Books

Foreign policy analyses written by CFR fellows and published by the trade presses, academic presses, or the Council on Foreign Relations Press.

Between Threats and War

Author: Micah Zenko

Micah Zenko examines the discrete military operations undertaken by the United States over the past twenty years to discern why they were used, if they achieved their objectives, and what determined their success or failure.

See more in United States, Wars and Warfare

Start-Up Nation

Authors: Daniel Senor and Saul Singer

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.

See more in Israel, Business and Foreign Policy

Forces of Fortune

Author: Vali R. Nasr

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.

See more in Iran, Religion

Guardians of the Revolution

Author: Ray Takeyh

For over a quarter-century, Iran has been one of America's chief nemeses. But as Ray Takeyh shows in this accessible and authoritative history of Iran's relations with the world since the revolution, behind the famous personalities and extremist slogans is a nation that is far more pragmatic—and complex—than many in the West have been led to believe.

See more in Iran, U.S. Strategy and Politics

Renewing America

Renewing America

Skilled Immigration Today

Authors: Jagdish N. Bhagwati and Gordon H. Hanson

While immigration reform usually refers to unskilled labor, skilled immigration requires different policy action. Bhagwati and Hanson bring together today's foremost immigration experts to examine the phenomenon.

See more in United States, Immigration

Power Rules

Author: Leslie H. Gelb

Inspired by Machiavelli's classic The Prince, Power Rules offers illuminating guidelines on how American power actually works and should be wielded in today's tumultuous world. Leslie H. Gelb writes with the perspective of four decades of extraordinary access and influence in government, think tanks, and journalism.

See more in United States, U.S. Strategy and Politics

Russian Foreign Policy

Author: Jeffrey Mankoff

Jeffrey Mankoff convincingly demonstrates that today's Russia is more interested in restoring what its leaders consider to be its rightful place among the world's major powers than in directly challenging the West.

See more in Russian Fed.

China's Rise and the Two Koreas

Author: Scott A. Snyder

With China now South Korea's number-one trading partner and destination for foreign investment and tourism, what are the implications for politics and security in East Asia? Scott Snyder explores the transformation of the Sino–South Korean relationship since the early 1990s.

See more in China, North Korea, South Korea

Restoring the Balance

Authors: Richard N. Haass, Stephen Biddle, Ray Takeyh, Gary Samore, Steven A. Cook, Isobel Coleman, Steven Simon, Martin S. Indyk, Michael O’Hanlon, Kenneth M. Pollack, Suzanne Maloney, Bruce O. Riedel, Shibley Telhami, Tamara Cofman Wittes, and Daniel L. Byman

Experts from the Council on Foreign Relations and the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution propose a new, nonpartisan Middle East strategy drawing on the lessons of past failures to address both the short- and long-term challenges to U.S. interests.

See more in Middle East, Diplomacy

Heroic Conservatism

Author: Michael J. Gerson

Michael J. Gerson draws on his White House experiences as the chief speechwriter and a policy adviser to President George W. Bush to argue for a renewed idealism in domestic and foreign policy.

See more in United States, Political Movements

God and Gold

Author: Walter Russell Mead

An illuminating account by Walter Russell Mead of the birth and rise of the global political and economic system that, sustained first by Britain and now by America, created the modern world.

See more in United States, U.K., Religion and Politics