Taking place in New York, this series serves as a venue for policymakers, scholars, legal professionals, and journalists to exchange ideas and reach conclusions on issues at the intersection of law and United States foreign policy. Particular attention is given to matters of international legal policy involving the rule of law.

The United States and the Future of Global Governance roundtable series will focus on core global governance challenges and proposals for fundamental institutional reform. Topics will include overhaul of the UN Security Council; the reform and expansion of the G8; prospects for a global counterterrorism organization; the adaptation of U.S. sovereignty to a global age; the trade-offs between formal institutions and ad hoc coalitions; and the domestic and legislative preconditions for sustained U.S. multilateral engagement. This roundtable series is sponsored by CFR's Program on International Institutions and Global Governance and is supported by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation.

The Military Affairs Roundtable Series provides a forum for experts from both the public and private sector to engage senior officers from the U.S. Armed Forces in discussions on timely and important defense and national security issues.

This roundtable series will meet periodically over the course of 2008 to explore changing political and security dynamics on the African continent, often with a special emphasis on U.S. policy options and responses. Extra effort will be devoted to drawing in new voices and perspectives on critical African issues.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has launched a comprehensive five-year program on international institutions and global governance. Made possible by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation, this cross-cutting initiative will explore the institutional requirements for world order in the twenty-first century. It is motivated by recognition that the architecture of global governance--largely reflecting the world as it existed in 1945--has not kept pace with fundamental changes in the international system. These changes include accelerating global economic integration; a shift in global power to non-Western countries; the rise of transnational security threats; the emergence of agile non-state actors; a proliferation of failing states; and evolving norms of state sovereignty. Existing multilateral arrangements thus provide an inadequate foundation for addressing today's most pressing threats and opportunities and for advancing U.S. national and broader global interests.

The program seeks to identify critical weaknesses in current frameworks for multilateral cooperation; propose specific reforms reflective of new global circumstances; and promote constructive U.S. leadership in building the capacities of existing organizations and in sponsoring new, more effective regional and global institutions and partnerships, including those involving the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

The program will focus on arrangements governing state conduct and international cooperation in meeting four broad sets of challenges:

1. Countering Transnational Threats, including terrorism, proliferation of WMD, and infectious disease
2. Protecting the Environment and Promoting Energy Security
3. Managing the Global Economy
4. Preventing and Responding to Violent Conflict

In each of these areas, the program will consider whether the most promising framework for governance is a formal organization with universal membership (e.g., the United Nations); a regional or sub-regional organization; a narrower, informal coalition of like-minded countries; or some combination of all three. The program will also examine the potential to adapt major bedrock institutions (e.g., the UN, G8, NATO, IMF, and AU), as well as the feasibility of creating new frameworks and initiatives to meet today's challenges.

The participation, input and endorsement of both official and non-state actors will be critical to ensure the appropriateness and feasibility of any institutional reforms. Throughout the course of the project, CFR will engage stakeholders and constituencies in the United States and abroad, including governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society representatives, and the private sector.

The attached concept note summarizes the rationale for the program on global governance, describes potential areas of research and policy engagement, and outlines the envisioned products and activities. We believe that the research and policy agenda outlined here constitutes a significant contribution to U.S. and international deliberations on the requirements for world order in the twenty-first century.

• Concept Document (PDF)

The Post-Conflict Reconstruction Roundtable Series provides a forum for experts from the U.S. government, military, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to assess U.S. post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization (PCRS) capabilities (military and civilian), discuss challenges in undertaking PCRS operations, and develop policy recommendations to improve future stabilization and reconstruction operations. The series will pay special attention to the prospect for increased civilian-military coordination in reconstruction efforts, progress within U.S. government agencies in implementing National Security Presidential Directive 44 (NSPD-44), and the experience of Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan.

The meeting series focuses attention on situations that are increasingly discernible as "flashpoints" for violent conflict. At each on the record meeting, experts from government, private sector, and nongovernmental communities present different perspectives on and address discrete elements of the problem. The goal of the "Flashpoints" series is to raise public awareness of potentially explosive places and to offer practical recommendations for preventive action in the discussed state or region.

This series is made possible by the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

This roundtable series engages scholars with a unique perspective on issues of law, democracy, and Islam in the context of the current state of affairs in the Middle East.

This series consists of quarterly events sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, convenes experts from government, private sector, nongovernmental, and civil society to analyze weak or fragile regions and states at risk of conflict in the next two to five years and to devise approaches to work with practitioners to build early policy responses to address those situations.

This roundtable consists of a series of meetings on European political, economic, demographic, and defense trends.  The series explores what Europe is likely to become over the next decade and beyond, and what this evolution will mean for U.S. foreign policy and for the transatlantic relationship.

As part of its research and policy work, the Center focuses on examining how education can be a vital part of a comprehensive humanitarian strategy for conflict, post-conflict and refugee settings. Education can provide a healing and safe place for children of conflict; it can provide a sense of much needed normalcy in a chaotic conflict environment, it can teach non-violence and understanding, and most importantly, it can give young people who have been through the worst misfortune and even horrors, the tools to build a better life for themselves and a better future for their nations. Yet education in emergencies and post-conflict situations too often falls through the cracks; overlooked because it is not seen as “life-saving” or because donors do not trust the governments in which these children live. The Center's work seeks to address this gap by

(a)   studying and promoting best practices and model programs including those standards developed by the INEE, and

(b)   drafting and delivering new analyses and recommendations on international financing of education in conflict situations to major stakeholders including G-8 development agencies, the United Nations, and World Bank

(c)   creating support, understanding and momentum for the design and implementation of high-quality education projects for children of conflict

This roundtable series focuses on the challenge of funding and managing education in emergency and conflict situations.

This series will meet periodically in New York during the 2007-2008 programming year, seeking to examine the issues facing the African continent and the U.S. policy makers dealing with it. Particular attention will be given to the evolving crisis in Zimbabwe, a discussion with Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer, Africa as an emerging market for capital flows, and the expanding role of the U.S. military in our Africa policy.

The challenges facing the Muslim world occupy the forefront of U.S. foreign policy. The roundtable series on Global Islamic Politics facilitates discussion and debate on key issues that will shape the direction of politics in the Muslim world in the coming years and their ensuing impact on U.S. foreign policy. Roundtables are held in both New York and Washington, DC, ensuring a wide mix of participants working in policymaking, government, business, media, and academia. Sessions will address the implications of the changing balance of power in the Middle East, the future of radical Islam in Europe, as well as Hezbollah and Iran.

This series focuses on issues, primarily military, that affect American national security. The series begins withan early focus on the war on Iraq, and later roundtables examine issues relating to the transformation of the American armed forces to cope with warfare in the information age.

The U.S.-Asia Update Roundtable Series is an ongoing series that provides a forum for the discussion of the major issues that shape Chinese domestic policies and that have an impact on the U.S. relationship with China and the rest of the region. The Roundtable cosponsors events with the Council’s General Meetings and Corporate programs. Recent sessions have included speakers such as Michael Green, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Major General Karl Eikenberry; and Randall Schriver, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Approximately six sessions are held each program year.

This series is made possible through generous support from the Starr Foundation.

The South Asia Roundtable Series examines the major issues facing South Asia today. On Afghanistan, speakers and participants analyze stability, reconstruction, and counterinsurgency efforts. For sessions on Pakistan, they consider many aspects of the nature of the U.S.-Pakistan partnership, ranging from counterterrorism cooperation to issues of governance. Meetings on India look at the U.S.-India relationship and the tensions, limits, and opportunities that will define the American relationship with India moving forward. Other sessions may also examine timely issues that arise in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or Nepal.

Made possible by the generosity of the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation, this roundtable series examines the impact of post-9/11 measures on U.S. economic competitiveness and diplomatic relations, and considers possible government responses to address these problems.