Research Projects
Below you will find a chronological list of current Council research projects. You can search by issue or region by selecting the appropriate category. In addition to this sorting control, you can search for specific subjects within the alphabetical, regional, and issue categories by choosing from the selections in the drop-down menu below.
Each project page contains the name of the project director, a description of the project, a list of meetings it has held, and any related publications, transcripts, or videos.
April 15, 1998—April 15, 1998
January 1, 1998—February 1, 1998
| Director: | Robert A. Manning, Senior Adviser, Atlantic Council |
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The Asia Energy Roundtable surveyed the energy needs of China, India, and the Asia-Pacific countries, whose choices are destined to shape world markets, security dynamics, and environmental concerns in the 21st century. The roundtables addressed three axes of the energy picture: commercial and security issues in the period to 2020; oil, gas, and nuclear power; and East Asian countries as major drivers of demand. The meetings defined the focus of an ensuing study group that is exploring in more depth the various aspects of the Asian energy and security picture against a background of environmental considerations.
January 30, 1998—January 30, 1998
For Africa and those concerned with it, no country poses a greater challenge and a greater risk than Nigeria. Though internal conflicts and misrule persist, Nigeria - Africa's most populous country - is potentially an anchor of West African stability and a test of the U.S. commitment to supporting democracy on the continent. Therefore, Washington must define its relationship with Nigeria if it is going to make good on its overall policy of engaging Africa.
The Conference on Nigeria brought together a diverse group of Americans and Nigerians from the policy, academic, activist, religious, business, and political communities to assess current trends in Nigeria and explore the development of a comprehensive U.S. strategy toward Nigeria. Among other topics, conference participants discussedthe role ot transnational businesses, non-governmental organizations, and religion in Nigeria.
January 1, 1998—Present
| Chair: | William F. Martin |
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| Staff: | Judith Kipper |
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The Energy Security Group meets regularly to discuss policy options for the United States, Japan, and the international community on a broad range of energy security issues including nuclear proliferation and energy, global warming, energy supply and demand, and the science and technology which has a direct impact on energy security. The Energy Security Group has been funded by the Japan Atomic and Industrial Forum (JAIF) since 1995. The Forum has established an Energy Security Group in Japan as well.
October 1, 1998—April 30, 2001
| Director: | Paula J. Dobriansky |
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This ongoing roundtable serves as a forum for comprehensive scrutiny of all aspects of Russia’s evolving political, economic, social, and foreign policy, and defense developments. The overall goal is to assess the trends underway, with a particular focus on the current political and economic crisis gripping Moscow; to grasp the interrelationships among the factors involved; and to develop a full range of alternative scenarios for Russia’s future by highlighting what constitute the key policy drivers. This year’s roundtable focused in particular on the ramifications and influence of the recent Kosovo crisis on Russian foreign policy. It also focused on the developments leading up to the elections for the Duma and presidency and their impact on U.S.-Russian relations.
January 1, 1998—Complete
| Staff: | Henry Siegman, Former Senior Fellow and Director for the U.S./Middle East Project, Council on Foreign Relations |
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The International Board of the U.S./Middle East Project undertook two missions to the Middle East this year. The October 1999 mission covered six countries, where the board held meetings with government and business leaders, including Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia; Sultan Qaboos of Oman; Sheikh Hamad, emir of Qatar; President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen; and King Abdullah of Jordan. In March 2000, the board met Moroccan government and business leaders in a mission to Rabat and Casablanca. Led by Senior Fellow Henry Siegman, the delegation included International Board members from the United States, France, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
November 1, 1998—July 1, 2003
| Director: | Lawrence J. Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress |
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| Chair: | Allan E. Goodman |
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This roundtable brings together Council Next Generation Fellows and Term Members with a group of Fulbright scholars and students in New York and Washington, D.C., to discuss breaking issues on the foreign policy agenda. The Council’s younger scholars are the featured speakers in this series, which aims to foster networks among the next generation of foreign policy professionals as they debate the questions that drive the international agenda today and in the years to come.
June 1, 1998—February 1, 2000
| Director: | Robert A. Manning, Senior Adviser, Atlantic Council |
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| Chairs: | Ronald Montaperto Brad Roberts |
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| Staff: | Richard K. Betts, Adjunct Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
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This ongoing roundtable series brings together leading specialists on China and nuclear weapons to assess China’s nuclear doctrine, strategy, perceptions, and modernization strategy and their implications for the U.S. and the region. These issues will be assessed with a view toward the prospects of nuclear arms reductions. A written analysis of the conclusions derived from last year’s roundtable sessions was produced.
October 1, 1998—May 1, 1999
| Directors: | Albert Fishlow Barbara Samuels |
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| Chair: | Robert D. Hormats |
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| Staff: | Roger M. Kubarych, Henry Kaufman Adjunct Senior Fellow for International Economics and Finance |
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This roundtable analyzed the role country risk analysis played in the Asian financial crisis and subsequent meltdowns in Russia and Brazil. The group, consisting of foreign investors, rating agency analysts, developing country borrowers, and representatives of multilateral agencies and emerging market governments, critically re-evaluated the standard methodology, analytical approaches, and data utilization that are used in assessing sovereign risk. A report detailing the findings of the group will be published in the fall of 1999.
February 1, 1998—March 1, 1998
| Director: | Richard L. Garwin |
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This roundtable took stock of the existing effort in the United States (military and nonmilitary) and through the United Nations to reduce the huge number of civilian casualties from antipersonnel mines. Sesions focused on technological opportunities to lower the cost of removal and organizational needs to improve coordination of the international effort. Participants considered the possible use of economic instruments to promote innovation and better use of demining technologies in the field.
December 1, 1998—December 31, 1999
This roundtable reviewed the dilemmas of peace building through an examination, in particular, of events in Bosnia, West Bank/Gaza, and Mozambique. It analyzed the efforts being made at the United Nations under Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and at the World Bank under President James D. Wolfensohn. Drawing on this analysis, it recommended creation of a new entity—a Peace Transitions Council—to engage the United Nations, the World Bank, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector in coordination of functions and implementation of strategy. If successful, resurgence of popular and governmental support for relief, reconstruction, and creation of "civil" societies could be expected. The product was a report submitted to the World Bank in April 2000.
February 1, 1998—March 1, 1998
| Director: | Richard L. Garwin |
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This series fostered discussion on how to ensure excess fissile material from decomissioned nuclear weapons is not converted back into weapons, notably by terrorists. The focus was on the former Soviet Union, where disposition options include the support by Western governments for Russian fuel fabrication plants to reprocess excess plutonium as well as the outright U.S. purchase of five hundred tons of high-enriched uranium from Russian weapons. On the U.S. side, participants discussed the merits of privatizing the U.S. Enrichment Corporation, which manages the flow of materials for use in U.S. civilian nuclear reactors.
July 1, 1998—July 31, 2000
| Director: | Bruce Stokes |
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| Chairs: | Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) Rep. Amory Houghton (R-N.Y.) |
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U.S.–Japan economic relations face growing friction. Japan’s trade surplus with the United States, always a political problem, is at record levels. Yet these two economic colossi are becoming ever more integrated, creating systemic friction because of differing regulatory systems and philosophies about markets. Based on the experience of the Bush Administration’s Strategic Impediment Initiative and the Clinton Administration’s Framework talks, this study group sought to develop a new paradigm for U.S.–Japan economic negotiation, focusing on macroeconomic issues, regulatory reform, sector-specific problems, and a political dialogue. Bruce Stokes published a short paper informed by the group’s deliberations.
May 1, 1998—March 1, 2000
| Director: | Robert A. Manning, Senior Adviser, Atlantic Council |
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| Chairs: | Edward L. Morse R. James Woolsey |
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This study group analyzed the impact of Asia’s burgeoning energy demand on global energy markets and regional security dynamics. The study group assessed the energy strategies of, and competition among, China, India, Japan, Korea, and ASEAN countries over the next quarter century and identifying the relevant foreign policy challenges for the United States. Robert Manning has written a book, The Asian Energy Factor: Myths and Dilemmas of Energy, Security, and the Pacific Future, which examines the issues raised in the group’s meetings and draws relevant conclusions and recommendations for the policy community.
September 1, 1998—June 1, 2000
| Director: | Thomas Christensen |
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| Chair: | Harry Harding |
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| Staff: | Richard K. Betts, Adjunct Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
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Some of the principal issues in international politics in the next century will be how powerful China becomes, whether its military capabilities will develop commensurately with its economic output, and what challenges Chinese power will pose to regional and global order. Launched in January 1999, this study group held meetings in New York and Washington, D.C., to discuss the interrelationships of political, economic, and military developments in the evolution of Chinese power. Special attention was devoted to considering what might be learned from the experiences of other rising powers, the roles of other major powers in Asia (Japan, Russia, India), and problems in translating economic progress into modern military effectiveness. Richard K. Betts and Thomas J. Christensen are producing an article that draws on the discussions.
May 1, 1998—September 1, 2000
This study group is exploring how U.S. policymakers can promote the consolidation of fledgling democracies abroad. The study group is underway at a time when many new democracies are grappling with unprecedented economic, political, and social turmoil. Whether they survive and stabilize or collapse back into authoritarianism will be one of the critical factors shaping international politics in the early 21st century. The study group seeks to bridge the gap between the academic and policy worlds by asking questions such as: What factors are most important for the consolidation of new democracies? Can these factors be manipulated from the outside? What would a serious U.S. strategy for promoting democratic consolidation look like, and what results could it expect to produce? The end product of the study group will be an article or book by Gideon Rose.
October 1, 1998—April 1, 1999
| Chair: | Arnold Kanter |
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| Staff: | |
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To date there has been no examination of the implications and opportunities involved in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) political transition for either the success of China’s economic reform program or overall U.S. interests. The foreign policy community in the United States needs a more complete picture of the evolving social and political dynamics that will ultimately shape the China that emerges in the 21st century. This group filled in this gap by examining the political reforms underway in the PRC, their implications for the success of economic reforms, and the opportunities for U.S. actors (government, business, and NGOs) to influence this process. Topics explored included: grassroots democracy, center-provincial relations, the evolution of the rule of law, the People’s Liberation Army and nationalism, and the rise of the entrepreneurial and middle classes. Elizabeth Economy’s analysis from the study group proceedings was the foundation for an article, titled "Reforming China," that was published in the journal Survival (Autumn 1999).
October 1, 1998—April 1, 2000
| Director: | Michael J. Green |
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| Chairs: | Richard Samuels Patrick Cronin Nathaniel Thayer Richard Solomon Douglas Paal Gerald Curtis Ellen Frost |
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While the rhetoric of U.S. policy toward Asia increasingly highlights a new "strategic partnership" with China and an "alliance" with Russia, U.S. strategy for the Asia-Pacific region in the next century will only be as credible as the alliance the United States sustains with Japan. Despite close bilateral ties, Washington remains unsure how Tokyo might react to a China-Taiwan conflict, an American confrontation with Iran, or a further deepening of the Asian financial crisis.
This study group worked with a similar Tokyo-based group to review case studies that focus on contemporary aspects of Japanese commercial, strategic, cooperative, and financial diplomacy, including: Japan’s role in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, Japan’s Eurasian diplomacy, the emerging dynamics of Sino-Japanese security relations, and Japan’s policy toward the Korean peninsula. Each case study assessed factors such as the domestic determinants of Japanese policy, the role of the United States in Japanese policy making, the points of bilateral divergence, and the lessons for the United States and Japan in terms of policy objectives and coordination. The study group culminated in a book by Michael Green analyzing Japanese foreign policy and its impact on U.S. interests in Asia.
February 1, 1998—April 1, 1998
| Director: | Jonathan S. Paris, St. Antony's College, Oxford |
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| Chair: | John J. Bresnan |
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This study group addressed the forces and constituencies likely to emerge in Indonesia in the post-Suharto era. Can the United States work with the International Monetary Fund and international community to help Indonesia recover economically while simultaneously urging Indonesia to reform its political system? Organized into four sessions on challenges facing Indonesia--including the economic crisis, religion and ethnicity, politics and civil society, and the role of the military--the study group assessed dynamics within Indonesia to develop a forward-looking framework for U.S. policy on Indonesia. A book, The Politics of Post-Suharto Indonesia, was released in April 1999.
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
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.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.