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Elizabeth Economy
Adam Segal
Evan Feigenbaum
Daniel Markey
Sheila Smith
Joshua Kurlantzick
Jerome Cohen
Scott Snyder
Kim BarkerAsia will play an increasingly leading role on the international stage in this century. Some of the most pressing issues in East, South, and Central Asia—the rapid economic rise of China and India, North Korea’s nuclear program, slowly warming relations between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India, the potential for conflict between China and Taiwan, Japan’s adjustments to its changing economic fortunes, and the ongoing attempts to rebuild Afghanistan—will significantly affect the course of global events.
Featured Projects
November 1, 1996—Present
| Staff: | Jerome A. Cohen, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Asia Studies |
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This ongoing roundtable series examines the many meanings of the "rule of law" and the role of law and legal culture in the economic growth, institution building, and protection of human rights in Asian countries. Participants discuss the relevance of the rule of law to U.S. foreign policy and what measures the public and private sectors in this country might adopt to foster desired developments. Sessions of this series focus on the extent to which China adheres to a broad range of international agreements. The roundtable seeks an overview of the situation, building on what is known about PRC treaty behavior in political, military, diplomatic, commercial and cultural areas. The roundtable also invites government, NGO, and academic experts to analyze the record in each field. The goal is to formulate not only more reliable generalizations about PRC treaty conduct but also better recommendations useful to U.S. negotiators as well as to the Congress, the media and the public.
January 1, 2005—Present
| Staff: | Elizabeth C. Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies |
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This project will lead to a book explorning how China is moving to reshape the political, economic, and security landscape of Asia and what steps the United States must take to ensure that its interests continue to be addressed in this changing environment.
May 1, 2005—Present
| Director: | Adam Segal, Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies |
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This series assesses innovation and technological entrepreneurship in Asia, evaluates the impact of emerging technological capabilities on American economic, political, and military power, and recommends policies designed to ensure continued U.S. technological superiority.
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.
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.
December 1, 2008—New York, NY
| Director: | Sheila A. Smith, Senior Fellow for Japan Studies |
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This symposium was cosponsored by Council on Foreign Relations and the Asahi-Shimbun.
Widely acclaimed as the most respected and credible source of news in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region, the Asahi Shimbun is one of Japan’s oldest and largest national newspapers, with a daily circulation of over eight million. Based in Tokyo, its overseas network includes five general bureaus covering America from Washington DC, Europe from London, the Middle East from Cairo, Asia from Bangkok, and China from Beijing, with an additional bureau newly opened in Havana, Cuba, in 2007. It has a presence in about 30 locations worldwide with 53 correspondents. The company also broadcasts nationwide in Japan via TV Asahi and has a news website, Asahi.com.
This event has also been made possible by the generosity of the following corporate sponsors of CFR's Japan program: Canon USA, Mitsui & Company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Mitsubishi International Corporation, Sony Corporation of America, and Toyota Motor North America.
Symposium Summary Report (PDF, 148K)
March 2009—Present
| Director: | Evan A. Feigenbaum, Senior Fellow for East, Central, and South Asia |
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The Asia and the World roundtable series examines the global implications of the rise of Asian power. For a thousand years, Asia was the engine of the global economy, a locus of science and innovation, a center of ideas and intellectual ferment, and the nexus of global power. After a long hiatus, Asia's major powers have now reemerged on the global stage, but their interaction with one another, and with the United States, on important issues and challenges is unsettled and evolving. Speakers and participants analyze the reemergence of China and India as global players, the changing role of Japan on the international stage, and efforts to reshape the international architecture to accommodate the rise of China and India, in particular. Sessions also consider the ways in which greater involvement in the world, not just their immediate neighborhood, is changing the strategic, economic, and political calculations of major countries in East, Central, and South Asia. Meetings look at the tensions, opportunities, and constraints that will determine whether and how the United States can forge partnerships with major Asian powers on issues of global scope. Other sessions may examine timely issues that arise in Central Asia, such as connections to the international oil and gas market, international institutions, and the global economy.
Featured Publications
November 12, 2009
"As U.S. president Barack Obama makes his way through Asia he will find a dynamic region in ferment," writes Evan Feigenbaum. And, as the region continues to grow, the United States needs to assert itself through trade agreements or risk becoming marginalized in a region that will constitute about half the global economy.
November 2009
Council Special Report No. 50
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape. A purposeful multilateralism that pools the efforts of those with the greatest capacity, the authors argue, could make Asia a more prosperous and secure region.
September 13, 2009
Joshua Kurlantzick comments that the recent reelection of President Yudhoyono was "only the capstone of a triumphant decade for Indonesia."
September 11, 2009
Scott A. Snyder advocates the need for more effective regional coordination on contingency planning for North Korean instability.
September 6, 2009
Sheila A. Smith argues that Japan's foreign policy stance under the new Democratic Party of Japan leadership now tops the list of concerns in the United States and elsewhere.
September 14, 2009
Sheila A. Smith says that arguments portraying the new, leading Democratic Party of Japan as inexperienced are overstatements.
September 3, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen comments, "In China, bail is not an individual right designed to minimize restraints on freedom but an alternative pre-trial coercive measure."
August 20, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen states, "Imposing artificial 'stability' at the expense of justice can no longer work for a changing China."
August 6, 2009
Jerome A Cohen and Jeremy Daum comment on China's efforts to reform its "state secrets" laws.
August 4, 2009
Scott A. Snyder says, "Bill Clinton's visit might turn out to be the equivalent of hitting the 'reset' button in U.S. relations with North Korea."
July 27, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen and Yu-Jie Chen argue that leading Taiwan's KMT party is an opportunity for President Ma Ying-jeou.
July 26, 2009
Daniel Markey argues, "U.S. policies in Afghanistan will be determined by trends on the ground... more than by any grand strategic, ideological, or historically informed arguments."
July 22, 2009
Scott A. Snyder discusses the retrenchment of North Korea's domestic policy.
July 21, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen argues, "Two cases involving 'state secrets' highlight the huge gap between legal procedures in China and the US."
July 16, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to India with an opportunity to further improve a relationship that has been transformed over the last decade, says CFR's Evan Feigenbaum, until recently the deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for U.S. relations with India.
July 10, 2009
Joshua Kurlantzick reviews Nicholas Schmidle's To Live or To Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan.
July 9, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen argues, "mainland rights lawyers are risking careers, liberty, and even their lives by taking 'sensitive' cases."
July 3, 2009
Scott A. Snyder argues, "North Korea never gave the President a chance to reach out before acting provocatively by conducting a second nuclear weapons test..."
July 2009
Daniel Markey discusses the hindrances that prevent India from achieving great-power status.
June 25, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen argues, "the term 'court of public opinion' is being taken literally in some parts of the mainland."
June 9, 2009
Scott A. Snyder discusses North Korea's handling of the trial of two American journalists, and whether North Korea has fundamentally changed the terms of dealing with Pyongyang.
June 4, 2009
May 29, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen and Yu-Jie Chen discuss the incorporation of two human rights covenants into Taiwan's domestic law.
May 28, 2009
Scott A. Snyder discusses China and sanctions against North Korea.
May 25, 2009
Scott A. Snyder discusses North Korea's second nuclear test.
May 23, 2009
Scott A. Snyder remembers the idealism of Korean president Roh Moo-hyun.
Volume 87, Number 4, March 2009
David S. Law discusses the conservative nature of the Supreme Court of Japan.
May 16, 2009
Scott A. Snyder analyzes what North Korea has said about prospects for renewed diplomacy with the United States.
May 15, 2009
Micah Zenko argues that the adjustment of Predator operations in Pakistan is a "creative and unprecedented arrangement" that will benefit the battle against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
May 14, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen discusses the one year anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake.
May 11, 2009
Scott A. Snyder argues that greater stability in relations between Taipei and Beijing have done little to improve Taiwan's long-term strategic position in the region.
May 3, 2009
Scott A. Snyder discusses the potential contradictions the Obama administration is facing as it develops its policy toward North Korea.
May 2, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen discusses the National Human Rights Act of China, and the gap between its language and its practice.
April 2009
Scott A. Snyder examines why "Northeast Asia, in security terms, remains underinstitutionalized."
April 27, 2009
Scott A. Snyder discusses three developments that may indicate the administration's "policy-in-formation" toward North Korea.
April 18, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen discusses the implications of United States vs. Stevens for Taiwan's legal system.
April 2009
In this Policy Options Paper, CFR Senior Fellow Daniel Markey argues that a narrow focus on counterterrorism is insufficient to protect U.S. interests in South Asia and advocates a long-term approach that prioritizes engagement with Pakistan.
April 2009
In Comparative Connections, Scott A. Snyder and See-won Byun review recent developments in Korea-China relations.
April 2009
In this report, Scott A. Snyder discusses how the U.S-South Korean relationship can evolve into a fuller partnership.
April 13, 2009
Scott A. Snyder suggests benchmarks by which to judge the response of the United Nations and the Obama administration to North Korea's rocket test.
April 6, 2009
Scott A. Snyder discusses the political targets of North Korea's missile test.
April 4, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen discusses China's Third Five-Year Reform Programme for the People's Courts.
March 19, 2009
Jerome A. Cohen discusses the disappearance of Gao Zhisheng, China's most famous human rights lawyer, and argues that if China is serious about its ratification of the UN Convention against torture twenty years ago and its other international human rights commitments, it is obligated to come clean about Gao's fate.
February 26, 2009
Elizabeth Economy asks, "Can humankind find its way to a world that is cleaner, safer, and fairer than the one we inhabit today?"
July/August 2008
Council Special Report No. 36
This report outlines the nature of the challenges in Pakistan's tribal areas, formulates strategies for addressing those challenges, and distills the strategies into realistic policy proposals worthy of consideration by the incoming administration.
April 2004
Selected by The Globalist as one of the top ten books of 2004, The River Runs Black is the most comprehensive and balanced volume to date on China’s growing environmental crisis and its implications for the country’s development.
October 2002
Can China become a true global economic power? That depends on the evolution of the Chinese high-technology sector. The industry’s success or failure will determine whether China becomes a modern economy or simply a large one, argues Council Senior Fellow Adam Segal in the first detailed look at a major institutional experiment with high-tech endeavors in China.
Explore the international finance regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
jlindsay@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
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