In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with policy experts Zack Paikin and Trita Parsi about the the new report they co-authored, “Toward a Better Security Order,” the first report by the Quincy Institute’s Better Order Project. The report is the result of discussions with over 130 experts, scholars, and practitioners from over 40 countries, aspiring to put together a set of recommendations to stabilize international order as it (as they argue) transitions from away from a unipolar structure. They discuss the Biden administration’s focus on the so-called “rules-based international order,” recommendations for reforming the UN Security Council, and expectations for the incoming administration led by a president who, in the words of Trita Parsi, has “neither patience for rules nor laws.” 

Zach Paikin is Deputy Director of the Better Order Project and Research Fellow in the Grand Strategy Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, DC. Zach holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK for research that focuses on Russian foreign policy, European security, great power relations and international order.

Trita Parsi is the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute. He is an award-winning author and an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He has authored three books on US foreign policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran and Israel.

Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNBC Political Commentator.