The Foreign Affairs Interview

How to Understand the New Age of War: A Conversation With Lawrence D. Freedman

By some measures, there is more war in the world today than at any point since World War II. Today’s wars have brought a level of destruction, disruption, and global risk

The Iran Shock Is Not Over: A Conversation With Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan

When Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz six months ago, the world seemed on the verge of an energy crisis that would upend economies, governments, and much else. It was, as

What Does China Want? A Conversation With Jessica Chen Weiss

There has been no shortage of dizzying shifts in American foreign policy since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. But perhaps none have been as surprisin

Afghanistan After America: A Conversation With Laurel Miller and Graeme Smith

Five years ago this month, the United States ended its war in Afghanistan. Washington’s exit was chaotic; as Taliban forces swept through the country and the U.S.-backed

Is a Post-American World Inevitable? A Conversation With Kurt Campbell, Rush Doshi, and Mark Leonard

Ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, a big question has loomed over any discussion of global politics: How much of the change he has brought to

From the Archive: How the Past Shadows China's Future: A Conversation With Odd Arne Westad

At the end of last year, editor Dan Kurtz-Phelan spoke with the historian Odd Arne Westad about China’s complicated past and how that history shapes the way Chinese leade

Cyberwarfare in the AI Age: A Conversation With Jen Easterly

It’s been nearly 15 years since Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned of a “cyber–Pearl Harbor.” Since then, most people have become fairly inured to such a risk. That

The End of Free Trade: A Conversation With Robert E. Lighthizer

Almost no one in the last several decades has done more to change the American approach to trade than Robert Lighthizer. Lighthizer was the U.S. trade representative in P

The Future of Palestine: A Conversation With Salam Fayyad

In the nine months since a cease-fire ended full-on war in Gaza, the world’s attention has in many ways moved on. That has been especially true since February, with the s

The End of American Military Dominance? A Conversation With Paul Scharre

The war in Iran pitted two of the world’s mightiest militaries against one weakened by years of strikes, sanctions, and sabotage. And yet it was the smaller country that

What China Thinks It Can Gain From a Disordered World: A Conversation With Oriana Skylar Mastro

Like the rest of us, China’s leaders are confronting a world in turmoil. They see uncertain American commitments to allies, even as many of those allies ramp up their own

The AI Race Nobody Can Win: A Conversation With Sebastian Mallaby

The breakneck pace of AI progress and the intensity of the competition for AI supremacy has left U.S. policymakers in a difficult position. They must encourage the innova

America, Iran, and a World in Turmoil: A Conversation With Ian Bremmer

The war in Iran may have come to an end, but both the course and the conclusion of that war have brought into sharp relief the forces that increasingly define a world of

Is the Iran War Coming to an End? A Conversation With Narges Bajoghli and Vali Nasr

The Iran war may be coming to an end, as Washington and Tehran prepare to sign a framework agreement later this week. That deal should reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end

Is Cuba Next? A Conversation With Michael J. Bustamante and Ricardo Zuniga

U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that he will have the “honor of taking Cuba.” Although the administration has not specified what that might mean, following inter

Are America’s Allies Finally Learning to Deal With Trump? A Conversation With Philip H. Gordon and Mara Karlin

Six months ago, Philip Gordon and Mara Karlin wrote an essay in Foreign Affairs about the plight of the United States’ allies in U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term

How to Prevent the Next World War: A Conversation With Thant Myint-U

The world today is more dangerous and more violent than it’s been at any time since 1945. States everywhere have jettisoned commitments to cooperation and opted for aggre

Does Trump Have a Strategy? A Conversation With A. Wess Mitchell

Both of Donald Trump’s presidential administrations have prompted sharp debates about the direction of U.S. foreign policy. But how to discern a strategic logic behind Wa

The View From the Front Row of the Trump-Xi Summit: A Conversation With Orville Schell

Orville Schell may be the United States’ greatest chronicler and observer of several decades of U.S.-Chinese relations. Foreign Affairs was extremely lucky to have him in

When Two Superpowers Meet: A Conversation With Nicholas Burns

Not long ago, it was practically a truism to say that a hard line on China was the only real bipartisan position in American foreign policy. To the extent such a consensu