Robert McMahon is managing editor of the Council on Foreign Relations' (CFR) Emmy-winning website, CFR.org, and cohosts a weekly foreign affairs podcast, The World Next Week. He has covered international...
Transition 2021: Biden and the World
President-Elect Joe Biden will enter the White House after four years of upheaval for U.S. foreign policy. CFR offers a full suite of resources to help navigate the transition.

Photo: cdn-live.foreignaffairs.com
Donald Trump is using all the powers of his presidency and creating a host of problems for the incoming Biden administration.
In this episode of the Transition 2021 series of The President’s Inbox podcast, James M. Lindsay and CFR President Richard Haass assess the world that Biden will inherit.
President-Elect Joe Biden will face a suite of challenges on the global stage, from nuclear tensions with North Korea to coordinating a response to the ongoing pandemic.
Charles A. Kupchan is professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of “Isolationism: A History of America’s Efforts...
President-Elect Joe Biden has his work cut out for himself in his effort to restore allies’ trust in U.S. foreign policy.
Joe Biden is about to inherit a trade dispute that gives him an early chance to show whether he will break not just with Donald Trump, but with the …
A successful candidate for president of the United States has plenty of choices to make. He can select his vice president, the members of his …
The world is looking to the United States for leadership again. Over the course of 2020, Americans have been awash with uncertainty as the nation …
Talent flight, institutional stagnation, and ever-evolving policy challenges such as COVID-19 overwhelm a beleaguered State Department. American diplomacy requires serious changes, starting with institutional...
In this episode of The President's Inbox podcast, Matthias Matthijs and Sheila A. Smith join James M. Lindsay to assess the prospects for repairing America’s relations with allies in Europe and Asia.
Elected but not yet in office, Joseph R. Biden is already strategizing how to best fulfill his campaign promises, one of the most prominent being …
This page is an archive of coverage of the 2020 election, which was made possible in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. For …
It's no coincidence that while congratulations for Joe Biden's victory in the U.S. presidential race came quickly from Western …
In the midst of a pandemic, the world’s oldest democracy just experienced one of the most unprecedented elections in its history. Although recounts, …
A return to provocations as North Korea’s primary mechanism for drawing international attention would signal weakness, not strength.
Each Friday, I look at what is happening in President-Elect Joe Biden’s transition to the White House. This week: Trump puts the transition process …
America is one country and two nations. They will have to coexist; whether they can work together remains to be seen. As I write this, officials …
Female and LGBTQ soldiers may face more danger from their colleagues than their enemies. Here’s what the president-elect can do. In April this year, …
The United States can only promote human rights abroad if it begins from a position of humility, acknowledging that the struggle to make America a …
The president-elect knows only too well the failures of all the presidents who preceded him, and the hardening of positions that's occurred on both sides. In the twilight of the Trump administration, of...
Experts from leading global think tanks welcome the prospect of a Biden administration restoring long-standing U.S. alliances and commitments to …
Beyond his bluster on migration and trade, Donald Trump actually asked little of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. That will change under Joe Biden. A new …
In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, technology firms and the U.S. government took steps to prevent and combat election interference in …
U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden begins a turbulent ten-week transition, Armenians and Azeris react to a Russia-brokered peace agreement, and the …
Although the election appears to have gone smoothly from a cybersecurity standpoint, there is still time for adversaries to undermine the peaceful …
Biden's return to a conventional alliance management approach could shed light on cracks in the U.S.-South Korea alliance previously obfuscated by …
Biden’s election victory is a huge win for all who care about the living planet. The hard part will be delivering on his ambitious agenda. In my …
It’s been almost two weeks since the voting stopped, and by most accounts 2020 was the most secure election in modern times. Much credit goes to the …