Foreign policy encompasses a state’s long-term management of international relations. It includes a broad range of issues, including defense and security, economic interests, global governance, and humanitarian concerns. States employ a variety of means to pursue these interests, from military alliances and diplomacy to aid programs and foreign investment. They also develop their international institutions based on principles of democracy and liberal values. These institutions are the foundation of international cooperation, making them key to the stability and prosperity of the world.
Historically, the United States sought to prevent any power from dominating the centers of strategic power in Europe and Asia, leading it to fight two world wars and spend four decades engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Union and later Russia. Now, however, America’s relative position in the world is uncontested. The question now is how the country manages that extraordinary power.
To do so, the administration must ensure that American leadership is sustained by ensuring that its actions are in the interests of others. It must promote peace and stability through a combination of diplomacy and force, with the latter limited to cases where it is clearly necessary. The administration must also build partnerships with rising powers that seek to advance their own interests, avoiding the pitfalls of the Cold War by moving beyond confrontation and into collaboration.
In the future, the United States must continue to cultivate its global network and nurture common interests with a world of more than 180 countries and their citizens. This will require a reorientation toward new and emerging priorities, such as addressing climate change, fighting terrorism and rising extremism, resolving regional crises, and countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.