[EAI Special Report] Can Candidate Biden's Foreign Policy Restore American Leadership and Bring About a Change in World Order? ② Candidate Joe Biden's Foreign Policy Pledges and the Future World Order

Editor's Note

Through the Democratic National Convention, candidate Biden's foreign policy direction has become clearer. Reflecting mainstream American discourse, symbolic, normative, and even bipartisan/trans-ideological strategies stand out. Candidate Biden has identified the divisions within American society due to COVID-19, economic downturns, and racial issues, along with climate change, as the four existential threats to the United States, emphasizing that the goals and means of foreign policy can only be restored by reviving the representativeness of American democracy. Biden's foreign policy sends a message that the restoration of American democracy is directly linked to the future global governance of a Democratic administration, urging allies, including South Korea, to adopt a long-term foreign policy perspective focused on collective interests and leadership. However, given that the primary targets of U.S. security threats are authoritarian states like China and Russia, and that the challenges facing American society, such as overcoming COVID-19, economic recovery, and racism, show continuity with the Trump administration, the author argues that candidate Biden must establish a clear policy direction to engage in norm-based competition with China and other primary targets of U.S. security strategy.

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Through the Democratic National Convention, the outline of candidate Biden's foreign policy has become clearer. Although most policies discussed at the convention pertained to domestic affairs and were focused on the upcoming election, discussions on the basic direction and value orientation of foreign policy have progressed to some extent. As Vice President during the Obama administration, and as a senator dealing with foreign affairs prior to that, candidate Biden already possessed his own foreign policy views and had expressed his thoughts on foreign policy issues through numerous media contributions. He has also presented relatively concrete policy alternatives regarding criticism of Trump's foreign policy and the direction of foreign policy for a new administration to be launched next year.

In his article "Why America Must Lead Again" published in the Foreign Affairs journal earlier this year, Biden presented the comprehensive content of his foreign policy as a Democratic presidential candidate. On July 11, he delivered a speech at the City University of New York focusing on foreign policy. Furthermore, he reaffirmed the foreign policy aspects through the party platform ratified at the Democratic National Convention. While many of the foreign policy elements Biden himself has proposed are primarily principles, specific details are still under development, and the party platform also contains many symbolic and normative aspects. However, Biden presents a foreign policy that clearly distinguishes itself from the Trump administration and incorporates mainstream American discourse, offering significant implications.

Candidate Biden's foreign policy is not solely crafted by Biden himself but is presented by a team of many foreign policy and security advisors, making the views of the team members crucial. Foreign Policy journal reported that Biden's foreign policy and security team comprises over 2,000 experts, divided into approximately 20 subcommittees, with 49 team leaders overseeing these subcommittees. This team includes former officials who served in foreign policy and security roles during past Democratic administrations, as well as experts and scholars. It is known to already possess a hierarchical organizational structure akin to a government body. The team emphasizes internal diversity and aims to reflect multiple voices; there are also reports that more than half of the 49 subcommittee leaders are women.

While the backgrounds of these individuals are highly diverse, key figures can be counted on one hand. These include Antony Blinken, who serves as an overall advisor to candidate Biden and worked with him during the Obama administration; Jake Sullivan, who has long assisted candidate Biden, worked at the State Department during the Obama administration, and also lent his support during Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign; Ely Ratner, who has experience working at the State Department on East Asian issues and serves as a close aide to candidate Biden; and Dr. Jung H. Pak, a Korean-American well-known in South Korea and affiliated with the Brookings Institution, are among those attracting attention.

■ Author: Jeon Jae-sung_ Director of the EAI Center for National Security Studies and Professor at Seoul National University. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University and has served as a policy advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification. His primary research areas include international political theory, international relations history, the ROK-U.S. alliance, and Korean Peninsula studies. His major works include "Sovereignty and International Politics: The Imperial Character of the Modern Sovereign State System," "Northeast Asian International Politics: The International Politics of Incomplete Sovereign States," "Is Politics Moral?: The Transcendent International Political Thought of Reinhold Niebuhr," "Is Politics Moral?", and "East Asian International Politics: From History to Theory."

■ Management and Editing: Jeon Ju-hyun EAI Research Fellow

Inquiries: 02 2277 1683 (ext. 204) jhjun@eai.or.kr

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