Jonathan Masters , Kevin Lizarazo and Jeremy Sherlick August 26, 2024
Venezuela

Carrots Need Sticks: The Biden Administration and the Case of Venezuela

The Biden administration appears to be offering Venezuelan dictator Maduro amnesty if he will leave power, but sticks as well as carrots will be needed to persuade him.

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams August 13, 2024 Pressure Points
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Is the “Two-State Solution” Still Viable?

Is the longstanding proposal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the “two-state solution,” still viable? A recent debate took on all the issues, and I argued for “no.”

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams August 6, 2024 Pressure Points
Venezuela

Can Maduro Be Negotiated Out of Venezuela?

The United States should try to find out if an offer of amnesty will persuade Venezuela's dictator to permit and respect the results of a free election on July 28.

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams July 19, 2024 Pressure Points
U.S. Foreign Policy

U.S. Diplomacy in the Middle East: "Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?"

U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East seems unaware of how U.S. power should be deployed to decrease the chances of war and to support U.S. allies.

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams July 9, 2024 Pressure Points
Venezuela

The United States and the Venezuelan Election

Every sign suggests that Venezuela's presidential election on July 28 will be stolen. Will the Biden administration then acknowledge that its policy toward Venezuela has failed--and change it?

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams July 6, 2024 Pressure Points
Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Program

At the Community of Democracies Meeting, the Biden Administration Downgraded Its Support for Democracy

By sending an acting deputy assistant secretary of state to represent the United States at the recent Community of Democracies meeting that the United States chaired, the Biden administration showed a lack of commitment to democracy.

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams June 15, 2024 Pressure Points
Middle East and North Africa

CFR Fellows’ Book Launch Series: The End of Ambition: America’s Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East by Steven Cook

In The End of Ambition, Steven A. Cook boldly claims that despite setbacks and moral costs, the United States has had a record of success in the Middle East. Yet, beginning in the 1990s, those achievements bred ambitious policies to remake the region that ended in failure and regional instability. While making the case that retrenchment is not the answer to America’s problems in the Middle East, Cook highlights how America’s interests in the region have begun to change and examines alternative approaches to U.S.-Middle East policy. The John B. Hurford Memorial Lecture was inaugurated in 2002 in memory of CFR member John B. Hurford, and features individuals who represent critical new thinking in international affairs and foreign policy.

Virtual Event by Steven A. Cook and James M. Lindsay June 12, 2024 John B. Hurford Memorial Lecture
Military Operations

Sea Power: The U.S. Navy and Foreign Policy

The U.S. Navy’s dominance of the world’s oceans has made it an indispensable foreign policy tool and a guarantor of global trade, but a mix of challenges is raising difficult questions about its future.

Backgrounder by Jonathan Masters June 12, 2024
China

How the United States Can Effectively Pivot to Asia

After the rise of Chinese power during the 2010s and failed U.S. policies in the Indo-Pacific, the United States should renew the Pivot to Asia and place the region at the center of its grand strategy.*

Expert Brief by Robert D. Blackwill and Richard Fontaine June 11, 2024 Asia Program
Asia

Lost Decade

Robert D. Blackwill and Richard Fontaine evaluate the limitations of the Pivot to Asia and offer a compelling vision for the future of U.S. foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific.

Book by Robert D. Blackwill and Richard Fontaine June 11, 2024 Asia Program
Middle East and North Africa

U.S. Policy in the Middle East, With Steven A. Cook

Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the United States’ past, present, and future policy in the Middle East.

Podcast with James M. Lindsay and Steven A. Cook June 4, 2024 The President’s Inbox