President Joe Biden argues the contest between democracy and autocracy will be the defining challenge of the twenty-first century. Meanwhile, Freedom House observes democracy around the world has experienced its steepest drop in its fifteen-year decline. Seeking to reverse this trend, the United States is hoping to "set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal" this week when it brings together 110 countries for a two-day virtual Summit for Democracy. But can the US effectively lead this charge when, as Freedom House has shown, America's own democracy is in decline?

This week, the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah is joined by Freedom House president Michael Abramowitz, who guides us through the 2021 edition of his organization's flagship report, "Freedom in the World." Along the way, Abramowitz discusses the democracy summit's challenges and opportunities, and America's nonmilitary tools for supporting democracy and human rights around the globe.

Michael Abramowitz is president of Freedom House. Previously, he was a White House correspondent for the Washington Post before becoming director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Levin Institute for Holocaust Education.

To listen to previous episodes and learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

As the United States competes for influence around the globe, and as authoritarianism gains ground in places like Brazil, what will US engagement in the region look like? US intervention and influence in the region is nothing new, especially in Brazil, which this week's guest walks us through. Professor Riordan Roett takes us on his journey as a young Fulbright Scholar living in northeast Brazil during the Cold War, to becoming one of America's leading experts on the country. Seeing firsthand the consequences of US intervention, Roett argues that Washington should take a more grassroots approach to development support, bolster its diplomatic corps, and invest more in cultural engagement to strengthen ties with the region.

Riordan Roett is Professor and Director Emeritus of the Latin America Studies Program at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

To listen to previous episodes and learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

This week we bring back a timely episode from season 1 with journalist Amanda Sperber and anthropologist Catherine Besteman, who helped us understand an important, yet underreported topic: America's military involvement in Somalia. Since we last spoke to Catherine and Amanda, The New York Times has reported that the terrorist organization, Al Shabab, is at its "strongest in years" and that the Biden administration may be debuting a new Somalia policy in the coming weeks. But will the administration, which has prided itself on ending "relentless war," pursue a policy less reliant on drone strikes than its Republican and Democratic predecessors?

Though much is still to be seen, airstrikes in July and the Biden administration's touting of its "over-the-horizon capabilities" to attack a globally "metastasized" terrorist threat doesn't augur much change. Catherine and Amanda explore the history of Al Shabab and America's involvement in Somalia and argue that the human costs of current policy lay bare the strategic and moral failings of America's global war on terror.

Amanda Sperber is a Nairobi-based award-winning investigative journalist, foreign correspondent, and multimedia storyteller. Her work focuses on East Africa, specifically on Somalia, and the consequences of U.S. drone strikes.

Catherine Besteman is Francis F. Bartlett and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology at Colby College in Maine. Her work focuses on U.S. militarism in Somalia. She is the author of The Costs of War in Somalia from Brown University's Costs of War Project, and Militarized Global Apartheid (2020).

To listen to previous episodes and learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

What impact did Colin Powell, America's 65th secretary of state under President George W. Bush, who passed away last week, make on US foreign policy? What is the legacy he leaves behind, and how does it inform where the United States is headed? This week, the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah is joined by Ravi Agrawal, Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy magazine to discuss Powell's lasting impact. Though much remains to be seen, Agrawal assesses the defining attributes of an emerging Biden doctrine -- from confronting China's ascendence and the spread of autocracy, to a focus on domestic issues and a possible revival of Powell's professed -- if not actualized -- principles of judicious prudence.

Ravi Agrawal is Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy magazine. Previously, he worked for CNN in various roles on three different continents, and is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy.

To listen to previous episodes and learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

Although President Biden has ended the war in Afghanistan, America's twenty-year global war on terror has not yet drawn to a close. Initiated by the Bush administration, and waged in various forms under four presidents, the war on terror has shaped not just US foreign policy, but many aspects of American life. This week, the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah is joined by Spencer Ackerman, whose new book, Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump contends that the Trump administration was no aberration. Charting the war on terror through the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, Ackerman shows how this war inflamed America's nativist impulses and spurred authoritarian tools of domestic surveillance.

To listen to more episodes or learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

Spencer Ackerman is the author of Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump and the Substack, Forever Wars. He is also a contributing editor at the Daily Beast, where he was a senior national correspondent from 2017 to 2021.

Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula this past month. In mid-September, both North and South Korea tested ballistic missiles just hours apart. And though Pyongyang had signaled interest in convening discussions to formally end the Korean War, it launched a short-range missile on Tuesday. This week on None Of The Above, we're bringing back another one of our favorite episodes from Season 1 with Korea expert Sue Mi Terry. When we sat down with Sue in 2019, Donald Trump was president, and the United States was engaged in talks with North Korea on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Though talks have since stalled, Sue's analysis of the discussions and her case for a unified Korea, remain just as thought-provoking today.

Sue Mi Terry is the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a contributor to NBC News and MSNBC. She previously served as a senior analyst on Korean issues at the CIA and as a member of the National Security Council. You can follow Sue on Twitter at @SueMiTerry.

To listen to more episodes or learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

Since the end of World War II, policymakers have puzzled over the proper way to approach Russia. U.S.-Russia relations have arguably deteriorated to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War as a myriad of issues strain the relationship. From election interference to cyberattacks and Russia's military expansion Westward, is America's response effective? Or, does the United States need to consider a new approach? This week, Eurasia expert Terrell Jermaine Starr joins us to discuss the future of U.S.-Russia relations. According to Terrell, the U.S. strategy is hobbled by racism, groupthink, neoliberalism, and military primacy. Terrell advocates for a more inclusive strategy that emphasizes diversity of thought and securing domestic institutions at home.

Terrell Jermaine Starr is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and Senior Reporter at The Root, where he writes about U.S.-Russia politics and race in America. He is the founder and host of the Black Diplomats podcast.

To listen to more episodes or learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

In April, President Biden announced he would withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Within months, Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, fell to the Taliban. The Biden administration's evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans, including one of this week's guests, Representative Peter Meijer (R-MI-3). But Meijer is also a critic of America's twenty-year war in Afghanistan, something he shares with our second guest, Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17).

On this week's episode of None Of The Above, you'll listen to our conversations from back in May with Representatives Meijer and Khanna, conversations which help us reflect on the current debate over America's global role. As the heartbreaking events in Afghanistan unfold, their reflections on how the U.S. has found itself perpetually at war can serve as a guide for current and future policymakers who wish to avoid the mistakes of the last twenty years. These two Congressmen agree on very little, but are united in their belief of a less interventionist U.S. foreign policy.

Congressman Ro Khanna represents California's 17th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He sits on the House Armed Services Committee and is the Congressional Progressive Caucus Vice-Chair.

Congressman Peter Meijer represents Michigan's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and is a veteran of the Iraq War. He also sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Additional: Reps From Both Political Parties Deliver Anti-War Message (NowThis and Eurasia Group Foundation, June 9, 2021)

This week, we're bringing back an episode from Season 1 with journalist and political analyst Peter Beinart. When we spoke with Peter last spring, we discussed the questionable value of America's extensive overseas military network and the limits of America's global role.

From Taiwan to Afghanistan, what price are Americans willing to pay to pursue stability and security around the globe? Does American expansionism around the globe make the U.S. more powerful and influential? While some suggest the threat or use of military intervention promotes American interests around the world, our guest insists a lack of humility in U.S. foreign policy undermines America's values, credibility, and security. From discussing the potential American withdrawal from Afghanistan to the crisis of illiberalism in Israel, and pandemic preparedness, our conversation foreshadowed some of 2021's most pressing foreign policy concerns.

Peter Beinart is a CNN political commentator, a columnist for The New York Times, and an editor-at-large of Jewish Currents magazine. He is the author of The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris and The Crisis of Zionism. You can follow Peter on Twitter at @PeterBeinart

On July 1, the Communist Party of China celebrated its 100th anniversary. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a speech that unsettled some China watchers with provocative comments about the existing world order. Symptomatic of increasing U.S.-China tensions, Xi's speech comes amid efforts in both countries to decouple these two large and intertwined national economies. But is decoupling in either country's best interests? This week, the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah is joined by China experts Ryan Hass and Susan Thornton, who suggest a different approach. While competition may define the U.S.-China relationship for decades to come, Hass and Thornton argue that leaders would be wise to not overlook areas of cooperation or become so focused on the other that they put their domestic aspirations at risk.

Ryan Hass served in the Obama White House and is now Senior Fellow and the Michael H. Armacost Chair at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of the book, Stronger: Adapting America's China Strategy in an Age of Competitive Interdependence. You can follow Ryan on Twitter at @ryanl_hass.

Susan Thornton served in the United States Department of State for nearly thirty years, focusing on East and Central Asia issues. Currently, Susan is Senior Fellow at the Yale Paul Tsai China Center. You can follow Susan on Twitter at @suea_thornton.