• Upcoming Book: Paradise Beneath Her Feet: Women and Reform in the Middle East

  Director:	Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy

  Dr. Coleman is currently working on her latest book, which examines the role of women in bringing reform to the Muslim world. Paradise Beneath Her Feet: Women and Reform in the Middle East (Random House 2008) looks at women across five countries — Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. This strategic crescent contains more than 300 million people, nearly fifty percent of the world’s known oil reserves, two active wars, an unstable nuclear power and an aspiring one, and the heart of both Sunni and Shia Islam. It is in this volatile corner of the globe that the world’s future stability is likely to rest. The role of women is central to determining whether these deeply religious, conservative societies can make the transition to functioning democracies with modern economies, or whether they will remain in the grip of religious extremists. Dr. Coleman focuses on those men and women working within an Islamic framework to promote social change.

  
  

• New CFR Books

  

  In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.

  

  America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.

  

  In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.

  Complete list of CFR Books.

  New Council Special Reports

  Securing Pakistan's Tribal Belt

  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.

  Avoiding Transfers to Torture

  This report analyzes the debate over U.S. use of assurances against torture, explaining the contexts in which they are used, how they can be conveyed, and what they can contain, and recommends a number of ways to respond to criticism so that the United States can continue using assurances.

  Complete list of Council Special Reports.

  David Rockefeller Studies Program Contacts

  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 Think Tank

  The David Rockefeller Studies Program

  The David Rockefeller Studies Program is CFR’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving CFR’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.

  • Experts
  • Projects

   

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