Young Professionals – How Populism Will Change the Foreign Policy of Trump, the U.S. & the World
About The Event
Strong waves of populism in recent years have brought ideological leaders and their polices into power from the United Kingdom to Turkey, from Russia to the U.S. and other corners of the globe. Besides pledges to defend the common man and pushes for a nationalist agenda, how will their goals change foreign policy?
Does Trump’s promise of ‘America First’ also mean withdrawing the U.S. from global leadership and commitments? How will it impact our historic military alliances, such as NATO, our free trade policies, as with abandoning the Trans Pacific Partnership, and our climate policies, as with leaving the Paris Accords? Does Brexit and similar proposals elsewhere signify a decline in the unity of Europe? And in addition to Russia and China, who else will likely benefit from a more isolationist U.S. foreign policy, if we are to step down from the role of global leader and model for other nations?
About The Speaker
Richard Fontaine is the President of the Center for a New American Security. He previously served as foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain for more than five years. Fontaine has also worked at the State Department, the National Security Council and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He served as foreign policy advisor to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign and, following the election, as the minority deputy staff director on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Prior to this, Fontaine served as associate director for Near Eastern affairs and in the Asian Affairs directorate at the National Security Council. While at the State Department, he worked in the office of former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and in the department’s South Asia bureau. Fontaine is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He also served as the chairman of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the United States. Fontaine graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations from Tulane University. He also holds a M.A. in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and he attended Oxford University.
***Heavy appetizers included. ***