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BACKGROUNDERS
Current political and economic issues succinctly explained.
August 11, 2008
The scramble for energy alternatives has brought new focus on nuclear power in the United States but its revival faces political and practical obstacles.
See more in United States, Energy/Environment
Updated: August 4, 2008
As China's economy keeps growing, so do its contributions to global warming and other environmental problems.
See more in China, Energy/Environment, Energy, Environmental Pollution, Natural Resources Management
Updated: July 31, 2008
A profile of an Algerian terrorist group that has aligned itself with al-Qaeda and is going global.
See more in North Africa, Terrorist Organizations
Updated: August 4, 2008
As China transforms the economy, politics, and demographics of Xinjiang, Uighurs accuse China of engaging in imperialism.
See more in China, Minorities, Diversity and Foreign Policy, Ethnicity and National Identity, Terrorism
Updated: July 31, 2008
A profile of the Muslim separatist group based in the Xinjiang province in northwest China.
See more in China, Terrorist Organizations
Updated: July 24, 2008
The International Criminal Court has sparked controversy with its case selection and pursuit of justice in Uganda and Sudan.
See more in Africa, International Law
Updated: July 24, 2008
The United Nations has frequently cited East Timor as a model nation-building project. But new unrest in the tiny Asian state indicates that the international community has again failed to show the stamina to guide a nation toward genuine stability.
See more in East Timor, Nation Building, Peacekeeping
Updated: July 23, 2008
A profile of ETA, a Basque separatist group.
See more in France, Spain, Terrorism, Terrorist Organizations
July 21, 2008
Angola, Africa's top oil producer, is flush with money. Yet wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a very few, leaving the bulk of the population in poverty.
See more in Sub-Saharan Africa, Angola, Economics, Energy/Environment
Updated: July 21, 2008
A profile of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist terrorist group that seeks an independent state in areas in Sri Lanka inhabited by ethnic Tamils.
See more in Sri Lanka, Terrorist Organizations
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.
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.
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.
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.
“The Right Way to Engage China” Henry M. Paulson argues that the prosperity of the United States and China depends on helping China to further integrate into the global economic system.
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