Must Reads

A sortable index of the best online analyses and inquiries on foreign policy.

Congressional Research Service: Gun Control Legislation

Author: William J. Krouse

"To gun control advocates, the opposition is out of touch with the times, misinterprets the Second Amendment, and is lacking in concern for the problems of crime and violence. To gun control opponents, advocates are naive in their faith in the power of regulation to solve social problems, bent on disarming the American citizen for ideological or social reasons, and moved by irrational hostility toward firearms and gun enthusiasts."

See more in United States, Society and Culture

Author: Susan E. Rice

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice explains her decision to withdraw her nomination as secretary of state: "I have never shied away from a fight for a cause I believe in. But, as it became clear that my potential nomination would spark an enduring partisan battle, I concluded that it would be wrong to allow this debate to continue distracting from urgent national priorities."


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

Project Syndicate: The Euroless Union?

Author: Barry J. Eichengreen

"Europe's leaders were right about the pressure. Monetary union without banking union will not work, and a workable banking union requires at least some elements of fiscal and political union. But they were wrong about the irresistible part. There is no inevitability about what comes next."

See more in EU, Economics

Merkel's Dispassionate Approach to the Euro Crisis

Authors: Konstantin von Hammerstein and René Pfister

"She currently holds the fate of Europe in her hands. If the euro is rescued, Merkel will get most of the credit, and if it falls apart, she will be forced to shoulder the blame. No other German chancellor has had as much power on the European continent as the current one. And yet, ironically enough, none of Merkel's predecessors were as dispassionate about the European Union as the woman currently governing from the Chancellery."

See more in EU, Global Governance

Authors: Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen

The GOP is facing some internal conflict as Republicans are finding themselves divided over the issue of immigration reform under President Obama's administration.

See more in United States, Immigration