The Future of Progressive Foreign Policy: 2020 and Beyond

Even before Donald Trump’s election, foreign policy thinkers were beginning to realize that American grand strategy had to change. After more than 15 years of war in Afghanistan and the Middle East, Americans’ enthusiasm for foreign adventures had expired and many believed that public support for traditional American leadership of the liberal international order had expired along with it. The big question was: What would come next?

During the third year of the Trump administration, the 2020 Democratic candidates have offered a range of arguments about what’s wrong with U.S. foreign policy today and where it should be headed. Some of these hew fairly close to the traditional, pre‐​Trump approach, while others represent more significant departures from the status quo.