In this episode of Talks at GS, Council on Foreign Relations President Dr. Richard Haass discusses the history that has led to today’s geopolitical environment and the current forces shaping American foreign policy.
On why world order is the foundation of foreign policy: “World order is a bit like oxygen. It matters because it’s the foundation or the framework or the scaffolding, use whatever image works for you, that allows everything else to happen. It not only helps prevent violence and conflict, but it allows commerce to happen, investment to happen. It allows people, essentially, not just to live their lives free of physical threats, but it allows our lives to become much more productive. And we’ve seen world order has been the prerequisite or foundation of the fact that people are far wealthier now than they were. And they live a lot longer than they did.”
On confronting the pandemic: “I think it is a human challenge, it’s an economic challenge, but it’s also a security challenge. And we’re going to want to, by the way, put into place arrangements, domestically and internationally, so if and when there’s COVID-22 or COVID-27 or some other virus or some bacteria emerge that are resistant to antibiotics, that we’re better positioned to deal with this.”
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