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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 8, 2009
This academic module features teaching notes by author Ashley S. Deeks for the Council Special Report Avoiding Transfers to Torture, along with additional resources to supplement the text. In this report, Ms. Deeks addresses the dilemma that occurs when the United States obtains assurances that released detainees will not be tortured by their home countries upon return, guarantees that are an important tool for dealing with dangerous suspects.
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.
March 9, 2009
This module features teaching notes by Michael A. Levi, director of the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report, Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Policy, along with other resources to supplement the text. This report lays out a U.S. negotiating proposal for a global climate accord, including what the United States should be willing to offer and what it should expect others to do in order to confront climate change.
January 21, 2009
This module features teaching notes for Reforming U.S. Patent Policy: Getting the Incentives Right by author Keith E. Maskus, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report acknowledges the importance of patent protection for innovation but also warns against blind adherence to the mantra that more protection will necessarily produce more innovation.
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 22, 2008
This module features teaching notes for Climate Change and National Security: An Agenda for Action by author Joshua Busby, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report proposes a portfolio of feasible and affordable policy options to reduce the vulnerability of the United States and other countries to the predictable effects of climate change.
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 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.
May 2, 2008
This module features teaching notes by Peter B. Kenen and Ellen E. Meade, coauthors of Regional Monetary Integration, along with other resources to supplement the text. In the book, the authors seek to explain why governments contemplate regional monetary integration and why some country groups are more likely than others to exercise that option, and to be successful at doing so.
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.
Updated: September 2007
This module features teaching notes by CFR senior fellow Jagdish N. Bhagwati, author of In Defense of Globalization, along with other resources to supplement the text. In this new edition of his popular book, Bhagwati argues that, when properly regulated, globalization can be the most powerful force for social good in the world today.
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.
September 2007
This module features teaching notes by CFR fellow Charles D. Ferguson, the author of Nuclear Energy, along with other resources to supplement the text. In the report, Ferguson examines the benefits and limits of nuclear power, arguing that the United States and international partners must find effective ways to address risks if the use of nuclear energy is to be realistically expanded.
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.
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