Foreign Policy Live

With increased polarization and ongoing budgetary disputes, the U.S. government does not seem to be acting in the way that the American forefathers intended. Host Ravi Agrawal brings on historian Jill Lepore to share more. Lepore is a professor at Harvard University and the author of We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution. Plus, One Thing from Ravi on the U.S. government shutdown. Rishi Iyengar: How a U.S. Government Shutdown Could Impact Washington’s Foreign Policy John Haltiwanger: Why America’s ‘Unusual’ Democracy Leads to Shutdown Andrew O’Donohue: The U.S. Judicial Crisis Is Uniquely Dangerous Stan Veuger: Americans Need to Acknowledge Their Unwritten Constitution Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Qatar often presents itself as a neutral mediator in the world’s trickiest problems, but on Sept. 9, its sovereignty was violated as Israel launched a strike to assassinate top Hamas leaders in Doha. Will Qatar change its strategy? No, explains Majed al-Ansari, the spokesperson of the country’s Foreign Ministry, at a live event with host Ravi Agrawal along the sidelines of the 80th U.N. General Assembly.  Plus, One Thing from Ravi on a feeling that seems in rare supply but was surprisingly abundant in New York this week: hope. Mina Al-Oraibi: Qatar Strike Creates Rift but Not Rupture in Gulf-Israel Ties  Matthew Duss: Recognize Palestine, Then Put Real Pressure on Israel Ravi’s interview with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Ravi’s interview with Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How is Europe navigating the Trump administration and a troubling moment in the trans-Atlantic relationship? FP Live host Ravi Agrawal sits down with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, on the sidelines of the United Nations’ annual meetings to discuss relations with Washington, Russia’s war in Ukraine, recognizing Palestine, and dealing with China.  Plus, One Thing from Ravi on a spate of countries recognizing Palestine. South China Morning Post: China Tells EU it does not want to see Russia lose its war in Ukraine: Sources Sam Skove: Trump Makes U-Turn on Ukraine Rhetoric  Christian Caryl: Europe Is on Its Own With Russia Now Ravi Agrawal: How Europe Is Navigating Trump Agathe Demarais: Europe’s Hippopotamus Strategy for Handling Trump Caroline de Gruyter: Europe Has Found Its True Language Anchal Vohra: Trump’s Trade Deal With Europe Is Already Unraveling Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development this year left countries scrambling, with many analysts going as far as calling the shutdown inhumane. But values were never the real driver of the global development agenda, says FP columnist Adam Tooze—it was actually about power. Now that the United States has stepped back, can China fill the void? Does it want to? Tooze sits down with host Ravi Agrawal to discuss his piece “The End of Development” in FP’s latest print issue. Plus, One Thing from Ravi on the global connections to the Charlie Kirk killing. Alejandro Reyes: Why Charlie Kirk’s White Nationalism Resonated With Some Nonwhites Abroad Adam Tooze: The End of Development Adam’s economics podcast: Ones and Tooze Daniela Gabor: How Big Finance Ate Foreign Aid Henry Tugendhat and James Palmer: Can China Replace USAID? David C. Engerman: The Problem With the Global South’s Self-Help Push Suparna Chaudhry: Why the World Turned on NGOs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin has a plan for the U.S. Democratic Party. She’s promoting what she calls a “war plan” to revive the middle class as a way for her party to not only challenge President Donald Trump—and win the future for America. She joins host Ravi Agrawal to game out how to put her vision into action.  Plus, One Thing from Ravi on the Russian drones fired into Polish airspace earlier this week. Council on Foreign Relations: A New Vision for America’s National Security Julian E. Zelizer: Why Democrats Should Proceed to the Center With Caution Matthew Duss: Democrats Should Reclaim the Anti-War Mantle From Trump Christian Caryl: Russia Just Attacked NATO. Again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FP columnist Emma Ashford makes the case that we’re entering a post-unipolar world—that countries can sense that the United States is no longer an unchallenged superpower. If that’s the case, how should Washington adapt its foreign policy?  Ashford sits down with host Ravi Agrawal to discuss her new book, First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World.  Plus, One Thing from Ravi on South Korea’s latest soft power hit, KPop Demon Hunters. Ravi Agrawal: Is America Now Merely the First Among Equals? Emma Ashford: Passing the Baton in Europe Stephen M. Walt: The Realist Case for Global Rules Michael Hirsh: Why Everyone in Washington Is a ‘Realist’ Now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The relationship between the world’s two largest democracies—India and the United States—could be in trouble. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmly embraced his Russian and Chinese counterparts at a summit this week, shortly after the Trump administration pushed ahead with sky-high tariffs on Indian exports. Is New Delhi considering a shift in its geopolitical posture? Former Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao sits down with host Ravi Agrawal. Plus, One Thing from Ravi on China’s massive military parade this week. Nirupama Rao: Strategic Autonomy Is Nothing to Fear C. Raja Mohan: Modi, Lee, and Trump’s Nobel Prize Obsession Sam Roggeveen: China’s Military Is Now Leading Rudra Chaudhuri: Can India and the U.S. Repair Their Relationship? Anchal Vohra: India Is Struggling to Figure Out Trump Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talk a lot about Iran on this show, but we don’t often hear from Iranian leaders. I wanted to change that this week—and so I asked Mohammad Javad Zarif to come on the program. Zarif played a major role in crafting Iranian foreign policy over the last 15 years, as foreign minister from 2013 to 2021 and as the lead negotiator of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. While Americans perceived him as the diplomatic face of Iran, at home he was seen as a reformer trying to hold off the hard-liners. Zarif served as Iran’s vice president of strategic affairs from 2024 to earlier this year, but he’s now out of government and a bit more free to express his opinions. He spoke with me about the June war between Israel and Iran and the prospects for diplomacy with the Trump administration. Mohammad Javad Zarif: The Time for a Paradigm Shift Is Now Trita Parsi: The Next Israel-Iran War is Coming Steven A. Cook: In the Middle East, a Cold War Redux? Charli Carpenter: Why the Nuclear Taboo Is Stronger Than Ever Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United States and China are constantly looking for a leg up in their rivalry for geopolitical primacy. But what if the real advantage lies in adopting a bit of the other’s culture? A new book makes the case that while China has become an engineering state obsessed with building, the United States has become a lawyerly society focused on procedures and blocking. Can they learn from each other? Author and scholar Dan Wang sits down with Ravi Agrawal to discuss his new book, Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future. Dan Wang: Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future Ravi Agrawal: Why China’s Tech Dominance Is Not Inevitable Bob Davis: America’s Flailing Industrial Policy Can Take Lessons From China James Palmer: A Guide to Censorship in China Brought to you by: quince.com/fplive Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump-Putin summit on Friday, followed by Monday’s unprecedented White House meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky and seven other European leaders, has left analysts wondering whether recent diplomacy will result in an end to hostilities—or if it’s all just pageantry. Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Sergey Radchenko sit down with Ravi Agrawal to debrief these two high-level meetings. Kendall-Taylor is a former CIA analyst and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Radchenko is a Johns Hopkins University professor and the author of To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power. Ravi Agrawal: Grading Trump’s Ukraine Diplomacy Ivo H. Daalder: Russia and Ukraine Are as Far Apart as Ever Stephen M. Walt: Trump Has No Idea How to Do Diplomacy Rishi Iyengar: Key Takeaways From Trump’s Meeting with Zelensky Keith Johnson: 7 Lingering Questions After the Trump Ukraine Summit Michael Hirsh: Trump’s Putin Gambit Failed—but Maybe It Was Still Worth Trying Sergey Radchenko: Not Unprecedented but Unprincipled Christina Lu: ‘There’s No Deal Until There’s a Deal’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

European leaders, having agreed to spending 5 percent of their GDP on defense, now must decide where that money goes. What factors should they consider to make sure the money leads to the continent’s growth and a cutting-edge defense industrial base? Ravi Agrawal sits down with Jared Cohen, the president of global affairs at Goldman Sachs, to discuss. Note: This discussion is part of a series of episodes brought to you by the Goldman Sachs Global Institute. Ravi’s Recommendations: Amitav Acharya: Pharaohs, Maharajas, and the Making of a Multipolar World Robert Kagan: The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World Additional Reading: Ravi Agrawal: NATO Is Avoiding a Difficult Conversation Jared Cohen: Don’t Bet Against the Dollar Justin Logan: Trump Shouldn’t Settle for European Spending Pledges Kori Schake: Is NATO Dead? Matthew Kroenig: A Division of Labor Between Europe and Asia Won’t Work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harvard University professor and economist Dani Rodrik first questioned in the late 1990s whether globalization had gone too far. He joins FP Live to share his take on the Trump administration’s tariffs and how to navigate a historically turbulent moment in global trade. Jamieson Greer: Trump’s Trade Representative: Why We Remade the Global Order Dani Rodrik: Where Is the Global Resistance to Trump? Ravi Agrawal: How to Navigate Trump’s Tariffs Cameron Abadi: Are Tariffs the American Brexit? Keith Johnson: Trump’s Long-Promised Tariffs Upend Global Trade Peter Coy: No Need for Hoarding Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As images of starvation in Gaza continue to circulate online, unequivocal support for Israel may be waning in the West, with Britain, Canada, and France moving to formally recognize Palestine in recent weeks. How might this shift the status quo in the region? Daniel Levy, former Israeli peace negotiator and co-founder of J Street, sits down with Ravi Agrawal to discuss. Stephen A. Cook: Why Recognizing Palestine Is Meaningless or Even Harmful Stephen M. Walt: Meet the New Middle East, Same as the Old Middle East Rob Geist Pinfold: Israel Is Sowing Chaos to Secure Displacement in Gaza Oz Katerji: Britain’s Palestine Action Ban Is a Dangerous Overreach Aaron David Miller and Lauren Morganbesser: Netanyahu’s Hold on Power Is Slipping. Will Trump Help? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Labubus and Chinese soft power to U.S. President Donald Trump’s flip-flopping on Ukraine, join host Ravi Agrawal for another FP Live Ask-Me-Anything. Ravi Agrawal: Trump is Ushering In a More Transactional World Henry Tugendhat and Janes Palmer: China Isn’t Ready to Replace USAID Howard W. French: The U.S. Can No Longer Stave Off Competition From China Alexandra Sharp: Trump Announces a 25 Percent Tariff on India Rishi Iyengar: The Trump Trade Tracker Graham Allison: Is This the Start of a U.S.-China Friendship? Stephen M. Walt: Trump’s Missed Opportunities Are Piling Up Sushant Singh: Trump Is Pushing India to Submit to China Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, joins FP Live to assess the Trump administration’s shifting policies on Ukraine and how that could impact the ongoing war. McFaul is currently a professor at Stanford University and writes the McFaul’s World newsletter. Michael Hirsch: The Enduring Mystery of Trump’s Relationship with Russia Luke Coffey: Trump’s Ukraine Shift Sends the Right Signal to Putin Christian Caryl: Democracy is Ukraine’s Most Powerful Weapon Franz-Stefan Gady: The Air Battle That Could Decide the Russia-Ukraine War Brought to you by: quince.com/FPlive Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. dollar has declined by more than 10 percent this year. Is the fall just a normal fluctuation, or is it a sign of something much more worrying? How seriously should we take threats to the dollar’s dominance as the world’s reserve currency? Economist Kenneth Rogoff shares more. Rogoff is a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund and the author of Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead. Kenneth Rogoff: How Low Can the Dollar Go? Ravi Agrawal: What the Dollar’s Decline Reveals About America Foreign Policy magazine’s Summer 2025 Print Issue Peter Coy: Trump’s Trade Contradictions Come Home to Roost Keith Johnson: America’s Economic Warfare is Sowing Its Own Demise Jared Cohen: Don’t Bet Against the Dollar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. foreign-policy coverage often focuses on the Middle East, China, or Europe. So, what is the view from what is sometimes called the world’s biggest invisible country? Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populated country and third-biggest democracy, gets surprisingly little attention. How is Jakarta navigating a changing world? Former Indonesian Vice Foreign Minister Dino Patti Djalal joins FP Live.  Derek Grossman: Why Rubio’s Asia Visit Was a Total Bust Oliver Stuenkel and Margot Treadwell: Will Trump’s Unpredictable Foreign Policy Boost BRICS? Salil Tripathi: How Will Prabowo Lead Indonesia? Christopher S. Chivvis and Beatrix Geaghan-Breiner: How Washington Should Manage Rising Middle Powers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman sits down with Ravi Agrawal to debrief this week’s meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Friedman is also the author of From Beirut to Jerusalem, among other books.  Thomas L. Friedman: How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again Thomas L. Friedman: If This Mideast War Is Over, Get Ready for Some Interesting Politics Thomas L. Friedman: How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle Adrian Karatnycky: An Emerging Trump Doctrine? Daniel C. Kurtzer and Aaron David Miller: Less Gloating and More Diplomacy Are Needed to Heal the Middle East Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Edward Luce is the author of a new biography on President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America’s Great Power Prophet. He joins FP Live to share how this grand strategist’s legacy still shapes foreign policy today. Theodore Bunzel: Where Have All the Geostrategists Gone? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does India view a shifting world order? Former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon sits down with Ravi Agrawal to discuss New Delhi’s vision in a period defined by geopolitical flux and several global conflicts. Menon is also the author of Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy. Sumit Ganguly: Kashmir Attack Shatters Illusion of Calm Shivshankar Menon: A New Cold War May Call for a Return to Nonalignment C. Raja Mohan: India Sees Opportunities as Trump Jettisons the Western Order Brought to you by: quince.com/fplive Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices