American Power in a Multipolar World
A new vision of realism and restraint
American foreign policy is in crisis. The bipartisan consensus that emerged after the Cold War has collapsed after a string of American failures, like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, with the rise of China and the new ascendance of middle powers, the United States must rethink its engagement with the world. But where to start?
In this episode, the Institute for Global Affairs’ Jonathan Guyer is joined by Emma Ashford, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, to discuss her new book First Among Equals. In the book, Emma offers a realist vision for how the United States can adapt its foreign policy to a multipolar world. Together they explore the necessity of restraining American power, how the Trump administration has upended the status quo, and more.
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Emma Ashford is a senior fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center and a columnist at Foreign Policy. She is the author of First Among Equals: US Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World (Yale University Press, 2025) and Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates (Georgetown University Press, 2022). Her writing on foreign policy and international security has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The National Interest, and War on the Rocks, among others.
Find Emma on X: https://x.com/EmmaMAshford
Check out Emma’s writing at Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/author/emma-ashford/
Check out First Among Equals: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300279542/first-among-equals/
