Realism and Liberal Internationalism after Trump: The Future of U.S. Foreign Policy in Transatlantic Perspective

The election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency of the United States has called into question some of the assumptions that have guided U.S. foreign policy since the nation's victory in World War II. On the one hand, realists have pointed to Trump as the necessary outcome of a U.S. foreign policy that was overambitious and unattuned to the inability of great powers to remake the world in their image. On the other hand, liberal internationalists have argued that Trump's foreign policy signals a crisis in the so-called "liberal international order" that, they argue, has defined world politics since 1945. This roundtable will interrogate these claims and explore what, if anything, is salvageable from the various approaches to international relations that have dominated geopolitical thinking for decades.
Panelists will include:
Matthew Specter, UC Berkeley
Daniel Bessner, Jackson School of International Affairs, University of Washington
Katharina Rietzler, University of Sussex
Alexandra Kemmerer, Max Planck Institute for Public Law
Malachi Hacohen, Duke University
Joseph Grieco, Duke University
Simon Miles, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Bob Pearson, Former US Ambassador to Turkey
Patrick Duddy, Former US Ambassador to Venezuela
Erwan Lagadec, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
Giovanni Zanalda, Director, Duke University Center for International & Global Studies