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.
January 2007—Present
| Staff: | Sebastian Mallaby, Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics |
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This roundtable series brings together policymakers, scholars, and journalists to explore current policy challenges that have both economic and national security dimensions.
September 2007—September 2008
| Staff: | Charles D. Ferguson, Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology |
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| Author: | Bruce W. MacDonald |
This report will provide options and make recommendations to Congress and the broader public on U.S. military and diplomatic steps to address the national security challenges posed by China's current and projected military space capabilities. The report will also highlight options that China should consider that would enhance both its own and U.S. security interests as well.
June 2007—October 2007
| 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 |
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| Author: | Joshua W. Busby |
Connections between climate change and national security are receiving unprecedented attention from policymakers and analysts. In March 2007, Senators Richard Durbin and Chuck Hagel introduced a bill requesting that the National Intelligence Council draft a National Intelligence Estimate to assess the security implications of climate change. In April 2007, the CNA Corporation released a report overseen by retired generals that documents the links between climate and national security. The British government initiated a similar discussion in the United Nations Security Council in the same month.
This Council Special Report (CSR) will move the discussion from broad assessments of the links between climate and security to a plan for action. It will examine whether climate change poses a direct security threat to the United States, and will identify the security assets that will be affected by climate change. Finally, it will outline the policies that the United States should adopt to protect critical infrastructure, and military bases from these effects.
October 2007—Present
This CSR will aim to survey the foreign policy implications of U.S. trade policy and how the current U.S. approach to trade affects the achievement of its foreign policy goals. It will argue that a retreat from America's leadership role in fostering trade liberalization will not only have potentially serious and detrimental economic effects, but adverse foreign policy ramifications as well.
April 2007—October 2007
| Director: | Edward Alden, Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow |
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| Author: | David M. Marchick Matthew J. Slaughter, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Globalization |
In the past three years, many countries have adopted or expanded regimes to review inward foreign direct investment (FDI) for either “national” or “economic” security purposes. The U.S. Congress recently passed legislation reforming the Committee on Foreign Direct Investment with the United States, which is charged with reviewing the security risk posed by inbound investments. France has adopted a new regulation requiring reviews of foreign investments (excluding EU investments) in nineteen sectors of their economy. Russia is close to adopting a law, modeled largely on the CFIUS process, requiring reviews in thirty-nine sectors. China has adopted a regulation allowing the government to block investments that harm “economic security,” and Korea and Canada are debating new restrictions.
State-owned multinationals are increasingly prominent, especially in developing countries. In 2005, twenty-four of the top 100 multinationals headquartered in developing countries were majority state-owned. Of particular note is the rising number and size of developed-country firms being acquired by developing-country sovereign funds of central banks and/or fiscal authorities. The recent Chinese investment in the U.S. private-equity firm Blackstone is one notable example.
This CSR will examine the scope, nature, causes, and consequences of rising restrictions to inward FDI around the world. It will discuss what best practices and principles should guide governments in formulating and implementing policies to govern national security reviews of FDI inflows, including how to prevent legitimate national security reviews from becoming tools for economic protectionism. It will also consider what should be the policy responses from advanced countries and important leadership groups, such as the G-8, APEC, and the OECD, to the emergence of new FDI restrictions. The recommendations will also cover ways to avoid actions in the United States being used as justification for other countries to restrict foreign investment.
December 2007—July 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: | Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia |
May 2007—June 2008
| Directors: | Paul B. Stares, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action Steven A. Cook, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies |
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| Author: | Scott Lasensky, Senior Research Associate, United States Institute of Peace Mona Yacoubian, Special Adviser, Muslim World Initiative, United States Institute of Peace |
This forthcoming report will focus on Washington's policy toward Syria. The Syrian regime believes it plays a pivotal role in the region and is seeking to capitalize on its influence in several major arenas: Iraq, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, and Iran. This CSR will develop a set of policy recommendations for an effective strategy toward Damascus and prescribe an incentive-based approach to secure its cooperation in these areas.
May 2007—October 2007
| Staff: | William L. Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program |
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| Director: | Paul B. Stares, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action |
| Author: | Michelle D. Gavin, Adjunct Fellow for Africa |
This forthcoming report will survey the current situation in Zimbabwe, identifying current structural and legal impediments to economic and political recovery. It will argue that the time to develop post-Mugabe plans is now, and will then develop policy prescriptions for encouraging a transition, containing turmoil in the midst of change, and establishing structures that will contribute to long-term growth and stability in southern Africa.
September 27, 2007—Present
| Staff: | Gene B. Sperling, Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center for Universal Education |
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As part of its research and policy work, the Center focuses on examining how education can be a vital part of a comprehensive humanitarian strategy for conflict, post-conflict and refugee settings. Education can provide a healing and safe place for children of conflict; it can provide a sense of much needed normalcy in a chaotic conflict environment, it can teach non-violence and understanding, and most importantly, it can give young people who have been through the worst misfortune and even horrors, the tools to build a better life for themselves and a better future for their nations. Yet education in emergencies and post-conflict situations too often falls through the cracks; overlooked because it is not seen as “life-saving” or because donors do not trust the governments in which these children live. The Center's work seeks to address this gap by
(a) studying and promoting best practices and model programs including those standards developed by the INEE, and
(b) drafting and delivering new analyses and recommendations on international financing of education in conflict situations to major stakeholders including G-8 development agencies, the United Nations, and World Bank
(c) creating support, understanding and momentum for the design and implementation of high-quality education projects for children of conflict
September 2007—Present
| Staff: | Gene B. Sperling, Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center for Universal Education |
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This roundtable series focuses on the challenge of funding and managing education in emergency and conflict situations.
November 30, 2007—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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A three-part symposium on the history of evangelicals, and their role in influencing U.S. foreign policy.
This is the second symposium in the Religion and Foreign Policy Symposia Series, which is made possible by the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation.
May 2007—Present
| Director: | Laurie A. Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health |
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The Series was developed with the Global Public Health Practice at McKinsey & Company.
The goal of the series is to examine proven technologies that are known to be life-saving, but are not yet in widespread use in poor countries. A number of questions will be discussed, including: What are the barriers to ubiquitous use? What controversies surround them? Are there specific funding issues in Congress or in the Executive branch that currently make support for these efforts difficult, or impossible? Are there domestic political issues in the US that limit their application? Are there reasons that desirability of these innovations is limited, on the ground in target countries? Are there novel ways to overcome current barriers to implementation, including different economic models?
A CFR general meeting and four roundtables will take place throughout spring and summer of 2007 where medical technologies such as male circumcision, HPV vaccine, eyeglasses, HIV vaccine, and sterile syringes will be discussed.
July 2007—Present
| Directors: | 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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Despite substantial structural reforms and market opening, Latin America continues to lag behind other developing regions. Trade and economic growth trail far behind both East and South Asia. Value-added and high technology exports remain minimal. Economic inequality rivals even the most troubled African nations, leaving the vast majority of the population without the resources to successfully integrate into an increasingly global marketplace. Limited opportunities at home are driving migratory flows north, changing the economies, societies and polities of both the sending Latin American countries and the main receiving country, the United States. Politically, the narrow gains from globalization are placing democracy at risk. The recent electoral prominence of outsider, populist, and even authoritarian candidates reflects the growing apathy and distrust of citizens, due in large part to the economic exclusion of Latin America's majorities from the benefits of globalization.
The Globalization and Democracy Roundtable Series will look broadly at the issues facing Latin American and U.S. policymakers. Drawing on the experience of practitioners and experts from the public sector, academia, and the private sector, it will systematically examine a range of related issues, including the state of Latin America's social contract, the rule of law, the informal sector, the digital divide, physical infrastructure and human capacity building, taxation and governments' revenue stream, poverty and inequality, the potential for public-private partnerships, and the potential for energy resources to redress social exclusion.
This series is made possible by the generous support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
July 11, 2007—June 13, 2008
| 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 |
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| Chairs: | George E. Pataki, Counsel, Chadbourne & Parke LLP Thomas J. Vilsack, Of Counsel, Dorsey & Whitney LLP |
| Senior Advisor: | David G. Victor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology |
Chaired by former Governor of New York George E. Pataki, counsel at Chadbourne & Parke LLP, and former Governor of Iowa Thomas J. Vilsack, of counsel at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, the Task Force will address U.S. climate change policy with an emphasis on its international dimensions. Michael A. Levi, fellow for science and technology, serves as project director, with David G. Victor, adjunct senior fellow for science and technology and director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University, as senior advisor.
The Task Force will examine the economics, science, and politics of climate change, and will propose a comprehensive strategy for addressing the challenges and seizing the possibilities that climate change creates, with special emphasis on those dimensions that explicitly involve foreign policy.
The Task Force held its first meeting in July 2007, under the leadership of Governor Pataki and former Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner, who stepped down from his role as co-chair to pursue a seat in the U.S. Senate. The group aims to produce a report in the spring of 2008.
Novemeber 13, 2007—Tokyo, Japan
| Director: | Gary Samore, Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair |
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Presented jointly by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Japan Foundation and supported by Asahi Shimbun and the Tokyo American Center.
November 12, 2007—Tokyo, Japan
| Director: | Gary Samore, Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair |
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Presented jointly by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Keizai Koho Center.
May 22, 2007—May 22, 2007
| Staff: | Shannon K. O'Neil, Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin America Studies |
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An estimated twelve million illegal immigrants live in the United States, up from five million just ten years ago. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2005 some 78 percent of this population was from Latin America. Despite these startling statistics, U.S. immigration law has not changed in twenty years. There is agreement across the political spectrum that the status quo does not work and that immigration reform is necessary, said Deborah W. Meyers, senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. Yet as migration policy experts, immigration lawyers, and journalists discussed in a recent symposium hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, “The Dynamics of Immigration and Integration in the Western Hemisphere,” the specifics of how to reform U.S. immigration law have provoked heated debate. Panelists discussed the contentious dynamics of U.S. immigration reform from the perspectives of U.S. policymakers, the general public, and immigrants themselves. The symposium was the final event in this year’s “Latin America, America Latin” series at the Council, organized by Council Fellow for Latin America Studies Shannon O’Neil and made possible by the generosity of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
July 2007—June 2008
| Directors: | Colonel Jeffrey B. Kendall, USAF, Military Fellow, U.S. Air Force William L. Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program Colonel Paul E. Greenwood, USMC, Military Fellow, U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Robert S. Ferrell, USA, Military Fellow, U.S. Army Captain Jeffrey A. Harley, USN, Military Fellow, U.S. Navy |
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The Military Fellows 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 13, 2007—Special one day symposium
The United States must lessen the intensity of its dependence on fossil fuels or face rising challenges to its influence in global affairs on everything from security to climate change. With that as a premise, a recent symposium hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, titled “Panacea or Pipe Dream? Energy Policy and the Search for Alternatives,” surveyed the options available to policymakers and professionals in the energy field. Participants in the symposium’s four sessions—including energy experts with top private and public sector experience and moderated by the Council’s Sebastian Mallaby—all faulted what they said were sluggish federal policies on research, electricity grid regulation, and management of the current oil-dominated energy policy.
November 2007—Present
| Staff: | William L. Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program |
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The Post-Conflict Reconstruction Roundtable Series provides a forum for experts from the U.S. government, military, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to assess U.S. post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization (PCRS) capabilities (military and civilian), discuss challenges in undertaking PCRS operations, and develop policy recommendations to improve future stabilization and reconstruction operations. The series will pay special attention to the prospect for increased civilian-military coordination in reconstruction efforts, progress within U.S. government agencies in implementing National Security Presidential Directive 44 (NSPD-44), and the experience of Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan.
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