25. Is the Postwar Order Ending? Europe, Trump, Ukraine, and the Future of the West — Eleanor Beardsley

For eighty years, Europe and the United States built a common political, economic, and military order.

Today, many Europeans wonder whether that world is ending.

In this episode of Tocqueville Talks, Brent Nelson interviews NPR Paris correspondent Eleanor Beardsley, a Furman alumna and one of America's most experienced reporters on Europe and the Middle East.

Drawing on decades of reporting from France, Ukraine, Kosovo, Tunisia, and beyond, Beardsley reflects on the changing mood in Europe as the continent confronts war in Ukraine, rising populism, migration, China's economic influence, and growing uncertainty about the future of the transatlantic alliance.

How do Europeans view the second Trump administration?

Can Europe defend itself?

What role do right-wing parties play in European politics?

Will the European Union emerge stronger—or more divided?

And are we witnessing the collapse of the postwar order that shaped the West for generations?

Topics include:

• Europe and the second Trump administration

• Russia's war in Ukraine

• NATO and European security

• Right-wing parties and European identity

• China and the future of global trade

• The European Union and strategic autonomy

• France, Germany, Hungary, and Viktor Orbán

• Immigration and the Syrian refugee crisis

• Why Europe still matters

At the center of the conversation is a larger question:

What comes after the world built in 1945?