America's back, but not all Americans may be happy about it

FROM the perspective of America's allies and partners the change in leadership from Donald Trump to Joe Biden represents more than just a routine transition of power in Washington, DC.

As they see it, the introduction of President-elect Biden's new team of foreign policy and national security advisers last week signalled to the international community that the incoming president aims to reverse the global agenda that has been promoted by his predecessor for the last four years.

It was a clear demonstration that the team, led by Mr Biden's choice for secretary of state - the self-proclaimed liberal internationalist and his long-time foreign policy adviser Anthony Blinken - is intent on scrapping Mr Trump's "America First"-style nationalist isolationism, and, in particular, on repairing America's relationships with its traditional allies that have fractured under the current president. In fact, Mr Biden - who has spent several decades in Washington dealing with diplomatic and military crises - has made it clear that not only would he prioritise foreign policy as a central pillar of his administration, he has pledged to embrace a multilateral geo-strategy that would help reassemble the international alliances and place the US in a more prominent and activist position on the world stage.