International Law Challenges Facing the Biden Administration in the Next Two Years

When President Biden took office in 2021, he inherited a dysfunctional and chaotic foreign policy establishment with many of US international legal obligations drastically altered or neglected by the Trump administration. Biden spent his first 2 years in office either trying to reverse Trump’s damage or outrightly abandoning them. Biden has done a lot to reengage with the rest of the world, particularly NATO allies. Biden rejoined a number of multilateral conventions or institutions Trump had previously withdrawn from thus restoring US credibility. 

The Biden administration will have to address many legal challenges in the next 2 years: the war in Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East, armed conflicts, and humanitarian crises in Africa, the immigration and refugee crisis at the southern border, the growing threat from China, climate change, international terrorism, transnational criminal activities, and Iran and North Korea nuclear proliferation. Additionally, there are several human rights issues the administration needs to address.

The debate will provide some insights as to how the administration intends to deal with these challenges.

Speakers:

Prof. Max Hilaire - Faculty of International Organizations & International Humanitarian Law, the Washington Center
Veronika Bílková - Senior Researcher, Institute of International Relations Prague