The world has had enough of America's bright ideas for a while, says Obama advisor Parag Khanna.

In terms of foreign policy, there are messes to clean up, meaning exiting from Iraq while attempting to negotiate a continued troop presence (the Pentagon will demand it), shoring up Afghanistan, and keeping Pakistan stable, says Khanna, who spoke at the Fabian New Year conference.

"Then there are relations to normalize: with Latin America and Europe most of all. If the above go well, and they may not no matter who is president, he or she could consider bold, new, fresh. initiatives which are always over-promised and under-delivered. But many of these really can wait – the world has had enough of America's bright ideas for a while. So the aim is modesty in all things, and calibrated strategies for each issue and region, not a blanket global doctrine."

Read the full interview here.

Parag Khanna was a speaker at the Fabian New Year conference.

This interview is linked to the Fabian Society's Global Agenda debate.