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.
November 2007—Present
| 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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This series consists of quarterly events sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, convenes experts from government, private sector, nongovernmental, and civil society to analyze weak or fragile regions and states at risk of conflict in the next two to five years and to devise approaches to work with practitioners to build early policy responses to address those situations.
May 8, 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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Nigeria is the largest country in the world with an evenly split population of Christians and Muslims. According to research by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, this population is perhaps the most intensely religious in the world. In a recent symposium hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, “Religious Conflict in Nigeria,” Nigeria experts and religious scholars examined the political compromises that maintain relative stability in Africa’s most populous country. “To understand where Nigeria is headed, we need to understand the religious dynamics in Nigeria,” said Timothy S. Shah, adjunct senior fellow for religion and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Organized by Shah and Walter Russell Mead, the Council’s Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy, this event was the first in the Religion and Foreign Policy Symposia Series at CFR. The series aims to integrate the study of religion and foreign policy and is supported by a generous contribution from the Henry Luce Foundation.
March 2007—Present
| 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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Preventing the spread of nuclear weapons is a key goal of American foreign policy, yet sometimes nonproliferation fails. This series explores ways the United States can prepare to deal with states that, despite our best efforts, acquire nuclear weapons.
November 2007—Present
| Director: | Noah Feldman, Adjunct Senior Fellow |
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This Roundtable series engages scholars with a unique perspective on issues of law, democracy, and Islam in the context of the current state of affairs in the Middle East.
April 2007—Present
February 1, 2007—Present
| Staff: | |
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| Director: | Steven Simon, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies |
The United States is faced with an array of serious challenges in the Middle East, perhaps unprecedented in the past fifty years. An attempt to provoke a revolutionary change in the Middle East has collapsed with a large U.S. land army lodged in the heart of the region. The United States now confronts a Middle East that features an imploding Iraqi state, an aggressive Islamic Republic about to cross the nuclear threshold and a Palestinian state broken into two failed entities.
The Roundtable on the U.S. and Middle East will seek to develop strategies for the next administration. Should the United States attempt to recoup its position by pressing forward, albeit more prudently and with international cooperation, or should the United States go "back to the future," and place "stability over freedom," to use President Bush's phrase? Is it time to create an alliance with Sunnis to stave off the immediate threat of Iranian encroachment? What should the United States' grand strategy be in the Middle East? These and other questions will be the focus of monthly discussions.
October 2007—Present
| Director: | J. Anthony Holmes, Cyrus Vance Fellow in Diplomatic Studies |
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This series will meet periodically in New York during the 2007-2008 programming year, seeking to examine the issues facing the African continent and the U.S. policy makers dealing with it. Particular attention will be given to the evolving crisis in Zimbabwe, a discussion with Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer, Africa as an emerging market for capital flows, and the expanding role of the U.S. military in our Africa policy.
October 2007—Present
| Director: | Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Alliance Relations (on leave) |
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This roundtable consists of a series of meetings on European political, economic, demographic, and defense trends. The series explores what Europe is likely to become over the next decade and beyond, and what this evolution will mean for U.S. foreign policy and for the transatlantic relationship.
October 2007—Present
| Director: | Vali R. Nasr, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies |
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The challenges facing the Muslim world occupy the forefront of U.S. foreign policy. The roundtable series on Global Islamic Politics facilitates discussion and debate on key issues that will shape the direction of politics in the Muslim world in the coming years and their ensuing impact on U.S. foreign policy. Roundtables are held in both New York and Washington, DC, ensuring a wide mix of participants working in policymaking, government, business, media, and academia. Sessions will address the implications of the changing balance of power in the Middle East, the future of radical Islam in Europe, as well as Hezbollah and Iran.
July 2007—Present
| Director: | Max Boot, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
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This series focuses on issues, primarily military, that affect American national security. The series begins withan early focus on the war on Iraq, and later roundtables examine issues relating to the transformation of the American armed forces to cope with warfare in the information age.
November 1, 2007—Present
| Director: | Mohamad Bazzi, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies |
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The Roundtable Series on Political Developments in Lebanon and Syria explores crucial events and issues in the two countries and their impact on U.S. foreign policy. Among the questions being addressed are: How can Lebanon avoid its recurring cycle of violence and political paralysis, and what effects does this have on the wider region and on U.S. interests? Can Hezbollah be disarmed and fully integrated into the Lebanese political system? Are there alternatives for the sectarian-based political system in Lebanon, and what can the United States do to promote them? What factors should shape U.S. policy toward Syria? And can Syria be pressed into playing a more constructive role in the region?
March 2007—Present
| Director: | Edward Alden, Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow |
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This roundtable series examines the impact of post-9/11 measures on U.S. economic competitiveness and diplomatic relations, and considers possible government responses to address these problems.
May 2007—Present
| Director: | Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia |
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The South Asia Roundtable Series examines the major issues facing South Asia today. On Afghanistan, speakers and participants analyze stability, reconstruction, and counterinsurgency efforts. For sessions on Pakistan, they consider many aspects of the nature of the U.S.-Pakistan partnership, ranging from counterterrorism cooperation to issues of governance. Meetings on India look at the U.S.-India relationship and the tensions, limits, and opportunities that will define the American relationship with India moving forward. Other sessions may also examine timely issues that arise in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or Nepal.
November 2007—June 2009
| Staff: | Suzanne Maloney, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution Martin S. Indyk, Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution Daniel L. Byman, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution |
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| Director: | Gary Samore, Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair |
| Fellows: | Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow for Defense Policy Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy Steven A. Cook, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Kenneth M. Pollack, Director of Research, Saban Center for Middle East Policy Michael E. O'Hanlon, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution, Brookings Institution Bruce O. Riedel, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution Steven Simon, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Shibley Telhami, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution Tamara Cofman Wittes, Senior Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution |
| Advisory Board: | Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations Samuel R. Berger, Chairman, Albright Stonebridge Group Odeh F. Aburdene, President, OAI Advisors Timothy C. Collins, Founder, Senior Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer, Ripplewood Holdings LLC Rita E. Hauser, President, The Hauser Foundation Robert K. Lifton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Medis Technologies Jami Miscik, President and Vice Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc. Brent Scowcroft, Resident Trustee, The Forum for International Policy Hassan Nemazee, Chairman and CEO, Nemazee Capital Corporation Joan E. Spero, Visiting Fellow, Foundation Center Strobe Talbott, President, Brookings Institution Ezra K. Zilkha, President, Zilkha & Sons, Inc. |
| Staff: | Ariel Kastner, Senior Research Assistant, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution |
| Advisory Board: | Roy Zuckerberg, Chairman and Founding Principal, Samson Capital Advisors LLC |
| Staff: | Katie Ivanick |
Toward A New U.S.-Middle East Strategy is a joint Saban Center at Brookings–Council on Foreign Relations project staffed by Middle East experts from both policy establishments. After an eighteen-month period that includes trips to the region, research, and consultation with government officials in the United States and the Middle East, the strategy group will publish a final report, brief members of the incoming administration, and present its recommendations for constructing a new Middle East policy framework to the public.
July 1, 2007—Present
| Directors: | Elizabeth C. Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies Adam Segal, Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies |
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The U.S.-Asia Update Roundtable Series is an ongoing series that provides a forum for the discussion of the major issues that shape Chinese domestic policies and that have an impact on the U.S. relationship with China and the rest of the region. The Roundtable cosponsors events with the Council’s General Meetings and Corporate programs. Recent sessions have included speakers such as Michael Green, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Major General Karl Eikenberry; and Randall Schriver, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Approximately six sessions are held each program year.
This series is made possible through generous support from the Starr Foundation.
August 2007—Present
| Fellows: | Frank Procida, National Intelligence Fellow J. Anthony Holmes, Cyrus Vance Fellow in Diplomatic Studies Elizabeth Rubin, Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow 2008-2009 Bronwyn E. Bruton, 2008-2009 International Affairs Fellow in Residence Lydia Khalil, International Affairs Fellow in Residence |
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March 9, 2006—March 10, 2006
January 1, 2006—Present
| Director: | Elliot Schrage, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy |
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June 2006—Present
January 2006—January 2007
| Director: | Douglas Holtz-Eakin |
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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.
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