What’s Next after the US Inauguration? Trends and Predictions in American Foreign Policy

Against the backdrop of Inauguration Day, all eyes are set on how the US government will address major challenges in the international arena. From climate change to trade wars, the coronavirus to civil unrest, the US faces outsized and evolving global threats. Will 2021 signal a new shift in policies for the US? What guiding principles will orient America’s role in the world? What issues are likely to be at the top of the agenda for the president and for Congress, and how will the decisions they make affect the UK and other countries? In this panel discussion, five leading experts—Kelly M. Greenhill (Tufts University), Patrick Steel (POLITICO), Joseph C. Sternberg (Wall Street Journal), Peter Trubowitz (LSE), and Leslie Vinjamuri (Chatham House)—will analyze the directions of American foreign policy in the wake of the recent US elections.

Speakers:

Kelly M. Greenhill is professor of political science and international relations at Tufts University and a research fellow at Harvard University. During the 2020-21 academic year, she is a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor, based at SOAS in London. Greenhill is the author of “Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion, and Foreign Policy” (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs, 2010), as well as numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals. Her research and commentary have appeared in national and international media outlets, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Affairs, and the BBC.

Patrick M. Steel is the Chief Executive Officer of POLITICO. Steel’s portfolio includes oversight of operations, strategy, and growth. He came to POLITICO from FBR Capital Markets & Co., where he was Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Capital Markets. Prior to joining FBR & Co., Steel was the Associate Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He also served as Senior Advisor on the White House China Trade Relations Working Group. From 1997-1999, Steel served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. Prior, he was a special assistant to President Bill Clinton. Steel is a graduate of UCL. 

Joseph C. Sternberg is a member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, where he writes the Political Economics column. His areas of focus include macroeconomics, monetary and trade policies, and European politics. He joined the Journal in 2006 as an editorial writer in Hong Kong, covering China and Japan and editing the Business Asia column. He was previously an editorial writer at The New York Sun and managing editor of The Public Interest, both in Washington, D.C. He is the author of "The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole the Millennials’ Economic Future" (PublicAffairs, 2019), examining the consequences of the Great Recession.

Peter Trubowitz is a Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, Director of the US Centre at LSE, and Associate Fellow at Chatham House. Before joining the LSE, Trubowitz was Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin.  He has also held visiting positions at Harvard, Princeton, and the University of California at San Diego. His books include “Politics and Strategy: Partisan Ambition and American Statecraft” (Princeton University Press, 2011) and “Defining the National Interest: Conflict and Change in American Foreign Policy” (Chicago Press, 1998), 

Leslie Vinjamuri is Director of the US and the Americas programme and Dean of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. She is a Reader (Associate Professor) in International Relations at SOAS University of London. Her book “Human Rights Futures” (edited with Jack Snyder and Stephen Hopgood) was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. She has published numerous articles in leading journals of international affairs and is a regular contributor to the international news media.

Moderator: Jonathan Monten, UCL Centre on US Politics