U.S. Strategy and Politics

Op-Ed

How Barack Obama Has Tried to Open Up the One-Sided Drone War

Author: Micah Zenko
Financial Times

Micah Zenko examines U.S. President Barack Obama's May 23, 2013 speech on drone strike and counterterrorism policies. "The enduring impact of Mr. Obama's speech will not be what he says, but whether the new policies are reflected in how drone strikes are conducted, and whether his administration will finally and faithfully engage with the public, more than a decade after the operations began," Zenko writes.

See more in United States, Intelligence, National Security and Defense, Wars and Warfare, U.S. Strategy and Politics

Op-Ed

Why Ending Child Marriage Abroad Is Good for the United States

Author: Rachel B. Vogelstein
Atlantic Monthly

Child marriage is a global epidemic and a human rights violation that occurs across regions, cultures, and religions. According to Rachel Vogelstein, the success of U.S. efforts to foster economic growth, improve global health, and promote stability and security will grow if this persistent practice comes to an end.

See more in United States, Society and Culture, Culture and Foreign Policy, Women, Gender Issues, U.S. Strategy and Politics, Congress and Foreign Policy, Foreign Aid

Ask CFR Experts

Why did the United States reestablish diplomatic relations with communist states like China and Vietnam?

Asked by Michael Varacalli, from New York University

The United States did not have diplomatic relations with mainland China in the late 1940s after the communist takeover (though theoretically it maintained diplomatic relations through ties with Taiwan). The United States ended diplomatic relations with Vietnam following the Vietnam War in 1975.

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See more in United States, China, Vietnam, Democracy and Human Rights, U.S. Strategy and Politics

Op-Ed

What the President Could Say in His Speech

Authors: Matthew C. Waxman and Robert Chesney
Lawfare

In President Obama's upcoming counterterrorism speech, Robert Chesney and Matthew Waxman explain that the president should focus on three areas that his administration has not followed through in a serious way: closing Guantanamo, working with Congress to put forceful counterterrorism actions on sound legal footing, and making targeted killing more transparent.

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What is the effect of U.S. domestic political gridlock on international relations?

Asked by Joe Boutte, from United States

There is a well-known adage that politics stops at the water's edge, but this tends to be more hope than reality. American history is filled with examples in which political disagreement at home has made it difficult for the United States to act, much less lead, abroad.

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See more in U.S. Strategy and Politics, Congress, Congress and Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy History

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Why did the United States fail to join the League of Nations?

Asked by Adepoju Adeola Praise, from Eastern Mediterranean University

The League of Nations was championed by President Woodrow Wilson in a fourteen-point speech to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918, and formally began its operations in January 1920. However, the League failed to win Senate approval and is forever remembered as a major example of a communications breakdown between the president and the Senate.

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See more in United States, International Organizations, U.S. Strategy and Politics, Foreign Policy History, Presidency