Council on Foreign Relations

The Council on Foreign Relations has launched a new blog, The Candidates and the World, to provide information and nonpartisan analysis on the foreign policy and national security dimensions of the 2012 presidential race.

The Renewing America initiative has launched a new online channel aimed at broadening the debate on how best to revitalize the country's economy.

The Robina Foundation has awarded the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) a five-year, $10.3 million grant to expand its activities on international cooperation. This award is one of the largest operating grants in CFR's history and will support its International Institutions and Global Governance (IIGG) Program.

As the United States confronts a volatile Middle East, Saudi Arabia is "a central player—sometimes in accord with U.S. policy, sometimes not—in Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, in the quest for stability in Iraq, in Persian Gulf regional security issues focusing on Iran, and in the global struggle to promote a peaceful vision of Islam over jihadist violence," writes Thomas Lippman in a new book, Saudi Arabia on the Edge: The Uncertain Future of an American Ally.

This collection of essays by Richard K. Betts, a leading international politics scholar, investigates the use of American force since the end of the Cold War, suggesting guidelines for making it more selective and successful. Betts argues that American force should be used less frequently but more decisively.

The U.S.-Saudi relationship has become strained by increasing mistrust and misunderstanding—most recently over Egypt and Bahrain—and gone are the old foundations of the informal alliance: the Cold War and U.S. operation of Riyadh's oil fields. This is the judgment of F. Gregory Gause III of the University of Vermont, in Saudi Arabia in the New Middle East. The two countries can no longer expect to act in close concert, and the United States should recast the relationship as transactional, one based on cooperation when interests dictate, he argues.

CFR's Center for Preventive Action has released the fourth annual Preventive Priorities Survey ranking the most plausible conflicts on which the U.S. government should focus in the year ahead.

Recent data on organized violence shows that conflicts between a state and one or more nonstate armed groups vastly outnumber interstate conflicts. As a result, argues former international affairs fellow Payton L. Knopf in a new CFR Working Paper, the State Department needs clear guidelines as to why, when, and how its diplomats should conduct outreach to these groups.

For the past three years, the Global Health program at the Council on Foreign Relations has been tracking news reports to produce an interactive map plotting global outbreaks of diseases that are easily prevented by inexpensive and effective vaccines.

CFR senior fellow Steven Cook traces the “stirrings of Egyptian nationalism” back to the 1880s and culminates with the events in Tahrir Square in early 2011. He chronicles the end of the British occupation, the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood, the rise of Nasser and his quest to become a pan-Arab leader in the 1960s, Egypt's decision to make peace with Israel and ally with United States, the subsequent assassination of Sadat in 1981, and the revolution that overthrew Mubarak.

The latest multimedia feature in CFR's Emmy award-winning series uses expert interviews, interactive timelines, graphs, and images to trace Iran's history, examine its oil-driven economy, and survey its nuclear program.

In this new memoranda series, four CFR fellows focus on crisis triggers, analyze where U.S. and Chinese interests converge and diverge, and present policy options for preventing such crises and mitigating the consequences.

With the U.S. military overstretched and Washington facing acute fiscal pressures, the United States must nurture effective international partnerships to help prevent and manage violent conflicts that threaten U.S. interests, concludes a new Council Special Report.

A CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report encourages the Obama administration and Congress to adopt a "pro-America" trade policy that brings to more Americans the benefits of global engagement.

CFR and Aspen Institute India have cosponsored a U.S.-India Joint Study Group to identify the shared national interests that motivate the United States and India.

CFR's Studies Program has added several scholars to its roster.

A new multimedia interactive from CFR's International Institutions and Global Governance program illustrates the shortcomings of global counterterrorism efforts and offers options for strengthening the regime.