On the 5th of November 2024 the American people will head to the polls to decide, not just the future of American democracy, but also the future of the global security environment. With Donald Trump leading the pack of Republican nominees a defeat for President Biden potentially represents a significant shift in American foreign policy and its current role in international affairs. With such polarised views on Ukraine, climate change, Chinese threats and America’s relationship with international organisations, the Republican and Democratic parties currently appear to offer radically different answers to the major security challenges that face, not just the United States, but much of the globe. Behind these international concerns lurks the memory of January 6^th and the unanswered questions around the strength and resilience of American democracy.

Will Trump win the Republican nomination despite his legal challenges? What impact will the election have on continued US support for Ukraine’s war? Is the rivalry between the US and China unaffected by domestic politics or is this competition dependent on next year’s result? How will America’s allies and partners react to a Republican victory and a potential return to the unpredictability of the Trump years?

The Henry Jackson Society is honoured to host a conversation between David Harris and Daniel Franklin to discuss these questions and give their views on the future of American politics both at home and abroad.

Serving most recently as the CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) from 1990-2022, David Harris has played a pivotal role in shaping critical global issues as a wider American leader, much like Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson himself. Over the course of the past five decades, he has been at the forefront of attempts to promote shared democratic values and ideas, and strengthen alliances across the Free World.

As a human rights activist, David Harris championed those oppressed by the former Soviet Union, and helped create the consensus that the USSR was morally reprehensible as well as a strategic competitor. He supported an end to Communism in eastern Europe, has advocated extensively for NATO expansion, and has contributed to the recent flowering of diplomacy in the New Middle East. He has been a spirited fighter in combatting global Antisemitism and resolute in promoting interfaith dialogue, as well as an understanding of the history of genocide and its contemporary relevance. He was referred to by the late Israeli President and Nobel Laureate Shimon Peres as “the foreign minister of the Jewish people”, and is the most decorated Jewish organizational leader in U.S. history.

As well as being the recipient of four honorary doctorates, including the most recent one in 2022 from Brandeis University, David Harris received his education at the University of Pennsylvania and London School of Economics. He also served as a Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins University and both a Junior and Senior Associate at Oxford University. He is the author of several books, as well as hundreds of op-eds and articles on global issues in leading media outlets around the world.

Daniel Franklin has been executive editor of The Economist since 2006 and is currently helping to lead the newspaper’s US coverage. From 2003 to 2019 he was editor of The Economist’s annual publication on the year ahead. Daniel published “Megatech: Technology in 2050” in 2017 and his book on long-term trends, “Megachange: The World in 2050”, was published in 2012. He joined The Economist in 1983 to write about Soviet and East European affairs. He has been the newspaper’s Europe editor (1986 – 1992), Britain editor (1993) and Washington bureau chief, covering the first Clinton term. In 1997 he moved back to London as editorial director of the Economist Intelligence Unit. From 2006 to 2010 he was editor-in-chief of Economist.com. For the following four years he was business affairs editor. Before the pandemic he was diplomatic editor, shuttling between Washington and London. Daniel also chairs The Economist Educational Foundation, a charity enabling children to join inspiring discussions about the news.

Marc Sidwell is Director of Research at The Henry Jackson Society. He has worked as a senior editor for the Telegraph and City A.M. and as publisher for the New Statesman. Marc has also written regularly for publications including Telegraph, The Critic, National Review and City A.M. He is a Senior Fellow at the New Culture Forum, and a graduate of Oxford and Warwick.

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EVENT SUMMARY

The Henry Jackson Society was pleased to welcome Daniel Franklin and David Harris for a lively discussion of the implications of the impending 2024 U.S. Presidential Election on American foreign policy, the Western world order, and the internal stability of the United States. Touching on a broad survey of the pressing questions the rematch between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden will pose to a polarised, uncertain United States, Franklin and Harris debated the extent of the differences in Biden and Trump’s respective foreign policies — what a Trump 2.0 might mean for NATO, the European Union, and U.S./U.K. relations. The panelists debated the possibility that dark horse, radical candidates on the Republican right or perhaps even Vice President Kamala Harris cinch the nomination, in the unlikely event that either Trump or Biden (or both) are unable to continue a campaign. David Harris touched on the effect of the domestic culture war in polarising and radicalising the American electorate, and calcifying the Democratic Party in the face of challenges from its far-right. Both panellists speculated about the effect a second Trump term might have on the War in Ukraine, the U.S.’s role as the arsenal of democracy, and the legitimacy of the American state to essential allies abroad. As a whole, the conversation serves as an early roadmap to the issues and debates that will define the 2024 election for the United States and for the world.

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