BSF Discussion: The World after the US Elections
Discussion points:
- Say Biden wins. What would be his first foreign policy priority?
- Trump emerges victorious. Which policies of his Administration are pursued in 2021?
- Is the trans-Atlantic alliance destined to fall if Trump gets reelected?
- With a more assertive China, is a confrontation with the US – disregarding who wins in November – inevitable?
- What are core American interests in the wider region of South East Europe? Is Greece the new Turkey?
- How important are internal developments in the US and how do they affect the ability to conduct a comprehensive foreign policy?
It seems – although our memory has become short in the era of the Internet – that no American president has been such a polarizing figure as Trump. Four years of his term are behind us. He may not have changed America, but he did strongly influence the liberal order; he questioned alliances and sought rapid success in foreign policy. However, if at the beginning of 2020, his supporters were optimistic about the chances of re-election, things are now – six months after the outbreak of the worst pandemic since the Spanish flu – different. Biden has the advantage and seeks to widen that gap in the context of riots caused by police brutality and racial tensions. It will sound like a phrase uttered a million times, but the elections on November 3 will be the most anticipated in history. Researchers and decision-makers believe that it will have the most direct impact on the region, where we have witnessed a kind of “pivot” in US politics in the past two years. Is it really so, and how high is the region of the Western Balkans on the list of incumbents/or future president priorities, we will ask our guest speakers.