home > by publication type > daily analysis > Campaign 2008 and the World
Email
| Prepared by: | Michael Moran |
|---|
The multiyear respite from political campaigning afforded to Americans by their Constitution appears to shrink further with every passing electoral cycle. And while the “permanent campaign” as foretold by Jimmy Carter’s pollster Patrick Caddell back in 1976 still applies primarily to political professionals, neither the public, nor policymakers, nor even lame duck presidents can ignore the battle lines once formed. So it is that eighteen months before the 2008 election, presidential politics influences almost every aspect of government.
International issues are no exception. Citing the early onset of the political season, James M. Lindsay, a leading expert on U.S. foreign policy at the University of Texas, wonders “to what extent either Republicans or Democrats are developing a strategy for what happens next in Iraq.” Indeed, he tells CFR.org’s Bernard Gwertzman, “one of the things Iraq has done is crowd out a lot of other foreign policy issues.”
With a focus on the most significant international issues in mind, CFR.org has launched its Campaign 2008 site, engineered to track the campaign through the prism of foreign policy, trade, international economics, and national and homeland security issues. Pundits may bemoan the extended campaign period, yet a silver lining may exist if the added months of scrutiny cause serious candidates to grapple with an unprecedented level of detail on international questions. Our site is designed to encourage precisely that, providing regularly updated Candidate Issue Guides that track stances on specific topics like energy policy, homeland security, international trade, or U.S. policy toward Iran.
Along with these unique resources, edited by CFR.org area specialists with input from the world’s most prestigious, nonpartisan foreign policy think tank, the site also features a new weblog, The Candidates and the World, which tracks these vital issues out on the stump on a daily basis. Edited by Washington-based Deputy Editor Robert McMahon, it will take the same nonpartisan, analytical approach to the debate on the campaign trail that CFR.org applies to its Daily Analyses, Backgrounders, and other well-known franchises.
As we have since 2000, when CFR launched its first foreign policy-oriented presidential campaign site, the Campaign 2008 site also will feature exclusive interviews in text, audio, and video with many of the candidates, as well as multimedia of candidates’ speeches at CFR, including Wednesday’s appearance by Democratic candidate John Edwards. The C2008 site also houses links to the best analysis from other media and academic outlets, known as C2008 Must Reads, to major foreign policy speeches and debates by the presidential hopefuls, and to an updated page of Research Links for those eager to delve deeper.
Primarily, though, the Campaign 2008 site aims to do what CFR.org has done for years: focus sharply on international affairs and policymaking. With these matters as relevant to the electorate as they have been in a generation, there should be little question in this round about the need for the future president to demonstrate a command of these issues.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
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
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
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
To request permission to reprint or reuse CFR material, please fill out this permissions request form (PDF), referring to the instructions on page 1.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.