This symposium was made possible through the generous support of BP.

Symposium Summary Report (PDF, 98K)

These meetings were made possible through the generous support of the Robina Foundation and Richard Brown.

This symposium was made possible by the generosity of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Symposium Summary Report (PDF, 84K)

Experts discuss international justice and law at this three-part symposium, featuring speakers such as International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, General Wesley Clark, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie.

Session 3 Video: The Darfur Case

This symposium has been underwritten by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Symposium Summary Report by Stewart Patrick, Senior Fellow and Director, Program on International Institutions and Global Governance

This report will provide options and make recommendations to Congress and the broader public on U.S. military and diplomatic steps to address the national security challenges posed by China's current and projected military space capabilities. The report will also highlight options that China should consider that would enhance both its own and U.S. security interests as well.

This symposium was made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Symposium summary report: PDF

This forthcoming report will focus on Washington's policy toward Syria. The Syrian regime believes it plays a pivotal role in the region and is seeking to capitalize on its influence in several major arenas: Iraq, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, and Iran. This CSR will develop a set of policy recommendations for an effective strategy toward Damascus and prescribe an incentive-based approach to secure its cooperation in these areas.

In 2006, CFR senior fellows Isobel Coleman and Laurie Garrett launched the CFR Maternal Health program to raise awareness and suggest policies that would help improve maternal survival worldwide. With the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the CFR Maternal Health program convened a symposium on June 11 and 12, 2008, in Washington, DC, and New York entitled, “Rethinking Maternal Health.” The symposium examined issues surrounding maternal health in the context of U.S. foreign assistance. A summary, transcripts, and audio recordings of the symposium are available below.

Summary of sessions 1 - 3 (PDF)

Timed with the tenth anniversary of the release of the final report of the widely regarded Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, the symposium, titled "The Future of Conflict Prevention," assessed what we -- the United States, UN, and international community -- have and have not accomplished in terms of conflict prevention (theory and practice) over the last decade, and looked forward to new challenges and requirements for successful preventive action.

Summary Report

A major task of early warning of violent conflict is to understand the linkage between political, economic, and social sources and triggers of violence and larger, systemic issues that consistently contribute to unrest. One such dynamic is the international proliferation and trade, licit and illicit, in small arms and light weapons (SALW). This forthcoming report will review the current state of the global SALW problem, examine the U.S. policies for tackling the problem, and then propose tangible, realistic steps for the United States to address SALW proliferation and misuse as a form of systemic conflict prevention.

Presented by the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and hosted by

Edmund S. Phelps 2006 Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, McVickar Professor Political Economy, Columbia University; Director, Center on Capitalism and Society

James P. Dougherty Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

This forthcoming report will survey the current situation in Zimbabwe, identifying current structural and legal impediments to economic and political recovery. It will argue that the time to develop post-Mugabe plans is now, and will then develop policy prescriptions for encouraging a transition, containing turmoil in the midst of change, and establishing structures that will contribute to long-term growth and stability in southern Africa.

Professor Robert J. Lalonde, professor of economics at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, is writing a Council Special Report on job displacement and the experienced worker. In this report, Professor LaLonde examines evidence on the causes of job loss, both through trade, technological change, and other factors, and suggests policies for aiding workers most harmed by job displacement—long-tenured, displaced workers. The report outlines the merits of a wage insurance program that would supplement the earnings of long-tenured workers displaced by international trade and other factors. The report contends that without policies to aid the workers most adversely affected by job loss, public support for further economic liberalization will likely diminish.

In April 2006, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund made a set of proposals aimed at enhancing the legitimacy and efficiency of the Fund and involving it more directly in the resolution of large imbalances involving the major economies. Some of his proposals were endorsed at the 2006 Annual Meetings of the Fund, and others are being implemented by the Fund's Executive Board. The most important reforms involve a redistribution of IMF quotas, which determine, among other things, voting power in the Fund. This Council Special Report provides a brief history of the Fund, stressing the changes that have occurred as a great many developing countries, large and small, have joined the Fund. It strongly endorses most of the managing director's proposals, although it criticizes others, including the way that the managing director would have the Fund involve itself in resolving major international financial imbalances. It argues that the United States should strongly support measures to enhance the legitimacy of the IMF because the United States cannot readily accomplish unilaterally what the Fund can accomplish multilaterally.

Immigration is a toxic political issue in the United States. This report by University of California, San Diego, professor Gordon Hanson indicates that the economic costs of illegal immigration roughly match the economic benefits. That is, the net economic impact of illegal immigration is close to zero. Thus, the political debate must revolve around how other sources of costs, or efforts to curb illegal immigration, such as increased border enforcement, would result in a net loss to the U.S.economy. He also finds that illegal immigration provides a labor supply that more closely tracks shifts in the need for labor across time and geography, while legal immigration—even when temporary—cannot keep up with these cyclical shifts.  Any policy aimed at addressing the demand for low-skilled labor must also address the need for flexibility.