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home > the cfr think tank > research projects > Europe Program
James Goldgeier
Charles Kupchan
Stephen Sestanovich
Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall
Jeffrey MankoffThe breakup of the Warsaw Pact and the collapse of the Soviet Union did away with issues that had long challenged Europe and Russia but also created new ones. The centrifugal forces that pulled apart the Soviet Union left in its place fifteen newly independent states. The 1990 reunification of Germany anticipated the unification of Europe itself. But the seemingly unstoppable momentum toward European unity hit a major roadblock in mid-2005, when voters in France and the Netherlands voted down a proposed European Union (EU) constitution. Their emphatic rejection silenced, at least temporarily, most talk of further European convergence.
Featured Projects
November 1, 1997—Present
| Staff: | Charles A. Kupchan, Senior Fellow for Europe Studies |
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July 1, 2001—Present
| Staff: | Charles A. Kupchan, Senior Fellow for Europe Studies |
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The first book generated by this study group was The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century, by Charles A. Kupchan, the project director. The study group played a key role in providing feedback on the book during the drafting of the manuscript. The book addresses how the United States can manage peacefully the transition to a world of multiple centers of power.
The current phase of the study group focuses on understanding the sources of stable peace – how groupings of countries can form lasting partnerships and eliminate geopolitical competition. A book on this topic, along with several articles, will be the main published product. The book will examine a number of historical case studies of rapprochement, security communities and unions, exploring how zones of peace form and when and why they sometimes unravel. The book will draw policy conclusions relevant to preserving current zones of peace – such as the Atlantic community – as well as building new ones – such as in East Asia.
The Contending Paradigms Study Group is made possible through the generosity of John McCloy.
October 1, 2001—Present
| Director: | Stephen Sestanovich, George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies |
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The Kennan Roundtable is an on-going series of meetings that focus on the major policy questions posed by changing U.S. relationships with Russia and the former Soviet states of Eurasia. Whether measured by the near-alliance between Presidents Bush and Putin, the establishment of bases in Central Asia, or Ukraine's decision to seek NATO membership, there has been significant enhancement of these relationships since September 11. Understanding their durability and direction is the principal aim.
Meetings examine areas of expanding cooperation, such as Moscow's unfolding energy strategy and the security of sensitive nuclear materials. We will also look at emerging areas of discord. In the case of Russia, these include the tensions associated with its recurrent pressures on Georgia; in the case of Ukraine and Central Asia, the continuing emphasis placed by U.S. policy on democratization and human rights.
October 1, 2001—Present
| Directors: | Robert H. Legvold Stephen Sestanovich, George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies |
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The war on terrorism opened a huge opportunity to put Russian-American relations on a different and more constructive long-term footing. This was the subject of the Council on Foreign Relations-Harriman Institute Roundtable in 2001-2002.
In 2002-2003, the project directors focused the group more closely on an area that seemed poised for new progress under President Putin: Russia's integration into the international economy. Sessions have addressed the question of a Russian-American energy "alliance"; Russian accession to the WTO and relations with the European Union; and the domestic political backdrop of Putin's strategy. A session held in early May assessed the impact of Iraq on Russian-American relations and Russian foreign policy more broadly.
In 2003-2004, sessions focused on the coming Russian election cycle (Putin faced re-election in March), while using the occasion to examine how Russian developments have and have not met expectations since 1991.
The roundtable's current focus is on the evolution of Russian domestic politics in the wake of President Putin's re-election, the YUKOS affair, and the higher priority assigned to democratization by the United States.
September 27, 2005—June 30, 2007
| Staff: | James M. Goldgeier, Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations |
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Featured Publications
March 2006
Task Force Report No. 57
This report asserts a U.S.-Russia “partnership” is the right long-term goal, but not a realistic prospect over the next few years.
March 2004
Task Force Report No. 51
In the year that has passed since the war in Iraq, the United States and its European allies have done much to repair their relations. Nonetheless, the end of the Cold War, Europe’s continuing integration, and the new array of threats confronting the West continue to test the strength of the Atlantic partnership. To revitalize the Atlantic alliance, Europe and America must forge new “rules of the road” governing the use of force, adapt the North Atlantic Treaty Organizaton (NATO) to meet today’s threats coming from outside Europe, and launch a major initiative to bring about political and economic reform in the greater Middle East. These are the conclusions of an independent Task Force chaired by former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and former Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H. Summers.
Climate change poses threats to national security in a number of ways. In this report, sponsored by the Center for Geoeconomic Studies, Joshua W. Busby offers specific recommendations for confronting this important issue, including a list of "no-regrets" policies.
This report, by International Affairs Fellow Michelle D. Gavin and sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, surveys the current situation in Zimbabwe and proposes steps that can increase the likelihood that regime change, when it comes, will bring constructive reform instead of conflict and state collapse.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Gary Samore
Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1-212-434-9627
gsamore@cfr.org
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1-212-434-9753
jhill@cfr.org
The David Rockefeller Studies Program is the Council’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving the Council’s goal of contributing to the foreign policy debate. Fellows in the Studies Program do this by researching, writing, and commenting on the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.
Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.
