event

Making Big Changes in U.S. Foreign Policy: Opportunities and Obstacles for the Next Administration

Tue. July 23rd, 2024
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

How does the United States make major foreign policy shifts—and how much could its foreign policy change in the next four years?

A growing number of analysts argue that the era of U.S. hyperpower is over and that the country needs a strategic reorientation. But major changes in U.S. foreign policy are difficult to achieve and have occurred only rarely in history.

Carnegie’s American Statecraft Program has examined key moments since World War II when the United States has adopted new strategies, and has identified the ingredients any future president would need to steer foreign policy in a new direction.

To launch Carnegie’s report, Strategic Change in U.S. Foreign Policy, scholars and practitioners will come together to explain these ingredients and debate their implications for the next presidential administration. Two of the report’s authors—Christopher S. Chivvis, who directs the American Statecraft Program, and Stephen Wertheim, a historian and senior fellow in the program—will discuss their findings. They will be joined by Beth Sanner, who served in the U.S. national security community for three decades, including as deputy director for national intelligence from 2019 to 2021, and is currently the director for geopolitics at International Capital Strategies and a distinguished fellow at the German Marshall Fund, and Thomas Dans, who previously served as Counselor to the Under Secretary for International Affairs in the Treasury Department and is currently a visiting fellow in the Heritage Foundation’s Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Christopher S. Chivvis

Senior Fellow and Director, American Statecraft Program

Christopher S. Chivvis is the director of the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Stephen Wertheim

Senior Fellow, American Statecraft Program

Stephen Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Beth Sanner

Director for Geopolitics at International Capital Strategies and a Distinguished Fellow at the German Marshall Fund

Beth Sanner, who served in the U.S. national security community for three decades, including as Deputy Director for National Intelligence from 2019 to 2021, is the Director for Geopolitics at International Capital Strategies and a Distinguished Fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

Thomas Dans

Visiting Fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies