In the twentieth century, the United States solidified itself as a global power in both the Pacific and the Atlantic. In the past decades, it has expended energy in the Indian Ocean to shape the Greater Middle East. Recently, however, the US has turned increasingly inward. What does the future hold for the United States and, importantly, its neighbors? This presentation surmises that we may be entering a Century of the Americas, beginning with the emergence of Canada and Mexico as the leading U.S. trading partners. Whether the rest of the Western Hemisphere follows suit and how that might happen are among the topics for discussion.
Puhujat
Non-Resident Fellow
Puheenjohtaja
Senior Research Fellow
Bart Gaens is Senior Research Fellow in the Global Security and Governance research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. From May 2021 to April 2023, he led a project on connectivity in the Indo-Pacific region. He also holds the title of Docent at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki.
In the past he has worked as Project Director for FIIA’s Center on US Politics and Power (CUSPP), Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Helsinki, and Specially-Appointed Associate Professor at Osaka University in Japan.
He has published widely on Europe-Asia inter-regionalism and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) process, Japan’s foreign policy and regional role, India’s foreign policy and relations with the EU, domestic politics in Myanmar, and security-related issues in the Indo-Pacific region. He has also (co)edited volumes and reports on connectivity, EU-Asia relations, the US-China rivalry, transatlantic relations, and Japan’s search for strategic partnerships.