Research Projects
Below you will find a chronological list of research projects in the Studies Program. 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.
Chair: W. Bowman Cutter
February 1, 2002—May 1, 2003
Meetings of this series help to review and critique draft chapters of Jagdish Bhagwati's book analyzing the origins of globalization, its social consequences, and the institutional innovations—domestic and international—that govern it. Bhagwati assesses the various critiques of globalization through the lenses of poverty, insecurity, labor standards, gender, the environment, culture, sovereignty, and democratic deficit and concludes that globalization is not merely economically benign, but socially benign as well.
Director: Jordan S. Kassalow
November 1, 2001—January 1, 2003
The health of the world has expanded from a humanitarian issue to an issue of national security and economic growth. Global health not only has an impact on most of the foreign policy objectives we hope to achieve, but also a direct effect on the health of Americans, especially as globalization frays our national boundaries. A focus on health is part of a foreign policy agenda that aims at building a more secure world, draws all countries into a growing network of interdependence that sustains stability and maintains America’s central role within that network. This roundtable series brings leaders from the foreign policy and health communities together to discuss the recommendations of the CFR-Milbank Memorial Fund report, “Why Health is Important to U.S. Foreign Policy,” and to discuss contemporary topics that form the nexus between global health and U.S. foreign policy
Bio-terrorism is the one of the deadliest threats facing the United States today. This roundtable, in light of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, discusses measures to protect against or mitigate the effects of such a bio-terrorist attack by asking questions such as:
• What is the potential for a significant bioterrorist attack on the United States;
• What public health and related measures can be taken in advance of an attack to reduce their impact;
• Are we currently equipped to deal with the consequences of an attack?
• What type of biological agents can terrorists get their hands on?
• Can they keep them alive and grow enough of them to mount a significant attack?
• Can they weaponize them effectively to mount a massive attack that puts tens to hundreds of thousands at risk;
• How much money is needed to prepare the United States for a large scale biological terrorist attack?
• How the money should be allocated, which programs/agencies should be funded?
Director: Carlisle Ford Runge
Chair: David L. Aaron, under Secretary for International Trade, U.S. Department of Commerce
Staff: David G. Victor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology
March 1, 2001—June 1, 2002
Contact: Jeremy Marwell 212.434.9615 / jmarwell@cfr.org
July 1, 1996—June 30, 2001
Director: Marcus Mabry, 1999-2000 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow, Newsweek
January 1, 2000—June 1, 2000
The development of a global class of economic movers and shakers is challenging the supremacy of the nation-state. The most obvious embodiments of the new power may be the multinational corporation and the international class of managers who can move currencies, literally at the speed of light, and undermine governments. Their ascendancy seems to have taken even the international economic players by surprise. As a result, a movement has arisen to invest companies with a new sense of global responsibility beyond shareholder profit and the bottom line.
The roundtable series examined the nature and place of corporate responsibility in the age of "globality." What are the powers and duties of international economic players in the post-Cold War era? What are American companies doing in extra-commercial arenas? How are they supplanting the role of governments in international relations and in the internal affairs of states? What are the ramifications of this trend for U.S. foreign policy? The final product will be a major article by Marcus Mabry.
Director: Richard L. Garwin
February 1, 1998—March 1, 1998
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.
Director: Ruth Wedgwood
February 1, 1997
The new Law of the Sea regime has exposed conflicting territorial claims--designed to take advantage of oil, gas and fishery resources--that have provoked military confrontation. Methods of resolving these disputes, and progress made in their negotiation, including disputes over islands in the Persian Gulf and the Aegean Sea and the Spratly Islands, were discussed at a two-day conference that attracted many senior members of the diplomatic missions to the United Nations. The problems of sea access in the former Yugoslavia were also addressed. Speakers included Professor John Norton Moore of the University of Virginia, Marrack Goulding, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Alvaro de Soto, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, Davis Robinson, former legal advisor for the U.S. Department of State, Robert Turner of the University of Virginia, Myron Nordquist of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Paul Szasz, Acting Deputy Director of the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs, and Ruth Wedgwood of the Council and Yale University.
Director: Alberto Vourvoulias
Chair: Margaret E. Crahan
March 1, 1996—June 1, 1996
This study group examined New York City's status as a nexus of global and local politics where international processes are simultaneously issues of local governance. Participants analyzed the effects of economic restructuring and financial flows, immigration and demographic change, the rise of transnational communities and identities, the internationalization of crime, and cultural consensus-building and institutional adaptation. The study group produced a book, The City and the World: New York's Global Future, edited by Margaret E. Crahan and Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush, which elicited a proclamation from the mayor's office that October 22 is "The City and the World Day" in New York City.
The Study Group has brought a diverse group of New Yorkers together with experts such as Saskia Sassen of Columbia University, Carol O'Cleirecain of the Brookings Institution, and Rae Rosen of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and produced a book, The City and the World: New York's Global Future, edited by Margaret E. Crahan and Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush.
Director: Sebastian Mallaby, Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics
October 1, 2001—Present
This roundtable series brings together key players from the private markets, government, Federal Reserve, IMF, World Bank, and think tanks to discuss pressing policy issues in international economics. The group, which meets monthly, has so far discussed issues such as the impact of terrorism on economic prospects, the outlook for emerging markets, and U.S. trade policy.
Director: Albert Fishlow
Chair: Ambler H. Moss Jr.
March 1, 1999—Present
Director: Benn Steil, Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics
October 1, 1996—Present
This monthly speaker series brings the world's foremost economic policymakers and scholars to address a high-level audience from the business and financial community on current topics in international economics, such as outsourcing, monetary policy, and competition policy.
This meeting series is sponsored by the Corporate Program and the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies.
Staff: Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy
January 1, 1999—June 30, 2002
The overarching goal of the project is to identify restructuring options for the international financial architecture that would stimulate the long-term flow of private capital to the developing world. More specifically, the working group is undertaking the development and promotion of one or more alternative working models for reform of the world financial architecture; the advancement of concrete proposals for countries interested in shifting from export-led growth to internally driven economic development; and the development of ideas to make the international financial system more open and accountable to the larger public interest. One of the final products will be a report by Walter Russell Mead and Sherle Schwenninger.
Director: Carlisle Ford Runge
Chair: David L. Aaron, under Secretary for International Trade, U.S. Department of Commerce
Staff: David G. Victor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology
March 1, 2001—June 1, 2002
Contact: Jeremy Marwell 212.434.9615 / jmarwell@cfr.org
Staff: Roger M. Kubarych
September 1, 1999—June 30, 2001
The objective of this project is to develop research findings and expert advice that policymakers can use to help prepare for an unexpected financial mishap, and perhaps take steps to mitigate its adverse consequences, both at the domestic and international level. A four-part series of Council events will provide the means to examine the links between the financial markets and broader economic, foreign policy, and national security concerns: (1) A roundtable at which the participants, including market practitioners, scholars, and former senior officials review the lessons learned from past stock market disturbances and the policy responses to them and identify the economic and financial vulnerabilities in the current environment; (2) a scenario-building roundtable; (3) a policy simulation in which a small number of experienced policy thinkers and former policymakers will work through the options and constraints facing the U.S. government in the aftermath of a sudden and significant stock market decline; (4) a conference to disseminate the findings of the roundtable and simulation. The conference will provide a forum to raise the broadest possible perspective on the intersection of financial markets, the global economy, foreign policy, and national security.
Staff: Roger M. Kubarych
September 1, 1999—June 30, 2001
The objective of this project was to develop research findings and expert advice that policymakers can use to help prepare for an unexpected financial mishap, and perhaps take steps to mitigate its adverse consequences, both at the domestic and international level. A four-part series of Council events provided the means to examine the links between the financial markets and broader economic, foreign policy, and national security concerns: (1) A roundtable at which the participants, including market practitioners, scholars, and former senior officials review the lessons learned from past stock market disturbances and the policy responses to them and identify the economic and financial vulnerabilities in the current environment; (2) a scenario-building roundtable; (3) a policy simulation in which a small number of experienced policy thinkers and former policymakers will work through the options and constraints facing the U.S. government in the aftermath of a sudden and significant stock market decline; (4) a conference to disseminate the findings of the roundtable and simulation. The conference held on July 12-13, provided a forum to raise the broadest possible perspective on the intersection of financial markets, the global economy, foreign policy, and national security.
Staff: Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy
June 1, 1999—October 1, 2000
The overarching goal of this project is to identify restructuring options for the international financial architecture that would stimulate the long-term flow of private capital to the developing world. More specifically, the project is undertaking the development and promotion of one or more alternative working models for reform of the world financial architecture; the advancement of concrete proposals for countries interested in shifting from export-led growth to internally driven economic development; and the development of ideas to make the international financial system more open and accountable to the larger public interest. The final product will be a piece written by Walter Russell Mead.
Director: Barbara Samuels
September 1, 1999—June 30, 2000
The roundtable’s objective was to set forth recommendations for improving the quality of country risk analysis used by creditors, lenders, and policymakers, thereby reducing the economic and social costs of financial volatility and crisis. Participants included leading country risk practitioners from rating agencies, commercial banks, and the investor community, in addition to multilateral organizations and government officials. After the first round of discussions in the fall of 1999, roundtable participants provided recommendations around three principal categories: analytical country risk methods; structure of the country risk profession; and use of country risk analysis in decisionmaking, detailed in the International Monetary Fund's 1999 publication of International Capital Markets. During this fiscal year, the roundtable further redefined these initial recommendations, focusing on how better to define principles and processes for sovereign bond restructurings, and improve the availability and quality of necessary data and analysis for the investor community.
Director: Allan Gerson
September 1, 1999—December 31, 1999
This project will make recommendations based on three case studies (Bosnia, Gaza and Mozambique) for improving “partnering” between the United Nations, the World Bank, the private sector and the NGO community for enabling successful war-to-peace transitions. Development of such a strategy coincides with various efforts at integrating the work of institutions and organizations dealing with “post-conflict” situations that have tended to operate in an insular fashion with less than optimal results. Special emphasis will be placed on creating a new overarching War-to-Peace Transitions Council that draws on the expertise of each of the players. The end product will be a report for the World Bank and other interested parties by January 2000.
Director: Daniel K. Tarullo, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
February 1, 1999—July 1, 1999
The last fifty years have seen a progressive erosion of the Bretton Woods economic and regulatory compromise between international liberalism and domestic autonomy. While much has been written on the need to reform the "international financial architecture," there remains a more fundamental question of the appropriate relationship between national and international legal/regulatory systems. This study group focused specifically on various countries’ national laws and regulatory schemes, looking at the institutional choices for international competition policy, the institutional and legal hurdles to reforming the international financial system, and proposals for a new round of trade negotiations. The products of the study group were three papers: an essay on options for international competition policy, a scholarly article on institutional and legal hurdles to reforming the international financial system, and an essay on proposals for a new round of trade negotiations.
Director: Jonathan S. Paris, St. Antony's College, Oxford
Staff: Henry Siegman, Former Senior Fellow and Former Director for the U.S./Middle East Project
June 17, 1999
On June 17–18, 1999, the U.S./Middle East Project and Corporate Program hosted the fourth annual Council on Foreign Relations conference on private-sector investment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), including Turkey and Iran. In past years, this conference series has been organized around the MENA Summits, of which the Council was a founding organizer and convener. This year, the conference, held at the Council’s headquarters in New York, was the only major event of its kind in 1999. It was a practical, business-oriented meeting for approximately two hundred executives from the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere to showcase investment opportunities and discuss the key obstacles to doing business in the region. Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, James D. Wolfenson, President of the World Bank, William Daley, Secretary of Commerce, and Bill Richardson, Secretary of Energy, were the keynote speakers.
CFR Experts Guide
The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda.
Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.
