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21. Rome’s moment: Draghi, multilateralism, and Italy’s new strategy

Author:
Teresa Coratella and Arturo Varvelli
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
Abstract:
Italy is set to play a defining role in the use of the EU recovery fund, whose success or failure will likely shape European integration for years to come. Under Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the country is focused on dealing with the pandemic while promoting Italian and European interests as president of the G20 and co-chair of COP26. The Draghi government is shifting the priorities of Italian foreign policy towards the European Union, the transatlantic relationship, and multilateralism more broadly. This marks a break with the approaches of the previous two governments, which were intent on partnership with China and Russia. Draghi’s Italy will work primarily alongside other EU member states – particularly on health security, climate, and economic and infrastructure development – but could also act as a bridge between competing great powers. In doing so, Italy has an opportunity to position itself closer to the Franco-German engine and to help construct a multilateral system in which the EU and the US are equal partners.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Multilateralism, Recovery, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Europe and Italy

22. Implications of the 2020 US Presidential Election on the EU and Czech Climate Policy

Author:
Aneta Navrátilová
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Europeum Institute for European Policy
Abstract:
More than anything, 2020 will be remembered for fighting against the world-wide Covid-19 pandemic which has reshaped all of our societies in dramatic ways. Once again, it has highlighted a latent conflict between nation-states and sovereignty, real or perceived, on one hand, and international, if not supranational, cooperation and multilateralism on the other. The crisis exacerbated existing conflicts between nationalists and national conservatives, prominently predisposed towards isolationism, exemplified most acutely in Trump’s America First agenda, and progressives and liberals on the other hand arguing for deepening integration, strengthening multilateralism, and international cooperation to tackle global crises. The US elections became emblematic of this wider, more fundamental struggle, as well as the societal polarization that, to varying degrees, haunts the rest of the developed world. Yet, with a Trump soundly rejected in a landslide election loss, one can wonder whether his loss portends similar rejections of populism and national conservatism across the globe. The 2020 US presidential election was unprecedented, fevered, divisive, and emotional for various reasons. Firstly, the Republican ticket of incumbent President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence was defeated. Secondly, Joe Biden obtained the largest share of the people’s vote against his opponent and the highest turnout in the last one hundred years was reached in this year’s election, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, referring to an increased concern about future direction of the US. And lastly, as Biden won the election with flying colours, the whole world is now contemplating what will change. Not only on the domestic level, but also the international one.
Topic:
Climate Change, Multilateralism, and Presidential Elections
Political Geography:
Europe, North America, Czech Republic, and United States of America

23. EU Strategic Priorities for a ‘New Multilateralism’: a follow-up to the European Commission-EEAS Communication

Author:
Spyros Blavoukos and George Pagoulatos
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
All major contemporary challenges, be they environmental, digital, public health or demographic, are cross-national and transnational in nature, necessitating multilateral, cross-border solutions. The EU envisages a world system collaborating more closely and tightly to combat global challenges old and new, like the Covid-19 pandemic and global recession. We follow up on the recent European Commission and EEAS Communication by proposing three key strategic priorities for the EU’s international engagement in the years to come. The EU should make it a priority to improve the performance of all international organizations (IOs), focusing on the most important ones and those in which it has the greatest leverage. The EU should seek to engage with running IOs, to reform IOs and to allocate more resources. The EU should address the weaponization of asymmetric interdependence by taking action at a global multilateral, cross-regional and intra-EU level. Developing EU strategic autonomy should focus on security, AI, digital technology, sustainability and cyber warfare, also by cooperating with like-minded allies like the US. Strengthening the global role of the euro is part of the strategy. The EU should economize resources by prioritizing key regions (Africa and MENA) and key IOs. Finally, promoting rules-based multilateralism at global level requires defending its benefits for European citizens at home.
Topic:
Communications, European Union, Multilateralism, COVID-19, Strategic Autonomy, and European Commission
Political Geography:
Europe

24. A Vanishing West in the Middle East: The Recent History of U.S.-Europe Cooperation in the Region

Author:
Charles Thépaut
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
To encourage a new multilateralism, Europe will need to gain credibility on hard security matters, the United States will need to reimagine how it deals with allies, and both will need to figure out when to let Middle East countries handle Middle East problems. Since the end of the Cold War, developments in the Middle East have frequently caused tension between the United States and Europe, from the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the Arab uprisings of 2011 and Washington’s 2018 decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal. Today, the Biden administration is reasserting its desire to reduce America’s regional footprint, even as its predecessors struggled to realize a similar goal. At the same time, the United States and Europe share an interest in a stable Middle East where governments keep energy supplies steady and contain threats posed by jihadism and mass refugee flows. In this illuminating book—copublished by The Washington Institute and I.B. Tauris—French diplomat Charles Thépaut examines thirty years of transatlantic cooperation in the region and proposes a more manageable and effective path forward. To encourage a new multilateralism, he explains, Europe will need to gain credibility on hard security matters, the United States will need to reimagine how it deals with allies, and both parties will need to figure out when to step aside and let Middle East countries handle Middle East problems. "After a decade over which the Middle East was profoundly shaken and transformed, over which U.S. foreign policy toward this region went through various revisions, and over which the transatlantic bond risked serious erosion, this book offers serious answers to questions with a bearing on the future: Is there still one ‘West,’ at least in relation to an ‘East’? What remains of the strategic interest the Middle East represents for both America and Europe? Charles Thépaut’s unique position, as a French diplomat working on the Middle East from Washington DC, gives this work irreplaceable value."
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Multilateralism, Strategic Competition, and Military
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and United States of America

25. Europe’s last chance: How the EU can (and should) become the indispensable actor in Venezuela’s democratic restoration

Author:
Ryan C. Berg and Jorge González-Gallarza
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
The EU’s current policy approach toward Venezuela is insufficient to contribute meaningfully to a political transition in the country and protect human rights. Oftentimes, the EU’s policy has been at odds with the US, having permitted unrelated disagreements to cloud its recognition of its strategic interest in a free, prosperous, and democratic Venezuela. The Nicolas Maduro regime’s illicit investment schemes have found fertile ground in the EU at large, with a particular hotspot in Spain. A torrent of investments and acquisitions has allowed corrupt cronies in Maduro’s entourage to engage in unfathomable kleptocracy and stash their ill-gotten gains in the eurozone, vitiating the rule of law in the process. The EU consistently underappreciates the Maduro regime’s multi-faceted security threat, which intersects with and compounds many of the EU’s greatest geostrategic challenges in the post-COVID-19 landscape. China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia are all at once strategic rivals of the EU and enablers of the Maduro regime’s threat to its security. The Joe Biden administration’s commitment to multilateral engagement in Venezuela offers the EU a chance to reclaim transatlantic cooperation and present a common vision for political transition in the country. Beefing up sanctions and developing a coordination mechanism, as well as drumming up humanitarian aid, would constitute serious progress and potentially thrust the EU into the role of indispensable actor in Venezuela’s democratic restoration.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Sanctions, European Union, Democracy, Multilateralism, and Hugo Chavez
Political Geography:
Europe, Latin America, Spain, and Venezuela

26. Three Dilemmas Facing the Indo-Pacific’s Regional Order

Author:
Arzan Tarapore
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
For decades, an international order delivered security and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific. The order was based on U.S. military hegemony and alliances that preserved the strategic status quo and multilateral cooperation that enabled economic development and growth. That order is now under strain. The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging the order’s founding principles, prompting some regional states to limit their interdependency in certain sensitive sectors under the guise of supply chain resilience. The pandemic was not the first challenge to test the order; serious threats began to emerge over a decade ago, with the global financial crisis of 2008, and were sharply exacerbated by China’s economic rise and strategic revisionism, which threatens U.S. military and economic primacy and the territorial status quo. The United States, India, and like-minded middle-power partners from the Indo-Pacific and Europe have struggled to respond effectively. The other contributions in this series on navigating U.S.-China competition in the Indo-Pacific show how these states have sought to recover from the pandemic while also answering structural threats of revisionism and economic headwinds from decoupling, protectionism and changing integration patterns. Cutting across those specific policy issues are three overarching dilemmas that each state will be forced to resolve when making policy. How policymakers navigate these dilemmas will define the policy settings of their regional strategy.
Topic:
Security, Economic Growth, Multilateralism, Regional Integration, Economic Development, Strategic Competition, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
China, Europe, South Asia, India, United States of America, and Indo-Pacific

27. The World After the Pandemic: European Unity and the Challenge of Reviving Multilateralism

Author:
Sonia Bianconi
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Covid-19 has dramatically re-focussed the world’s attention on the adverse implications of globalisation. Coming on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis, the global pandemic has further weakened the image and credibility of the United States, causing the West to lose appeal compared to a more authoritarian but equally efficient East.
Topic:
Globalization, Politics, European Union, Multilateralism, Institutions, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Europe, and United States of America

28. Covid-19 and the Multilateral System: What Role for the EU?

Author:
Roberto Baccarini
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Covid-19 represents a critical juncture for the European Union. The crisis catalysed the weakening of the post-Cold War international order and the emergence of a multipolar world, presenting Europe with significant, even existential challenges.
Topic:
Politics, European Union, Multilateralism, Institutions, Transatlantic Relations, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Europe

29. Sea Change? The Impact of the US Presidential Election on Central and South-Eastern European Security and Defence

Author:
Corina Rebegea, Wojciech Michnik, and Ivan Vejvoda
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
LSE IDEAS
Abstract:
This LSE IDEAS report assesses the likely impact of the new Biden administration on security and defence in the Black Sea, Balkan and Central European regions. The report finds grounds for optimism but also for managing expectations. President Biden's support for multilateral security approaches is likely to strengthen NATO and regional cooperation, particularly on Russia, but the region cannot expect to be the US' top priority. A return to values-based diplomacy under Biden, too, may put pressure on democratically-backsliding allies to whom his predecessor turned a blind eye.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, NATO, Diplomacy, Elections, and Multilateralism
Political Geography:
Europe, North America, and United States of America

30. Unpacking open strategic autonomy: From concept to practice

Author:
Luuk Molthof, Dick Zandee, and Giulia Cretti
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
Abstract:
Amidst the weakening of the multilateral system, the rise of multipolarity, and the Covid-19 pandemic, the concept of European strategic autonomy (ESA) has gained considerable traction. In fact, according to European Council President Charles Michel, the strategic independence of Europe is ‘our new common project for this century’ and ‘goal number one for our generation’. Long seen as a French pipedream, and first applied in 2013 to Europe’s defence and security policy, the ambition of strategic autonomy is now backed by a growing number of member states and is increasingly applied to a broad range of policy areas, including industrial and trade policy.
Topic:
Multilateralism, Trade Policy, COVID-19, and Strategic Autonomy
Political Geography:
Europe