Towards stability: A new concert of powers

Our system is not fit to deal with the challenges of the 21^st century. This has been laid bare not just by the covid pandemic, but also by the increasing power competition between the US and China, and the blockage and weaponization of the multilateral system and the current crisis of democracy. Could a new “concert of powers” possibly be the solution? This week, host Mark Leonard talks to Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University; Leslie Vinjamuri, Director of the US and the Americas programme and Dean of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs at Chatham House; as well as Nicu Popescu, senior policy fellow and director of ECFR´s Wider Europe programme. In this episode, they discuss the idea of a “global concert of powers” to promote stability in a multipolar world. How would such a format look like and who would be involved? And how does the future of the liberal order look after two centuries of Western domination?   

This podcast was recorded on 20 April 2021. 

Further reading: 

• “The new concert of powers. How to prevent catastrophe and promote stability in a multipolar world” by Richard N. Haass & Charles A. Kupchan in Foreign Affairs
• “The liberal order begins at home. How democratic revival can reboot the international system” by Robin Niblett and Leslie Vinjamuri in Foreign Affairs

Bookshelf: 

• “Kill switch: The rise of the modern senate and the crippling of American democracy” by Adam Jentleson
• “Mountains beyond mountains: The quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who would cure the world” by Tracy Kidder
• “Why an internationalist foreign policy needs a stronger domestic foundation” by Charles Kupchan  & Peter Trubowitz
• “The heart is a lonely hunter” by Carson McCullers
• “The bean trees” by Barbara Kingsolver
• “The ambassadors: Thinking about diplomacy from Machiavelli to modern times ” by Robert Cooper 
• “Russia Rising: Putin’s Foreign Policy in the Middle East and North Africa” by Nicu Popescu and Dimitar Bechev