The lesson to draw from our conflict over China policy is not that Australia is having trouble identifying its national interest, but that there’s really no such thing as a single national interest.
Analysis of US survey data finds that white people who hold racist views are more likely than others to favor military action over diplomacy in China and Iran, and to endorse the global war on terror.
Gender equality doesn’t top any country’s international agenda – yet. But ever more countries, including the US, are starting to discern that women’s rights really are human rights.
A scholar of global relations says China seems worried about its future. Meanwhile, the US and Europe still treat China as a threat. The clash of world views could be destabilizing.
While South Africa should pay careful attention to all its existing trade and economic relations, particular attention should go to its intra-African economic relations.
Former presidents Obasanjo and Mbeki have arguably made the most important contribution to Africa in the 21st Century by promoting peace, democracy, regional integration and pan-Africanism.
Investigations of the 9/11 attacks show that a short, unstable transition between two presidents can weaken US security. Trump’s sweeping staff changes compound the risk, experts say.
It’s been said that empathy is Joe Biden’s superpower. A therapeutic approach to foreign policy under Biden might go a long way in easing tensions around the world exacerbated by Donald Trump.
Biden and Trump are like night and day on foreign policy, and American global engagement would change radically under a Biden presidency. But actual Mideast policy might show only cosmetic changes.
It’s all in the details: the wide-ranging powers hinge on the yet-to-be-defined ‘institutional autonomy’ of foreign partners that enter into agreements with Australian public universities.
Klaus W. Larres, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In 2016 Trump promised to ‘shake the rust off America’s foreign policy.’ Four years later, it’s clearer what that looks like: a US that sits on the sidelines of world crises and collaborations alike.