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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.
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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.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report lays out a thoughtful agenda for U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, arguing that what happens there should matter to the United States--for humanitarian reasons as well as economic and strategic ones.
In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
This report argues that the United States must lead with domestic action on climate change and proposes a U.S. negotiating strategy for a global UN climate agreement that includes commitments from all major economies, while also promoting a less formal Partnership for Climate Cooperation that would focus the world's largest emitters on implementing aggressive emissions reductions.
This Task Force report examines changes in Latin America and in U.S. influence there, while taking account of the region's enduring importance to the United States. The Task Force offers an agenda for U.S. policy toward Latin America and identifies four critical areas that should provide the basis of a new U.S. approach.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR.
“ The Logic of Zero:” Ivo Daalder and Jan Lodal say Washington must lead the way to a world without nuclear weapons. The first step will be dramatically limiting the U.S. nuclear arsenal's declared size and purpose.
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