Council Special Reports (CSRs) are concise policy briefs that provide timely responses to developing crises or contributions to current policy dilemmas. The Studies Program commissions a CSR when events make a particular situation or conflict ripe for useful intervention and the window of opportunity is likely to close if action is not taken in a timely manner. Because a Special Report can be prepared quickly, it can have an impact when changing events create a space for useful involvement.
This report defends the WTO dispute settlement mechanism against critics who think it should be tougher on violators as well as critics who think it is already so tough as to violate sovereignty.
This report encourages the U.S. government to redirect its policy toward Bolivia from "wait and see" to one with an emphasis on conflict prevention and preserving the democratic process in order to address the nation's many challenges. This report is also available in Spanish.
This Council Special Report concludes that only if the United States disengages militarily will it minimize the strategic costs of its failure in Iraq.
This report argues that the new UN secretary-general should take the General Assembly's endorsement of responsibility to protect as a mandate and as a mission statement. And the United States and others must take steps to bolster UN action and be available when the UN is not.
This report presents a full picture of what is going on in the Horn of Africa and suggests what the United States needs to do to address the multiple challenges to stability.
With polls showing Chávez strongly in the lead in the December 3, 2006, Venezuelan presidential election, the United States needs to prepare for another six-year term with the controversial leader. This report proposes a new strategic framework for U.S. policy toward Venezuela. This report is also available in Spanish.
This report argues that reforms of the U.S. patent system have suceeded in limiting the competition of ideas, discouraging innovation, and ultimately reducing U.S. competitiveness.
This report makes recommendations for reforming the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and examines how the administration and Congress can reassure foreign investors of U.S. openness and address growing anxieties in other countries.
The contentious July 2006 Mexican presidential election has placed Mexico squarely back on the U.S. foreign policy agenda. This report offers concrete policy recommendations to the U.S. government on how to help Mexico deal with its future challenges. This report is also available in Spanish.
This Council Special Report addresses the controversial nuclear deal between the United States and India, offering practical recommendations for promoting U.S.-India relations while strengthening nonproliferation.
This Council Special Report makes the case that Turkey's strategic importance to the United States is greater than ever, and that a major effort needs to be undertaken to renew and revitalize the relationship.
This report urges the Indonesia Government to follow through with its commitments to achieve a comprehensive solution to the conflict in Papua by engaging with legitimate representatives of Papuan society, fully implementing special autonomy, improving local governance, and reforming security arrangements.
The central finding of this report is that federal government has had a naïve view of what the market is able to do when left largely on its own to protect critical infrastructure.
This Council Special Report argues that Afghanistan is still far from stability and that the United States should take the lead in ensuring full funding and implementation of the Afghanistan Compact, and develop a coherent strategy toward the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship. This report is also available in Spanish.
The threat of a nuclear attack—especially a nuclear detonation—by terrorists has never been greater. The United States and the international community must do more to prevent terrorists from buying, stealing, or building nuclear weapons. This report identifies where efforts have fallen short in securing and eliminating nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear materials, and it offers realistic recommendations to plug these gaps in the U.S. and international response.
Twenty years ago, the United States was the world’s largest creditor nation, unsurpassed in its ownership of assets outside of its borders, even after deducting what foreigners owned inside its borders. Yet over the past two decades, America has been transformed into the world’s largest debtor nation.
People naturally disagree about who is responsible for the partisan tone and tactics in Washington, DC, these days, but most agree on this: It's worse, it's more intense, and it's nastier. And few on either side are enjoying it much.
Authors: Major General William L. Nash and Amelia Branczik
This report identifies the principal steps that the United States can take to secure the investment it has made in the western Balkans and facilitate the region's progress toward its rightful destiny within the EU. In doing so, Forgotten Intervention? lays out a straightforward and doable strategy for the United States that will pay dividends.
The United States can improve its image in the Muslim world. Focus group research in three key Islamic countries--Egypt, Morocco, and Indonesia--shows that the widely held view that nothing can be done about the spread of negative attitudes toward the United States among Muslims in the Middle East and Asia is incorrect. The key to a new dialogue with the Muslim world is a humbler American perspective, based on respectful partnership and agreeing to disagree when necessary.
This report identifies the principle issues to be addressed in Iraq's constitution. It recommends power-sharing arrangements between Iraq's national government and federal Iraqi state governments. It proposes a role for the United States and the United Nations to play in this process, and suggests ways the Iraqi government can encourage cooperation with Iraq's neighbors.
The author analyzes the potentially serious consequences, both at home and abroad, of a lightly overseen drone program and makes recommendations for improving its governance.
The biggest threat to America's security and prosperity comes not from abroad but from within, writes CFR President Richard N. Haass in his provocative and important new book. More