What the world can learn from Americans living abroad

By Rachel Ryan. American citizen living in Dubai, with over a decade of experience in international affairs. In the aftermath of the U.S elections, she offers her insights on President-elect Joe Biden’s foreign-policy agenda and its potential to impact the United States’ image and multilateral relationships abroad. Will he push for reformative international change, or restore the status quo ante?

As the world watches the United States erupt daily in protest and celebration over the 2020 election results, and headlines bemoan a nation “more divided than ever,” a huge, diverse constituency of overlooked Americans has found common political ground beyond their country’s borders. 

According to conservative estimates by the State Department, there are more than nine million U.S. citizens living outside the country, representing a constituency equivalent to that of Michigan, the 10th-largest of all 50 states. But unlike in Michigan, where the divide between Democrats and Republicans has all but split the state in two, Americans abroad are more unified than ever. 

This election cycle, a nonpartisan VoteFromAbroad.org survey found that the overwhelming majority (82 percent) of U.S. citizens overseas identify as Democrats, compared to less than three percent who identify as Republicans. 

Tempting though it may be for Republicans to explain away these data with stereotypes of draft-dodging expats, wealthy globalists, and hemp-clad student backpackers, migrant-research studies show Americans abroad are, demographically, just as diverse as their compatriots back home.

But unlike back home, where demographics play a big role in elections and international affairs are at best an afterthought, the politics of Americans overseas are almost uniquely influenced by U.S. foreign policy. And for these Americans, the deleterious impact of Trump’s “America First” unilateralism is not a partisan talking point—it is an inescapable, objective reality. 

“As Americans living abroad, we have front-row seats to what America is doing in the world, and what the world thinks about us,” Ridah Sabouni, UAE chair of Democrats Abroad, the official overseas arm of the U.S. Democratic Party, told me in a pre-Election Day interview. 

Is it any wonder, then, that the majority would disavow the Republican party, which for the past four years has championed a president hellbent on dismantling multilateral agreements, emboldening autocratic strongmen, ignoring crimes against humanity, blocking critical aid to women worldwide, and all but blowing up the global trading system?

Of course not. That’s why, “more than anything,” according to Sabouni, the primary—and perhaps only—motivator of overseas Americans in this election cycle was a desperation to “restore the United States’ credibility and standing in the world.”

Now, as President-elect, Joe Biden has vowed to do just that, pledging to Americans and “the whole world” to “lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example."

But with the fate of the U.S. Senate unknown until a runoff election in January, many around the world remain skeptical.

“If Republicans keep control of the Senate and Biden takes office with a divided Congress,” mused a senior analyst at a Gulf think-tank, who requested anonymity on the basis of not having authority to speak publicly on the matter, “then I think he’ll compromise with the Republicans on foreign policy in exchange for concessions on key domestic issues, starting with getting a COVID-relief bill through Congress.”

Echoing these predictions of compromise, Josh Rogin, Washington Post Global Opinions columnist, spoke last month with several GOP sources who said they expect Biden to give Republicans “significant leverage” on foreign policy, noting that even Democratic lawmakers admit “Biden’s foreign policy was always closer to the traditional GOP approach of alliances, free trade, overt support for American values abroad and robust U.S. engagement on several continents.”

Others are similarly wary of what exactly Biden will try to do: push for reformative international change, or restore the status quo ante?

“I wouldn’t expect anything particularly revolutionary,” says Susan Corke, director of the bipartisan Transatlantic Democracy Working Group at the German Marshall Fund. “Because the whole point is establishing normalcy, reestablishing our alliances, showing that we care about democracy and human rights again, sort of reassuring the world.” 

Obviously, the particularities of President-elect Biden’s foreign-policy agenda are an open question. What is not in question, however, is his commitment to foreign policy—with or without a divided Congress. 

Historically and constitutionally, U.S. Presidents have more power and greater autonomy in foreign and defense policy than in domestic affairs. Couple that precedent with Biden, who is poised to enter office with more foreign-policy experience than any president in U.S. history, and you have an administration destined to make a name for itself on the world stage.

Already, as President-elect, Biden has started to rebuild America’s multilateral relationships and global standing, holding calls with world leaders and vowing, on Day One, to both re-join the Paris climate accord and halt the United States’ exit from the World Health Organization—all of which Congress has no power to stop.

While much remains to be seen, and there is much repair work to do, Americans abroad and U.S. allies around the world can rest assured: Biden’s international impact will be immediate, palpable and (at the very least, compared to Trump) positive.

Rachel Ryan is an American public-affairs consultant based in Dubai, with previous experience as a geopolitical-communications strategist in Europe and Washington D.C. Her writing has been featured in The Huffington Post, Independent Journal, Washington Post, POLITICO, Le Monde & other top-tier international print outlets. She has also appeared as an expert commentator on CNN and The Sun. Follow her on Twitter @RachelRMcKell.