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Academic Modules—featuring teaching notes by the authors of CFR publications—are designed to assist educators in creating or supplementing a course syllabus. The modules are customized packages built around a primary CFR text, such as a book or report, and include teaching notes; additional readings; video, audio, and transcripts of CFR meetings; Foreign Affairs articles; and other online resources. Use of these modules is free of charge. They may be used in part or in their entirety.
October 7, 2009
This module features teaching notes by Independent Consultant for International Development and Foreign Policy Anthony W. Gambino, author of Congo: Securing Peace, Sustaining Progress, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report addresses the country’s social, economic, and security challenges and recommends two priorities for U.S. policy: combating insecurity in the east and promoting sustainable development.
September 9, 2009
This module features teaching notes by CFR Senior Fellow and Director of CFR's Center for Preventative Action Paul B. Stares, coauthor of Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report addresses the foreign policy challenge of how the United States and its allies can prepare for the possibility of sudden and destabilizing change in North Korea.
August 12, 2009
This module features teaching notes by CFR Senior Fellow Edward Alden, author of The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration, and Security Since 9/11, along with other resources to supplement the text. In this book, Mr. Alden examines the complicated interplay between the United States' need for homeland security and economic openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
April 14, 2009
This module features teaching notes by Mona Yacoubian, coauthor of the Council Special Report Dealing with Damascus, along with other resources to supplement the text. In this report, Mona Yacoubian and Scott Lasensky argue that the U.S. approach of isolating and undermining the Syrian regime has largely failed. The authors suggest that diplomatic engagement with Syria would be a more effective means of accomplishing U.S. goals in the region.
January 5, 2009
This module features teaching notes for Living with Hugo: U.S. Policy Toward Hugo Chávez's Venezuela, by author Richard Lapper, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report proposes a new strategic framework for U.S. policy toward Venezuela.
December 8, 2008
This module features teaching notes by Walter Russell Mead, author of God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World, along with other resources to supplement the text. In his book, Mr. Mead recounts how the British and their American heirs built an unrivaled global system of politics, power, investment, and trade over the past three hundred years.
November 25, 2008
This module features teaching notes by Derek H. Chollet and James M. Goldgeier, coauthors of America Between the Wars, along with other resources to supplement the text. In this CFR book, Mr. Chollet and Dr. Goldgeier explore how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the world we live in today.
November 25, 2008
This module features teaching notes by CFR Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin America Studies Shannon K. O'Neil, director of the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force on Latin America, U.S.-Latin America Relations: A New Direction for a New Reality, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Task Force report offers recommendations for U.S. policy toward Latin America and identifies four crucial areas—poverty and inequality, public security, migration, and energy security—that should provide the basis of a new U.S. approach.
November 20, 2008
This module features teaching notes by Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, along with other resources to supplement the text. In her book, Miss Shlaes asserts that the real question about the Depression is not whether Roosevelt ended it with World War II, but why the Depression lasted so long. She argues that federal intervention between 1929 and 1940 unnecessarily deepened and prolonged the Depression.
July 9, 2008
This module features teaching notes and supplemental resources for Crisis Guide: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, an in-depth, multimedia look at the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its geopolitical repercussions.
April 25, 2008
This module features teaching notes and supplemental resources for Toward an Angola Strategy: Prioritizing U.S.-Angola Relations, a report of an Independent Commission sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations Center for Preventive Action. This report argues that it is in the interest of the United States to help develop a sustainable and lasting peace in Angola.
September 2007
This module features teaching notes by CFR Hitachi international affairs fellow Frank Sampson Jannuzi, the director of the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force on U.S.-China Relations, along with other resources to supplement the text. The report takes stock of the changes under way in China and what they mean for U.S.-China relations.
September 2007
This module features teaching notes by George Mason University professor Terrence Lyons, author of Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa, along with other resources to supplement the text. In the report, Lyons presents a full picture of what is going on in the Horn of Africa and suggests what the United States needs to do to address the multiple challenges to stability.
September 2007
This module features teaching notes by former CFR senior fellow Lee Feinstein, the author of Darfur and Beyond, along with other resources to supplement the text. In the report, Feinstein argues that the new UN secretary-general should take the General Assembly's endorsement of responsibility to protect as a mandate and outlines steps the United States and others must follow to bolster UN action.
May 2007
As nations around the world struggle with the threat of militant Islam, Vali Nasr, one of the leading scholars on the Middle East, provides us with the rare opportunity to understand the political and theological antagonisms within Islam itself.
April 2007
This comprehensive book explores the currency problems that developing countries face and offers sound, practical advice for policymakers on how to deal with them.
Updated: March 2007
Three years after September 11, the United States is still dangerously unprepared to prevent or respond to another attack on its soil. Faced with this threat, the United States should be operating on a wartime footing at home. But despite the many new security precautions that have been proposed, America’s most serious vulnerabilities remain ominously exposed.
Updated: March 2007
Since the end of the Cold War, successive American administrations have sought to create a relationship with Russia that they called a “partnership.” This report asserts that this is the right long-term goal, but it is unfortunately not a realistic prospect for U.S.-Russia relations over the next several years. This report is also available in Russian.
Updated: February 2007
The issue of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world offers an ideal case study of the issue of “soft power.” This involves the aspects of international relations and foreign policy that focus on leadership through prestige, persuasion, and cultural and economic power, rather than hard power, the “bombs and rockets” that make up much of the traditional introductory international relations course or specialized course on US foreign policy.
Updated: January 2007
Why should the United States care about rogue regimes or failed states? Simply put, unstable regimes are a threat to U.S. interests. Terror groups and criminal networks find haven in weak or failed states. They exploit porous borders to move people, money, weapons, and drugs. Human security is affected when government institutions are unable to meet basic needs or provide essential services. Poverty, disease, and humanitarian emergencies have transnational implications. Not only are conflict prevention and nation-building investments in U.S. security, they are also consistent with American ideals.
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