Out of Order

Has the Transatlantic Relationship Been Irreparably Damaged? At the most recent Brussels Forum, GMF partnered with Intelligence Squared U.S. , for a lively debate on the future of the U.S. and Europe’s special relationship amidst polarized politics and tensions over security and trade on both sides of the Atlantic. Through this special Out of Order episode, we are excited to feature our live broad...

The Trump administration’s hard-nosed approach to the European Union has left leaders across the Atlantic questioning where the relationship with the U.S. is headed. According to GMF’s president Dr. Karen Donfried, a tour of Europe shows how the outlook on America changes based on where you sit. While the talk in Paris is all about “strategic autonomy,” Warsaw is buzzing about “strategic embrace.”...

On May 23-26 citizens in all (still) 28 EU countries will go to the polls and select the 751 members of the European Parliament. The Parliament is the only directly elected EU institution and this year is being framed as a make-or-break election. Both by those who want to make it better, and those who want to break it. A strong populist and Euroskeptic block is expected to result; they could even...

Ankara and Washington are locked in a game of chicken. With Turkey refusing to budge over its purchase of the NATO-incompatible S-400 missile defense system from Russia, the U.S. is upping the stakes with the threat of sanctions and ejection from the lucrative F-35 fighter jet program. The implications of this could be far reaching not just for Turkey and the U.S., but could shift the geopolitical...

More than five years after the Euromaidan, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko is battling for his political life against Volodymyr Zelensky – a comedian and political newcomer who has emerged as the favorite to win Sunday’s runoff. The story of political outsider-turned-president may be a familiar one for anyone who has watched “Servant of the People” a comedy (now available on Netflix) in which...

Nearly seventy years ago to the day, President Harry Truman signed the North Atlantic Treaty and established NATO. Ahead of an unprecedented address to a Joint session of Congress by NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and ministerial meetings in Washington, Out of Order explores the state of NATO and the key issues animating defense debates from DC to Paris to Warsaw. Around the table this...

From AI to 5G, the innovations that pose unprecedented opportunities also pose a risk to democracy—and there is no consensus yet on how to solve this puzzle. This week on Out of Order, Karen Kornbluh, director of GMF’s new Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative, and Michel Servoz, special adviser to European Commission President Juncker for robotics, AI, and the future of labor, discuss the f...

The controversy over Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and the potential for it to unlock an unprecedented level of access to Europe’s critical infrastructure through 5G has been at the center of headlines around the world. But how does Huawei’s 5G plan actually work, and why does it have policymakers and technologists on both sides of the Atlantic so concerned? Out of Order’s newest host and deputy d...

In the concluding episode of the two-part “What to Watch” feature, the Out of Order roundtable discusses another raft of issues that they’ll be tracking this year, now that we have made it through a shutdown and almost two eventful months. We focus this time on Europe, the United States, and global democracy challenges. There is impending Brexit drama with implications of fracturing politics acros...

A month into 2019, the fight over immigration policy is without resolution as the White House battles with Democrats over funding for a wall on the southern border. The President is set to deliver his State of the Union address to a divided chamber—and nation. Immigration is expected to feature prominently as prospects of another government shutdown loom.  New York Times White House correspondent...

It’s time to say “Goodbye, Au Revoir, and Auf Wiedersehen” to 2018. It was another significant year for the transatlantic relationship: Brexit chaos and the U.S. midterms, fake news and a Facebook reckoning, Merkel 2.0, and the Macron backlash. Out of Order recounts the year’s consequential moments for relations between Europe and the United States, and how this all sets the stage for 2019. In the...

The Angela Merkel era is ending. The weekend of December 7-8 in Hamburg the curtains draw half closed and we will see who officially waits in the wings to take over. Currently, there are three candidates are vying for that position. Angela Merkel became chairwoman of the Christian Democratic party in 2000 and Chancellor five years later. In what many see as the first step of a tactical retreat, An...

  While everyone in DC is off for the holiday, Rachel Tausendfreund is joined by two colleagues in Berlin to discuss some recent events in global politics that we can appreciate, or in the holiday lingo, be thankful for. Maryna Raklei, who works as a program officer in Berlin on projects supporting Belarussian civil society and used to work as a journalist in Minsk, talks about a successful crowdf...

American voters have spoken and Democrats will soon control the U.S. House of Representatives. How might this new political reality at home affect the Trump administration's policies abroad? What levers will the Democrats pull, if any, when it comes to oversight of a disruptive global agenda? GMF’s Derek Chollet and Jamie Fly join Out of Order to weigh in on how America's global posture will -- or...

Trade is back in the spotlight, and the U.S. is at the center of a building international showdown. A combative economic agenda is now being realized as the Trump administration disrupts trade relations with allies and adversaries alike. From the torpedoed TPP, new NAFTA, tariffs on steel, aluminum, and potentially autos, and even suggestions that the U.S. could leave the WTO – who wins and who lo...

It’s back! The Out of Order podcast returns to the airwaves. Thirty years after the fall of the wall, the reemergence of authoritarianism and illiberalism in Central and Eastern Europe is as pressing as ever and threatens to divide an already shaky EU. With Article 7 proceedings triggered against Poland and Hungary, and continued efforts by the Kremlin to disrupt European unity, what are the impli...

In July on Out of Order, we discussed what’s on the line for multilateral sanctions against Iran in the wake of President Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA (better known as the Iran Nuclear Deal). [Episode Link] Now the stakes have been raised even further; last week, the remaining members of the nuclear deal announced that they will create a new payment infrastructure, allowing countries to sides...

  During the height of the cold war, the space race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. was as much an ideological struggle as it was a battle of technological exploration. When the U.S. first stepped foot on the moon, many framed the historical moment as an essential victory of democracy over communism. This melding of ideology and technological progress plays out in our own time through a struggle...

In Episode IX of Out of Order Rachel Tausendfreund talks with GMF fellows Douglas Hengel, Joshua Kirschenbaum, and Andrew Small about transatlantic fights with Iran and the future of sanctions The sanctions regime against Iran that led to the JCPOA is widely considered one of the most successful implementations of sanctions ever, and also the EU’s biggest foreign policy success. But in May Preside...

President Trump’s overtures to North Korea represent perhaps the most significant foreign policy development so far during his administration. In addition to marking a departure in how authoritarian regimes are treated by the world’s major power, recent developments have the potential to transform the balance of power in Asia. While there is some relief after the days of "fire and fury" threats, U...

We are back! After an extended spring break, the Out of Order crew is back in the studio to bring you informative and relevant speakers and ideas, exploring how the world was, is and will be ordered. In this episode, we discuss whether the West is a club built on common values or shared interests. Specifically, we look at the case of NATO and Turkey and consider both how democratic backsliding aff...

Over the last years, policy makers on both sides of the Atlantic have become increasingly concerned that the Liberal International Order is in danger. At first, threats to this Western-led order seemed to emanate mostly from the outside, as rising powers such as China and Russia challenged the existing order. But with the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, i...

So far, the Out-of-Order Podcast has focused on specific countries and the role they play in trying to stabilize, uphold, change, or transform the current international order. In the fifth episode, we take a different approach as we look at what role the military and hard power plays in shaping the international order. To discuss this and related issues, hosts Amy Studdart and Peter Sparding are j...

In the fourth episode of Out of Order, having discussed the roles of Germany, China, and whether other international actors can fill the void left in the international system, this episode focuses on the country that supposedly is leaving this void: the United States. Hosts Rachel Tausendfreund and Peter Sparding talk with GMF Senior Fellow and Director of the Asia and Future of Geopolitics progra...

Misinformed, disinformed, and divided —  that’s Russia’s goal. In the third episode of GMF’s Out of Order podcast, we look at Russia’s hybrid toolbox of trouble, and what it means for the future of the liberal international order as we know it. What is the Kremlin doing to undermine Western democracies and why? Hosts Rachel Tausendfreund and Peter Sparding talk with David Salvo and Bret Schafer fr...