Stewart Patrick contends that assumptions about the threats posed by failing states--or "weak links"--are based on anecdotal arguments and challenges the conventional wisdom through systematic empirical analysis.

Kara C. McDonald and Stewart M. Patrick offer recommendations for U.S. leadership in United Nations Security Council reform and expansion.

The UN Human Rights Council is emerging as an increasingly relevant player in the Syrian crisis. CFR's Stewart M. Patrick highlights five things to know about the revived global human rights forum.

As Mexico prepares to welcome the first meeting of G20 foreign ministers this weekend, CFR's Stewart M. Patrick highlights five things to know about the world's steering body for global financial cooperation.

The Russian and Chinese veto of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to violence in Syria calls into question the viability of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and poses a dilemma for the Obama administration, says CFR's Stewart Patrick.

CFR's Stewart Patrick outlines the debate over UN Security Council reform and discusses the obstacles going forward.

G20 leaders will be tested this week to act on sovereign debt crises and potential global economic upheaval. Stewart Patrick says a proper response would be for leaders to follow their own promises from previous summits.

This year's daunting UN challenges for President Obama: navigating the Palestinian statehood thicket and convincing Americans that UN diplomacy matters, writes CFR's Stewart Patrick.

Stewart M. Patrick says President Obama's address to the United Nations General Assembly this year will be his most challenging yet.

An interactive multimedia feature that maps out and evaluates multilateral efforts to address some of the most difficult international issues.

CFR's Senior Fellow and Director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program Stewart Patrick and CFR.org Editor Robert McMahon preview major world events in the week ahead.

CFR's Director of Studies James Lindsay and Director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program Stewart Patrick preview major world events in the week ahead.

In this week's podcast: The famine in the horn of Africa continues to unfold; Rebel gains in Libya may accelerate talk of an end to the conflict; and the UN Security Council debates its peacekeeping operations.

This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores how 9/11 changed international relations and U.S. foreign policy. In this video, Stewart M. Patrick, senior fellow and director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, identifies the successes and lasting challenges in the international community's response to global terrorism since the attacks of September 11, 2001. "The world has made a lot of progress," says Patrick, "but it still has quite a bit of a ways to go to achieve real consensus and real solidarity in this fight."

The U.S. debt ceiling and deficit debate has led to challenges on foreign aid spending, but while aid could be leaner and more effective, CFR's Stewart Patrick argues Congress should look to consolidate programs rather than simply cut them.

Stewart M. Patrick, Director of the Council on Foreign Relations' International Institutions and Global Governance Program, explains why some weak and failing states such as Pakistan are more attractive than others as safe havens for transnational terrorist groups.

Stewart M. Patrick says failed states are mainly a threat to their own inhabitants, but they still need help from the global community.

The G8 summit affirmed the group's importance as a U.S. partner as it seeks a common front on the "Arab Spring" uprisings, and in forging collective action on human rights and security matters, says CFR's Stewart Patrick.

President Obama's speech to the UK parliament was a proper reminder of the importance of the transatlantic alliance to global governance amid the ongoing upheaval in the Middle East, writes CFR's Stewart Patrick.

Stewart M. Patrick says U.S. national security officials should focus on strong developing countries--and not failed states--as sources of transnational threats.

President Obama has staked a proper middle course on military intervention in Libya, boosted enormously by burden sharing with coalition allies, says CFR's Stewart Patrick.

Stewart M. Patrick discusses the no-fly zone in Libya and "responsibility to protect."

Stewart Patrick contends that assumptions about the threats posed by failing states--or "weak links"--are based on anecdotal arguments and challenges the conventional wisdom through systematic empirical analysis.