FOREIGN POLICY BEGINS AT HOME

WHEN THEY TAKE OFFICE IN JANUARY, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have promised to revive U.S. leadership in the world. Right off the bat, they say, they will reenter the United States into many of the multilateral agreements that it left under President Donald Trump, such as the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal. They also plan to reengage international institutions Trump snubbed, including NATO and the World Health Organization.

A return to international cooperation will be a welcome change; foreign-policy experts overwhelmingly agree that the United States is worse off than it was four years ago. The country is less respected globally, trade protectionism has hurt its economy, and abandoning allies has made everyone less safe. But simply re-creating the pre-Trump status quo won’t be enough. Rather, if they want the United States to truly flourish, Biden and Harris should look to the practices of transitional justice to help