U.S. Foreign Policy Archive

Russia is planning to confront the next U.S. president with the dilemma of how to manage a bloody defeat in Syria on his or her first day in office: As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hurtle around America looking for last-minute votes, Moscow has been positioning its forces for a final assault on Aleppo. Despite pushes by rebel forces to gain ground, there is a very high chance that the Russians and their Syrians allies will secure total control of the city before the next president’s inauguration. Moscow is likely to dismiss residual efforts by the Obama administration, and other […]

When Dwight Eisenhower took office as president in January 1953, he was deeply concerned about the trajectory of America’s security strategy. Much had changed in the years leading up to his election the previous November, as hopes that the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China—would collaboratively manage global security were dashed by the emergence of the Cold War. By the time Eisenhower moved into the White House, no one doubted that containing the Soviet Union was America’s most pressing strategic task. What worried him was how to […]

After more than 18 months of following a heated campaign, Americans head to the polls on Tuesday to elect the next president of the United States. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton faces Republican nominee Donald Trump in a race that polls show is closer than many expected. This compilation of WPR’s analysis looks at what’s at stake in the election and what a Trump or Clinton presidency would mean for U.S. foreign policy. The following seven articles are free to nonsubscribers until Nov. 18. The Foreign Policy Debate That Wasn’t The Populist Revolt That Propelled Trump Won’t Fade Away If He […]