The Biden Administration: An Opportunity to Affirm a Flexible and Adaptive American World Leadership

Abstract

The article develops a strategic framework to redefine American international leadership under the Biden administration. While the decline of the American-led order is not a new trend, it has been accelerated under the Trump administration, which focused on domestic policies and left the global stage in disarray. The challenges are many for the new president, and many pressures can already be felt. Biden’s administration is under high expectations to stabilize the international system and deal with the many issues that the world faces: economic recovery, COVID-19, climate change, cybersecurity, and relations with China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, to name but a few. Yet, while the Biden presidency is—wrongly—understood as “U.S. back to normal,” the international stage has evolved. The article thus argues that restoring American world leadership means modifying that leadership and adapting it to the new reality. Building on management theories and the English School of international relations theories, the research presents a theoretical framework for reinventing and reconstructing a new form of leadership. It then applies the resulting strategic design to the Biden administration’s objectives and policies in the form of seven strategic recommendations. Ultimately, the article explains how the United States can remain world leader by acknowledging the current global situation and adopting a pragmatic vision of international affairs.