Power and Diplomacy

– U.S. Strategic Interests and Opportunities in the Biden Administration

Abstract

We have already witnessed the first messages and the preliminary contours of planned action since Joe Biden took office, while in some regards Washington was under direct pressure to act. When taking over presidential power, international politics and strategic processes required immediate and decisive action to tackle the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, Biden started to reforge allied relations and multilateral institutions despite the difficulties inherited from the Trump administration regarding the shortcomings of the professional administration apparatus and the transfer of power. Having these aims in mind, the first personal foreign trip of the president took him to European allies. This analysis examines the foreign and security policy options of the Biden administration based on U.S. strategic interests, also identifying a likely scenario regarding individual issues, taking the current circumstances into consideration. Even though this aspect of our analysis will be subjective, thus we deem to offer an analysis that goes beyond those “weightless” analyses that only provide an – ideologically or politically motivated – overview of the administration’s options.