2023: What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

The world is entering a new era of great-power competition. As U.S. policymakers look ahead, it pays to know what global threats to anticipate. Every January, the Council on Foreign Relations publishes a survey that analyzes the conflicts most likely to occur in the twelve months ahead and rates their potential impact on the United States. But can the country prepare itself for mass immigration, cyberwarfare, and nuclear tensions while still cooperating with adversaries on global issues such as climate change?

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Host
  • Gabrielle Sierra
    Podcast Host and Producer
Credits

Asher Ross - Supervising Producer

Markus Zakaria - Audio Producer and Sound Designer

Molly McAnany - Associate Podcast Producer

Episode Guests
  • Paul B. Stares
    General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action

Show Notes

As tensions between great powers continue to escalate, the prospect of widespread conflict—and the subsequent impact on international security, the global economy, and climate change—looms over the year ahead. The Council on Foreign Relations’ annual Preventive Priorities Survey asks foreign policy experts to evaluate the U.S. ramifications of thirty global conflicts. 

 

China’s desire to reclaim Taiwan and Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine are chief among their concerns. Meanwhile, countries including Iran and North Korea continue to covet nuclear weapons, unrest churns in Latin America, and U.S. officials are scrambling to prepare a contingency plan for a coordinated cyberattack. 

 

Whether or not these threats will be borne out in 2023 depends on how global leaders navigate this new era of great-power competition. 

 

 

Read the full 2023 Preventive Priorities Survey.


Check out the Center for Preventive Action’s Global Conflict Tracker.

 

From CFR

 

Manjari Chatterjee Miller, J. Andrés Gannon, Inu Manak, Ebenezer Obadare, and Christopher M. Tuttle, “Visualizing 2023: Trends to Watch

 

Richard Haass, “What in the World Will Happen in 2023?

 

Robert D. Blackwill, “Policy Prescriptions for U.S.-China Relations

 

Scott A. Snyder, “How a New U.S.-South Korea Deal Can Deter the North Korean Nuclear Threat

 

Stephen Sestanovich, “Who are Russia's War Hawks, and Do They Matter?

 

From Our Guest

 

Conflicts to Watch in 2023” 

 

Preventive Engagement: How America Can Avoid War, Stay Strong, and Keep the Peace

 

Read More

 

Ankit Panda, “Seoul’s Nuclear Temptations and the U.S.-South Korean Alliance,” War on the Rocks

 

Ethan Bronner, “How Israel and Iran Attack Each Other While Avoiding All-Out War,” Bloomberg

 

Gustav Gressel, “The Second Year of Russia’s War: Scenarios for the Ukraine Conflict in 2023,” European Council on Foreign Relations

 

Joy Dong, “China’s Internet Censors Try a New Trick: Revealing Users’ Locations,” New York Times

 

Tony Bradley, “New Report Highlights Concerning Trends for Cyberwarfare,” Forbes

 

Watch and Listen

 

What to Worry About in 2023

Arctic

As rising global temperatures thaw the ice at the North Pole of the planet, competition between nuclear-powered states threatens to heat up the Arctic Circle even further. An increasingly minable Arctic, which contains vast natural resources, has piqued the economic interests of oil-hungry great powers, even as the warmer climate jeopardizes Indigenous tribes. Here’s how the Arctic could become the next frontier of great-power competition.

Global Governance

In 2022, several colossal events dominated the headlines, most prominently the war in Ukraine and the worldwide inflation that it helped spark. But beyond Ukraine, events with global implications continued to unfold. In this episode, Why It Matters checks in with three CFR fellows and CFR President Richard Haass to understand the least-covered stories of 2022 and to take a peek at what could await the world in 2023.

Technology and Innovation

For years, the world thought of the internet as a borderless zone that brought people from around the world together. But as governments pursue very different regulatory paths, the monolithic internet is breaking apart. Now, where there had been one, there are at least three internets: one led by the United States, one by China, and one by the European Union.

Top Stories on CFR

 

United States

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Americas

Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have been arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border each year, sparking debate over how to respond. How is the Joe Biden administration handling it?