Below you will find a chronological list of current Council projects. You can search by issue or region by selecting the appropriate category. In addition to this sorting control, you can search for specific subjects within the alphabetical, regional, and issue categories by choosing from the selections in the drop-down menu below.
Each project page contains the name of the project director, a description of the project, a list of meetings it has held, and any related publications, transcripts, or videos.
| Director: | Julia E. Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies |
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| Fellow: | Shannon K. O'Neil, Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin America Studies |
Leaders of the nations of the Western Hemisphere are working to manage regional democratization, problems associated with the challenges of globalization, and new and longstanding security threats. Political and economic shocks—Argentina’s financial crisis, Venezuela’s polarization, Haiti’s unrest, upheaval in the Andean region—have shaken democratic consolidation, tested democratic institutions, and weakened public faith in both democracy and liberalizing economic reforms. The United States and Canada continue to try to resolve trade disputes and to repair relations damaged by the war in Iraq. Mexico has largely recovered from its 1994 financial crisis, but crime and official corruption remain obstacles to further political and economic development.
| Directors: | Barnett R. Rubin, New York University David A. Hamburg, Cornell University Medical College |
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As the name implies, Lessons Learned examines past conflict situations in an effort to understand why events occurred and how lessons from those experiences can be applied to current or future events.
| Fellows: | Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Steven A. Cook, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Mohamad Bazzi, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Noah Feldman, Adjunct Senior Fellow Thomas W. Lippman, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Daniel Senor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Steven Simon, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Lydia Khalil, International Affairs Fellow in Residence |
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The Middle East remains a source of tension and unrest, a region where some of the globe’s most intractable foreign-policy issues are fiercely contested. Insurgent violence threatens Iraq’s new government and tests the Bush administration’s strategy to plant the seeds of Arab democracy. Iran’s nuclear ambitions raise questions about proliferation of the world’s most destructive weapons, while its theocratic government keeps a tight grip on the electoral process and ponders relations with a transformed Iraq. Israeli-Palestinian relations improved after the death of Yasir Arafat, but it is an open question whether the peace process will go forward amid Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and Palestinian maneuvering for power in the post-Arafat era. In the Gulf region, authoritarian regimes are buoyed by high energy prices, but buffeted by threats from Islamic fundamentalists and calls for political liberalization.
| Fellows: | Richard K. Betts, Adjunct Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations Max Boot, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies Stephen E. Flynn, Ira A. Lipman Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security Studies Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow for Defense Policy John B. Bellinger III, Adjunct Senior Fellow for International and National Security Law Paul Lettow, Adjunct Senior Fellow Marisa L. Porges, International Affairs Fellow in Residence Nicole E. Lewis, National Intelligence Fellow |
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The September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington have forever blurred the line between defense and homeland security. The Bush administration continues to stress the need for U.S. armed forces to “take the fight to the enemy,” to push the battlefield away from U.S. shores. At the same time, efforts are ongoing to better secure the U.S. homeland against new terrorist attacks on American soil.
| Director: | Sheila A. Smith, Senior Fellow for Japan Studies |
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This project has been made possible by grants from the Robina Foundation, the United States-Japan Foundation, and the Korea Foundation, and by support from the International Institutions and Global Governance program.
The Council on Foreign Relations New Regional Security Architecture for Asia Program explores the prospects and potential for a new regional architecture in the Asia-Pacific region, seeking to provide answer about the future of regionalism in Asia. At the core of this project is a trans-Pacific dialogue that will culminate in a set of concrete proposals about what types of institutions are necessary to meet the strategic challenges of the region during the twenty-first century.
Workshop Number One: Tokyo, Japan (November 14, 2007)
The first meeting on a shared security vision for Northeast Asia was held in Tokyo on November 14, 2007. Dr. Smith, with Gary Samore, CFR vice president and director of Studies, led a group of strategic thinkers with regional experts from Korea, Japan and China. The day long seminar was cosponsored with the Japan Institute for International Affairs and hosted by its president Ambassador Satoh Yukio examined four critical issues: the security dynamics of Northeast Asia, the impact of domestic political change on regional diplomacy, the progress and prospects of the six-party talks, and the future directions of regional security cooperation.
Workshop Number Two: Washington, DC (March 7, 2008)
The second meeting was held in Washington, DC on March 7, 2008 at the Council on Foreign Relations. Building on the conversations held in Tokyo, the second workshop focused on the regional implications of domestic political change, as well as the progress and impact of the six-party talks. The debate over U.S. engagement in Northeast Asia community building, and the more specific question of whether a new architecture was needed was also examined.
Workshop Number Three: Seoul, South Korea (July 1, 2008)
Picking up where the previous discussions left off, the third meeting was held in Seoul, South Korea on July 1, 2008. This workshop was cosponsored by Asan Institute for Policy Studies and hosted by its president, Ambassador Han Sung-joo. In contrast to the idea of an institutionalized security mechanism, other ideas such as a new trilateral dialogue between the U.S., Japan and China as a complement to the six-party process, emerged. The complementarity of trailateral efforts as a key to forging stronger ties and greater security confidence-building in Northeast Asia was discussed.
Workshop Number Four: Beijing, China (October 13, 2008)
The fourth and final in-country meeting, cosponsored by the China Reform Forum, and hosted by its vice chairman, Mr. Xue Fukang, was held in Beijing, China on October 13, 2008. This workshop brought together our multinational team for our last discussion of the prospects for a new security architecture in Northeast Asia. The workshop concluded with a shared understanding that while there may be a common desire among diplomats and regional experts to move the agenda of security cooperation forward in Northeast Asia, the reality of domestic sensitivities and leadership challenges emanating from within made this agenda difficult. Yet, there was a common sense that the desire for a community-building agenda, even including the difficult issues related to each nation's security, was a shared desire among the societies that live in this region, and a need for the United States to demonstrate its commitment to working with the countries of the region to achieve this goal.
Bringing Regional Expertise to the U.S. Foreign Policy Debate
Workshop: Washington, DC (May 4, 2009)
Moving into the final phase, Dr. Sheila Smith convened a group of leading regional experts to discuss the prospects of cooperation. The meeting focused on the impact of domestic political change on the regional diplomatic agenda, and the place accorded to multilateralism in each nation’s foreign policy.
Roundtable: The North Korean Missile Launch and Its Aftermath: Is a Regional Approach Still Viable? (May 5, 2009)
North Korea’s recent missile launch and subsequent threat to walk away from the Six-Party Talks calls into question the future of regional cooperation in dealing with nuclear proliferation and brings with it the attendant risk of greater instability on the Korean Peninsula. Dr. Smith presided over a panel of leading regional experts from Japan, South Korea, and the United States to discuss the impact of North Korea’s behavior and their perspectives on the difficult diplomatic road ahead.
Upcoming Activities
A final workshop will be held in the fall of 2009, and the completed collection of essays will be made available on the Council on Foreign Relations' website.
Policymakers in the early twenty-first century have a range of alternatives—short of all-out war—designed to influence the behavior of nations that have violated international law or denied fundamental rights to their citizens. Increasingly, countries and institutions have drawn on these measures to try to head off or halt a conflict and mitigate its aftermath. The United Nations has taken the lead in mounting various missions, but other institutions—the African Union (AU) in the Darfur crisis in Sudan and the European Union (EU) in Bosnia—have also expanded their roles as peacekeepers and humanitarian helpers.
Visit our Center for Preventive Action website.
| Staff: | Gene B. Sperling, Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center for Universal Education |
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While fighting AIDS and promoting universal education have long been important development priorities, the recent spread of the epidemic in Africa and elsewhere has made the relationship between AIDS and education delivery critical to the success of both efforts. Not only is the scourge of AIDS spreading – every minute, someone somewhere becomes newly infected with HIV; two-thirds of those people are in sub-Saharan Africa – but AIDS is now severely damaging an institution critical to preventing its spread: the schools.
Roundtables in this series aim to bring the AIDS and education advocacy communities together to discuss their shared challenges with senior policy makers and top experts and identify best practices for addressing them.
| Staff: | Michael A. Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change Charles D. Ferguson, Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology |
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Climate change is one of the most complex issues facing policy-makers today. David G. Victor, a leading expert on environmental policy, takes a fresh look at this issue and persuasively marshals arguments for three distinct approaches to combat the problem, casting each as a presidential speech. A must-read for environmentalists, educators, and anyone else interested in the issue, Climate Change is a most useful reference in the growing public debate about how best to meet this environmental challenge.
| Staff: | Gene B. Sperling, Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center for Universal Education |
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October 2006—Present
| Staff: | Noah Feldman, Adjunct Senior Fellow |
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The Diplomatic Program positions CFR as an important resource for the diplomatic community by fostering exchange between foreign representatives and American business, political, and academic leaders. The embassies, in turn, provide valuable insights on U.S. foreign policy, how it affects their countries, and how it is perceived by their citizens. The program’s ultimate goal is to establish better, more informed policy – both at home and around the world.
For more information about the Diplomatic Program please contact:
Thomas Bowman
Assistant Director
Washington Program
tbowman@cfr.org
202.509.8445
March 18, 2008—Present
A Corporate Program Series Sponsored by
This series highlights the depth and diversity of women leadership in the world today. The inagaural meeting of this series honored Sadako Ogata, the president of Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Follow-up sessions in this series will take place in 2008-2009 and will highlight prominent women leaders who have made an impact on a global scale.
The corporate headquarters of Merck & Co., Inc. are located in Whitehouse Station N.J., USA
This endowed annual symposium was established in 2008 through the generosity of a gift from CFR member Stephen C. Freidheim, CIO and managing partner of Cyrus Capital Partners. The symposium addresses any of the broad spectrum of issues affecting Wall Street and international economics.
| Staff: | James M. Lindsay, Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair |
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| Fellows: | Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy Matthew C. Waxman, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Law and Foreign Policy Kara C. McDonald, International Affairs Fellow in Residence |
An open question as George Bush took the oath of office on January 20, 2005, was how different American foreign policy would be in his second term in office. During his first term, he had challenged traditional approaches to foreign policy. Even before the September 11 attacks, his administration made clear that it refused to accept constraints on American freedom of action, doubted the value of international institutions, and was prepared to alienate even close allies in pursuing what it saw as American interests. Those instincts intensified in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The president announced the Bush Doctrine, which held that the United States would “make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these attacks and those who harbor them.” The application of this doctrine led to the Afghanistan War, which had the support of much of the rest of the world, and then the Iraq War, which did not. The administration dismissed complaints that it had invaded Iraq without the express authorization of the United Nations Security Council, even as poll after poll showed that America’s image was plunging around the world.
| Director: | Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy |
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Dr. Coleman is currently working on her latest book, which examines the role of women in bringing reform to the Muslim world. Paradise Beneath Her Feet: Women and Reform in the Middle East (Random House) looks at women across five countries — Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. This strategic crescent contains more than 300 million people, nearly fifty percent of the world’s known oil reserves, two active wars, an unstable nuclear power and an aspiring one, and the heart of both Sunni and Shia Islam. It is in this volatile corner of the globe that the world’s future stability is likely to rest. The role of women is central to determining whether these deeply religious, conservative societies can make the transition to functioning democracies with modern economies, or whether they will remain in the grip of religious extremists. Dr. Coleman focuses on those men and women working within an Islamic framework to promote social change.
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