LONDON—Andy Burnham faces no shortage of challenges as the United Kingdom’s latest prime minister. Fortunately, he also has a unique opportunity to lead the way in addressing major global economic issues and redesigning outdated institutions.

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Burnham took over after a tumultuous decade bookended by the UK’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016 and the premiership of Keir Starmer, who struggled to convince the public that international cooperation serves British interests. Burnham therefore inherits a foreign policy that feels both defensive and diminished, focused on holding fragile alliances together and cutting foreign-aid budgets dramatically in the name of “progressive realism”—a tagline that inspires no one.

Although threat management may be unavoidable in today’s world, it does not offer people a positive vision. To do that, Burnham should set out to help shape norms and institutions that will outlast today’s........

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