Prospects of the Biden Presidency: Promise and Perils

Last month, when Joe Biden assumed power, he confronted an extraordinarily challenging environment: the nation was more politically polarised than in living memory; confidence in its political institutions stood at historically low levels; and his capacity to govern was further limited by conservative strength in Congress, the Supreme Court, and in state governments around the United States. One month on, what have we learned about how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris intend to meet these challenges, and about their prospects for achieving some measure of success? To address these questions, the Institute of the Americas and the Centre on United States Politics (CUSP) at UCL have asked four scholars of contemporary U.S. politics to consider the Biden Presidency’s political strategy and prospects in relation to four broad themes: Professor Andrew Rudalevige (Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Politics at Bowdoin College) will discuss the state of the presidency, and President Biden’s approach to executive power; Dr. Emma Long (Senior Lecturer in American Studies at the University of East Anglia) will talk about judicial politics; Dr. Julie Norman (Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and Researcher at CUSP) will consider the Biden Presidency’s approach to international relations; Dr. Tom Packer (Research Fellow at UCL Institute of the Americas) will explore the state of U.S. party politics and political polarisation. Chaired by Professor Gareth Davies.