Global Governance, Power & Security, United States A New Geostrategic Environment Demands New Principles for U.S. Multilateral Diplomacy

In his first month in office, President Biden has taken important first steps “to begin restoring American engagement internationally and earn back our leadership position, to catalyze global action on shared challenges.” The new administration has rejoined the Paris Agreement, reengaged the World Health Organization, returned (as observers) to the U.N. Human Rights Council and reached an agreement with Russia on the extension of the New START Treaty. The Biden team should be lauded for these quick moves.

While these moves are both symbolic and substantive, they are not sufficient to achieve Biden’s goal of “repair[ing] our alliances and engag[ing] with the world once again, not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s.” To restore the effectiveness of America’s multilateral diplomacy, the United States must recognize and respond to a radically transformed geostrategic environment with a new approach to the multilateral architecture—the array of international institutions and international legal commitments that structure cooperation and competition with other countries.

Read more in Lawfare >>