FP This Week: Which alliances matter now?

Plus, a U.N. cybercrime treaty, and will BRICS dethrone the dollar? SEPTEMBER 5, 2023  |  [VIEW IN BROWSER](  |  [SUBSCRIBE](     Alex Nabum illustration for Foreign Policy Today is the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. But, as FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal writes in our upcoming print issue, “it’s hardly controversial these days to point out that the United Nations seems paralyzed.” Other august institutions that arose in the postwar period are increasingly out of touch, too, Agrawal argues. From the World Bank to the International Monetary Fund, multilateral entities appear ill-equipped for crises on many fronts and, with leadership from the United States and Europe, continue to exclude much of the world from their decision-making. So, which alliances are actually getting things done? That’s the subject of FP’s Fall 2023 issue—and Princeton University professor G. John Ikenberry [makes the case]( in a special preview of the print magazine that the G-7 matters more than ever. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing challenge to the liberal international order, this grouping of major industrial democracies is “positioned at the political epicenter of global efforts to defend democratic societies,” Ikenberry writes. Whether you agree with Ikenberry’s assessment or not, you won’t want to miss Agrawal’s [conversation]( with him on FP Live today at 11 a.m. EDT, which will broaden out to consider how alliances are shaping geopolitics—as well as whether the West is correct in prioritizing like-minded clubs over reforming the multilateral institutions it helped create. As always, subscribers can [submit questions]( directly to FP ahead of time. Subscribers can also look forward to the print issue—with contributions from Gordon Brown, Bonny Lin, and others—arriving in their mailboxes in early October.—The Editors   New & Noteworthy - Moving Beyond the Budapest Convention: The last international agreement on digital crime was in 2001. So, why are experts worried about ongoing negotiations over a first-ever U.N. convention combating cybercrime? FP’s Rishi Iyengar, Robbie Gramer, and Anusha Rathi [report]( on a “diplomatic proxy war between democracies and their authoritarian rivals” that has unfolded at U.N. headquarters over the last two weeks. A “group of authoritarian governments is seeking to advance its own agenda through the U.N. treaty—and the consequences could be dire if it is successful,” they write. - ‘A Realignment of the United States’ Relationship to Latin America’: In August, U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Joaquin Castro, Nydia Velázquez, Greg Casar, and Maxwell Frost visited Brazil, Chile, and Colombia to give South America’s progressive leaders and social movements the close attention they deserve, [writes]( Andre Pagliarini, suggesting the trip could strengthen ties in the region. Leaders across all three countries met with the delegation “because the United States still very much matters to leaders in Latin America. The region is not hopelessly enthralled to China, as some in Washington fear. With Latin America still besieged by a host of challenges … building international ties is a rare point of consensus.” - Don’t Miss FP in London: Is a new global order fast on the horizon? FP deputy editor Sasha Polakow-Suransky returns to the world’s largest philosophy and music festival [HowTheLightGetsIn]( on Sept. 23-24 to delve into the impact of the BRICS economies; rise to prominence, alongside Bill Browder, Yuan Yang, and Sergei Guriev. A hub for world-leading thinkers and politicians, the festival debates include Matthew Goodwin’s case to reunite the elite with the people, the life and philosophy of Rory Stewart, whether public policy should focus on future generations, and if it’s time to dismantle democracy altogether. We’re offering an exclusive 30% off full festival tickets with code FPL30. [Get your discounted tickets here.](   FP Live Inside Taiwan’s Foreign PolicyCompetition between the United States and China affects the whole world, but no country is impacted as deeply as Taiwan. What are Taipei’s expectations of the Biden administration? How does it view Beijing’s ambitions? And as Taiwan gears up for elections at home and in the United States in 2024, how will foreign policy feature in voters’ minds? FP’s Ravi Agrawal will interview Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on U.S. relations with Taiwan, tensions in the Taiwan Strait, semiconductors, and more. The conversation will be released on Sept. 14. [Submit your questions.]( Historian Heather Cox Richardson on American DemocracySept. 26 | 11 a.m. EDTHeather Cox Richardson has long grappled with questions of how democracy has weakened in the United States and how its citizenry can try to take back control. That topic is the focus of her new book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, and she’ll take questions from subscribers in a conversation with FP’s Ravi Agrawal. [Register here.](   Exercise Your Mind What second-quarter annualized GDP growth rate did Japan announce last month, stunning most economists? - 3 percent - 5 percent - 6 percent - 9 percent You can find the answer to this question and learn more at the end of this email.   Expert voices, intelligent analysis. [Get FP access today](.   FP @ UNGA 78 Updates FP will be on the ground during the U.N. General Assembly in New York from Sept. 19 to 21 with a series of public briefings, roundtable discussions, and forums. Read on for the latest speaker and program updates, and [learn more]( about all of our upcoming programs. - [Time to Adapt](: Awa Marie Coll-Seck, a minister of state to the Senegalese president and the head of the Galien Forum Africa, and Vanessa Kerry, a World Health Organization special envoy and the director of Harvard Medical School’s global public policy and social change program, join our program on Sept. 20 to discuss how to accelerate climate adaptation for health equity. - [FP Health Forum](: Natalia Kanem, the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, and Priya Basu, the executive head of the World Bank’s Pandemic Fund, will speak on Sept. 20 during panels exploring access, equity, and security for global health. - [Food+ Forum](: Mariam Almheiri, the United Arab Emirates’ minister of climate change and the environment; Dina Esposito, the assistant to the administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security; and Mavis Hawa Koomson, Ghana’s minister for fisheries and aquaculture development, will be on stage at our Sept. 20 event to explore collaborative approaches to fortify food systems around the world. - [Diagnostics Beyond 2030](: Navid Hanif, the assistant secretary-general for the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Farid Fezoua, the global director for health, education, and services at the International Finance Corp., will share their perspectives advancing global health security and the Sustainable Development Goals on Sept. 20. - [FP Tech Forum](: Joining our discussions examining the role of technology in shaping geopolitics on Sept. 21 are Brandon Wales, the executive director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Michael Chertoff, a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary. - [FP Energy Forum](: Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency; Vera Songwe, a senior Brookings Institution fellow who is the chair of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility and co-chair of the High-Level Panel on Finance for Climate Action; and Geoffrey R. Pyatt, the assistant secretary for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources, will participate in our examination of the global energy transition on Sept. 21. All events will be held in New York, and most will be streamed live on our website. [Register]( for all FP @ UNGA 78 events, and sign up to receive additional speaker announcements and program updates.   It’s Debatable: Can BRICS Derail the Dollar’s Dominance? The expanding group’s members share one concern—the growing use of U.S. sanctions to restrict trade and investment globally. Is the BRICS expansion being blown out of proportion, or will a true counterweight to the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia emerge? FP columnists Emma Ashford and Matthew Kroenig [discuss](. Emma Ashford: Do you think expanding BRICS will, in the long run, allow these countries to cooperate and place pressure on U.S. dollar dominance? Or is BRICS mostly just a talk shop? Matthew Kroenig: If those are my options, I’ll choose the latter. There is no universal agreement within the group on setting de-dollarization as a goal. Russia has shown the most interest, but its South African hosts said the topic was not even on the agenda. And while these countries are vulnerable due to their dependence on the dollar, there is no other game in town. The dollar still dominates global trade and 90 percent of foreign exchange transactions. For de-dollarization to happen, many independent economic actors around the world would have to agree to make the switch. And switch to what? These countries all do a lot of business with China, not with one another. But given China’s capital controls, restrictions on currency convertibility, and its other economic problems, the renminbi won’t really work as an alternative. I guess I am more worried about high-level geopolitical coordination among important countries that excludes the United States and its allies than about anything concrete, at this point. [Read their full conversation](, including discussion of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s recent trip to China.   Most Popular on FP [Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy talks to members of the media following the first debate of the Republican presidential primary season in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)]( [Vivek Ramaswamy’s Foreign Policies Raise Eyebrows in Washington]( The GOP’s rising star offers up a grab bag of ideas cribbed from Eminem to Richard Nixon. By Jack Detsch [Officers of the National Police of Niger stand guard with Nigerien soldiers during a demonstration outside the Nigerien and French air bases in Niamey on Aug. 27]( [How U.N. Peacekeeping Accidentally Fuels Africa’s Coups]( Foreign funds can produce stronger and less accountable militaries. By Jamie Levin, Nathan Allen [An Iranian holds a cardboard cutout of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz during a demonstration against airstrikes carried out by a Saudi-led coalition against Houthi and allied positions in Yemen, outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran, on April 13, 2015. ]( [Peace With Israel Means War With Iran]( There’s a dangerous flip side to Saudi Arabia’s potential new diplomatic deal. By Bilal Y. Saab, Nickoo Azimpoor [Tourists visit the Leshan Giant Buddha in Leshan, China, on May 25, 2005.]( [China Is Closing in on Itself]( The absence of foreigners in the country is a symptom of China’s restrictive, security-driven view of the world. By Howard W. French [Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi takes part in a meeting on the second day of a European Union-African Union summit at the European Council Building in Brussels on Feb. 18, 2022.]( [Egypt’s Sisi Rules by Fear—and Is Ruled by It]( By falsely labeling all critics as Muslim Brotherhood shills, the Egyptian president shows how scared he really is. By Steven A. Cook [Vivek Ramaswamy’s Foreign Policies Raise Eyebrows in Washington]( The GOP’s rising star offers up a grab bag of ideas cribbed from Eminem to Richard Nixon. By Jack Detsch [How U.N. Peacekeeping Accidentally Fuels Africa’s Coups](Foreign funds can produce stronger and less accountable militaries. By Jamie Levin, Nathan Allen [Peace With Israel Means War With Iran](There’s a dangerous flip side to Saudi Arabia’s potential new diplomatic deal. By Bilal Y. Saab, Nickoo Azimpoor [China Is Closing in on Itself](The absence of foreigners in the country is a symptom of China’s restrictive, security-driven view of the world. By Howard W. French [Egypt’s Sisi Rules by Fear—and Is Ruled by It](By falsely labeling all critics as Muslim Brotherhood shills, the Egyptian president shows how scared he really is. By Steven A. Cook   From Around FP - Adam Tooze on Germany’s Far-Right Surge: “Europe’s centrist political class is looking anxiously towards elections for the European Parliament in 2024. What they fear is a ‘lurch’ to the far-right,” writes FP columnist Adam Tooze in his latest Chartbook newsletter. In Germany, the far-right AfD has surged to join second place with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD in the polls. Does this reflect a rightward shift in German public opinion? Or is it a tactical reaction by German voters who are signaling their dissatisfaction with particular policies? [Read his latest edition of Chartbook.]( - Digital Front Lines: New technologies are being increasingly weaponized to target civilians and critical infrastructure, including in Ukraine. With support from Microsoft and contributions from global issue experts, FP Analytics explores how to strengthen Ukraine’s digital resilience and prepare for the hybrid wars of today—and tomorrow. [Read the full report now.]( - AI for Healthy Cities: Join the Novartis Foundation and Foreign Policy on Sept. 19 in New York to discover the transformative potential of artificial intelligence and data science in addressing urban cardiovascular health globally. Inspired by the AI4HealthyCities initiative and the Data Collaborative on Health System Performance, this event will explore how data-driven policies and partnerships can create healthier and more resilient cities for all. [Register here.]( Are you interested in learning more about FP Analytics’ cutting-edge research services, hosting an FP Virtual Dialogue event, or building a podcast with FP Studios? [Explore partnership opportunities](. Answer: C. 6 percent. The announced growth rate is one of the best figures Japan has seen since the mid-1990s. While good enough to make it the top performer among major global economies, read William Sposato’s [analysis]( on how a growing China crisis means threatening clouds ahead for the world’s third-largest economy. foreignpolicy.com/subscribe Geopolitics matters [Get a closer look at the big picture. Access FP's daily reporting and analysis of global politics, plus magazine packages that go deeper than the headlines.](foreignpolicy.com/subscribe) [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](foreignpolicy.com/subscribe)   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( You’re receiving this email at {EMAIL} because you signed up for the FP This Week newsletter. 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