Council on Foreign Relations

The next U.S. president will have to confront a deteriorating U.S.-Russia relationship.

Republican and Democratic candidates generally agree that a major campaign is needed to combat radical Muslim fundamentalism but differ on whether it amounts to a "war on terror."

North Korea’s October 2006 nuclear test heightened debate over whether the United States should hold bilateral negotiations with Pyongyang or maintain a more assertive line with the isolated country.

Pakistan’s domestic crisis has emerged as an important barometer of the foreign policy credentials of U.S. presidential candidates.

India's growing prominence is making U.S. policy towards the country a substantial issue in the upcoming election.

A look at how the Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates propose to solve the problems afflicting the banking and financial sectors.

A majority of the U.S. presidential candidates for 2008 see a reformed UN as helpful to the promotion of U.S. foreign policy goals but many have expressed deep frustration with the organization.

U.S. policy towards Iran is a major campaign issue, given the country’s defiance of UN demands for transparency in its nuclear program. Candidates’ stances run the gamut from considering direct military action to isolating Iran.

Homeland security is likely to generate considerable discussion in the 2008 presidential race on topics such as the USA Patriot Act, border fences, and FEMA reforms after Hurricane Katrina.

The war in Iraq has remained a top concern of American voters in the 2008 presidential campaign season. Candidates are divided between supporting the president's strategy to surge more troops into central Iraq versus establishing a timetable to eventually pull out U.S. forces,with some residual units left in the region.

With the stability of the Middle East in question, presidential candidates' stances on promoting democracy in the region hold greater significance.

The next president will need to find a new strategy for balancing the historic U.S. alliance with Israel against demands from the Arab world and beyond for an equitable deal for the Palestinian people.

Democratic presidential candidates have much more readily embraced plans for federally mandated action to curb carbon emissions, and combat climate change.

Alternative energy policy—ranging from boosting ethanol supplies to conservation—has emerged as a crucial issue for candidates in the 2008 presidential campaign.

The Iraq and Afghan wars aside, a series of complex defense policy decisions will face the next president—and, by association, those who seek the office.

The rise of globalization, coupled with terrorism and security concerns have transformed immigration into an issue with foreign policy implications and major resonance for the 2008 presidential campaign.

In the face of criticism of U.S. tribunals and prisons, candidates frame their positions in terms of guarding basic civil liberties or protecting the homeland.

Presidential candidates tend to focus their comments on Africa on resolving the crisis in Darfur and reforming U.S. development aid policies.

Debate over issues of fair trade, enforcement of labor standards, and trade policy towards developing economies was intensifying as the 2008 presidential campaign unfolded.

With longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro fading from the political scene, the next U.S. president will likely need to adjust policy toward the Caribbean island nation.