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.
October 17, 2008—New York, NY
Experts discuss international justice and law at this three-part symposium, featuring speakers such as International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, General Wesley Clark, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie.
Session 3 Video: The Darfur Case
This symposium has been underwritten by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
June 12, 2008—June 12, 2008
| Directors: | Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy Laurie A. Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health |
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A discussion of maternal health as a foreign policy issue.
This symposium was made possible by the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
September 12, 2008—Present
| Fellows: | Julia E. Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies Shannon K. O'Neil, Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin America Studies |
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This symposium was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
October 2008—January 2009
| Director: | Paul B. Stares, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action |
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| Author: | Steven Pifer, Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution |
September 2008—February 2009
| Author: | Jeffrey Mankoff, Adjunct Fellow for Russia Studies |
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July 2008—January 2009
| Director: | Paul B. Stares, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action |
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April 2008—October 2008
| Director: | Paul B. Stares, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action |
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| Author: | Anthony W. Gambino |
September 8, 2008—New York and January 22, 2009 - Washington, DC
| Director: | Laurie A. Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health |
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These meetings were made possible through the generous support of the Robina Foundation and Richard Brown.
June 2008—to present
A Corporate Program Series Sponsored by 
Basic Element is Russia's leading diversified investment company striving to conduct business in Russia and around the world in an effective and responsible manner. Basic Element's main assets are concentrated in six economic sectors - Energy, Resources, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Construction and Aviation.
Basic Element through its affiliates owns significant stakes in and operates dozens of companies. Many of them play key roles in their respective market segments in Russia and internationally, including UC RUSAL, GAZ Group, Transstroy and Ingosstrakh.
Basic Element is one of the largest, most dynamic and effectively-run business groups of modern Russia. With more than 100 companies in six industry sectors, in recent years its revenues were consistently growing at a rate of more than 40 percent a year. As the global crisis unfolds, all companies in the group are implementing a cost- and expense-cutting program. With market demand falling, this effort is geared towards maintaining and improving profitability. About 300,000 people work at the Group's companies in Russia, the CIS, Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
May 27, 2008—Present
| Director: | Michelle D. Gavin, Adjunct Fellow for Africa |
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This roundtable series will meet periodically over the course of 2008 to explore changing political and security dynamics on the African continent, often with a special emphasis on U.S. policy options and responses. Extra effort will be devoted to drawing in new voices and perspectives on critical African issues.
October 2008—Present
| Director: | David G. Victor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology |
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May 5, 2008—Washington, DC
| Directors: | David G. Victor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology M. Granger Morgan, Head, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University John D. Steinbruner, Director, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland Jay Apt, Distinguished Service Professor, Engineering and Public Policy, Executive Director, Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center, Carnegie Mellon University |
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November 1, 2008—Present
July 2008—Present
| Director: | Stephen E. Flynn, Ira A. Lipman Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security Studies |
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January 30, 2008—Present
| Chairs: | William J. Perry, Professor, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University Brent Scowcroft, Resident Trustee, The Forum for International Policy |
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| Director: | Charles D. Ferguson, Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology |
The Council has convened a new Independent Task Force on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, chaired by former secretary of defense William J. Perry and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft. The Task Force will take a fresh look at current U.S. nuclear doctrine and policy, determine the purpose of America's nuclear weapons, and make recommendations for the future of arms control and nonproliferation.
During its first meeting in January 2008, the group debated the purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons and discussed other core issues such as the size and composition of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the effect of U.S. nuclear policy on preventing proliferation and nuclear terrorism.
Charles D. Ferguson, Philip D. Reed senior fellow for science and technology at the Council, serves as the project director. The group aims to produce the report in the fall of 2008, in anticipation of the new incoming presidential administration.
The work of the Independent Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Policy is made possible by the generous support of the Ploughshares Fund and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, as well as general operating support provided by the Council. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author.
May 2008—Present
| Staff: | Kaysie Brown, Deputy Director, International Institutions and Global Governance |
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| Director: | Stewart M. Patrick, Senior Fellow and Director, Program on International Institutions and Global Governance |
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has launched a comprehensive five-year program on international institutions and global governance. Made possible by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation, this cross-cutting initiative will explore the institutional requirements for world order in the twenty-first century. It is motivated by recognition that the architecture of global governance--largely reflecting the world as it existed in 1945--has not kept pace with fundamental changes in the international system. These changes include accelerating global economic integration; a shift in global power to non-Western countries; the rise of transnational security threats; the emergence of agile non-state actors; a proliferation of failing states; and evolving norms of state sovereignty. Existing multilateral arrangements thus provide an inadequate foundation for addressing today’s most pressing threats and opportunities and for advancing U.S. national and broader global interests.
The program seeks to identify critical weaknesses in current frameworks for multilateral cooperation; propose specific reforms reflective of new global circumstances; and promote constructive U.S. leadership in building the capacities of existing organizations and in sponsoring new, more effective regional and global institutions and partnerships, including those involving the private sector and non-governmental organizations.
The program will focus on arrangements governing state conduct and international cooperation in meeting four broad sets of challenges:
In each of these areas, the program will consider whether the most promising framework for governance is a formal organization with universal membership (e.g., the United Nations); a regional or sub-regional organization; a narrower, informal coalition of like-minded countries; or some combination of all three. The program will also examine the potential to adapt major bedrock institutions (e.g., the UN, G8, NATO, IMF, and AU), as well as the feasibility of creating new frameworks and initiatives to meet today's challenges.
The participation, input and endorsement of both official and non-state actors will be critical to ensure the appropriateness and feasibility of any institutional reforms. Throughout the course of the project, CFR will engage stakeholders and constituencies in the United States and abroad, including governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society representatives, and the private sector.
The attached concept note summarizes the rationale for the program on global governance, describes potential areas of research and policy engagement, and outlines the envisioned products and activities. We believe that the research and policy agenda outlined here constitutes a significant contribution to U.S. and international deliberations on the requirements for world order in the twenty-first century.
July 2008—Present
| Directors: | William L. Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program Colonel John S. Clark Jr., USAF, Military Fellow, U.S. Air Force Captain Brian T. Donegan, USN, Military Fellow, U.S. Navy Colonel John C. Kennedy, USMC, Military Fellow, U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Kevin C. Owens, USA, Military Fellow, U.S. Army |
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The Military Affairs Roundtable Series provides a forum for experts from both the public and private sector to engage senior officers from the U.S. Armed Forces in discussions on timely and important defense and national security issues.
March 25, 2008—New York, NY
| Directors: | Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy Timothy Samuel Shah, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Religion and Foreign Policy |
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This symposium addressed how different forms of Christianity and Islam may have helped (and sometimes hindered) the development of free and open societies – not just in the narrow sense of democratic government but in the broader sense of openness to progress, innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit in economics, and a competitive marketplace of ideas. Directed by Walter Russell Mead and Timothy Shah, this symposium explored how both Christianity and Islam may foster freedom-friendly dynamism, but also considered powerful arguments that religion is essentially antithetical to freedom and the open society.
This is the third symposium in the Religion and Foreign Policy Symposia Series made possible by the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation.
June 11, 2008—New York, NY
| Directors: | Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy Timothy Samuel Shah, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Religion and Foreign Policy |
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This symposium, directed by Walter Russell Mead and Timothy Shah, explored how China’s various major religious traditions (village-based folk religion, Buddhism, neo-Confucianism, Roman Catholicism, evangelical Protestantism, Islam, and new religious groups such as the Falun Gong) are contributing to its economic, social, and political development – and stirring up controversy. It also addressed the ways in which religion is playing a stabilizing and destabilizing role in China at the moment, how Chinese government policy towards religion may be changing, and what the long-term consequences are likely to be for country’s social, economic, and political future.
This event was the fourth in the Religion and Foreign Policy Symposium Series at CFR and was funded through the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation.
December 2008—Present
| Director: | Princeton N. Lyman, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies |
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