Joe Biden: America’s incoming multilateral, transatlanticist president

In many respects, }Joe Biden is a known quantity on the foreign policy level. A committed internationalist, Biden believes in the value of alliances, treaties, open economies and US leadership. He is a strong advocate of the transatlantic partnership, with an almost perfect attendance record at the annual Munich Security Conference, the equivalent of Davos for defense and geopolitics. His personal relationships with global leaders span across every continent. Having served as both chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-chairman of the NATO Observer Group, he was picked in 2008 as Barack Obama's running mate to complement his then-lack of foreign policy experience. And as vice president for eight years, he had a pivotal role in complex foreign policy situations such as Cyprus, Ukraine and Iraq.

But the world has changed in fundamental ways since Biden left...