Global challenges for the new US president

After a heated campaign, Americans elected Donald Trump on Nov. 8 as the next president of their country. The result is also important for the international community because of the United States' global reach. The contest between a Republican businessman and a former Democrat senator and secretary of state presented us with an unprecedented campaign as scandals and rhetoric took the forefront instead of the candidates' policy choices. As a result, we do not know exactly what the preferences are of the new president in international relations.

There are numerous challenges around the world and a crumbling international system that the new U.S. president will have to face when he takes office after his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017. As the president of the unrivalled superpower, Trump's few lines on his foreign policy choices and nominees for the relevant offices will undoubtedly be scrutinized globally in the coming weeks. Despite all his populist domestic discourse, it is difficult to go beyond the bare minimum contours of his international choices.

The pressing issues facing the U.S. in international politics today range from counter-balancing both Russia and China to pacifying the Middle East, persuading allies in Europe to contribute more toward an international system, assuring allies in the Asia-Pacific, the Gulf, and the wider Black Sea about its commitments, and dealing with several other global problems such as climate change, cyber security, refugee movements and the like.

Of course, Trump might choose to be an isolationist, but challenges for the U.S. global posture have been mounting in the last few years. First of all, the international system has been evolving into a somewhat multipolar world with Russia challenging U.S. and...