Neither Iran nor the United States likely wants war, but the possibility of a miscommunication is considerable, risking a dangerous escalation.
Michael Singley/U.S. Navy via Getty Images
European Union
Paolo Manzo/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Populist parties appear to be on track to make major gains, which could complicate EU politics.
In this special episode, James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon discuss upcoming parliamentary elections in Australia and the European Union, as well as India’s six-week-long election, which is drawing to a close.
Trade
Tariffs have been applied over the years to protect homegrown industries and target competitors who are seen as using unfair trade practices. They impose costs on both importers and exporters and had been in decline until the recent U.S.-China trade spat.
India
Sunjoy Joshi, chairman and chief executive of the Observer Research Foundation, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss India’s place in the world.
India is set to begin a mammoth six-week voting exercise to elect a new parliament amid high unemployment, conflict with Pakistan, and debates about its future as a secular nation.
South Africa
The African National Congress, which has governed since the end of apartheid, won again in May’s national election. But a growing opposition will watch to see whether it can revive the economy and curb corruption.
Hungary
President Trump’s hosting of Prime Minister Viktor Orban will be viewed as a boost to populists and another blow to Europe’s strained political center.
CFR on the Record
This is the keynote event for the 2019 Conference on Diversity in International Affairs.
The next Industrial Revolution is upon us and scientists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers are warning of an imminent paradigm shift in the future of work. Please join us for a screening of the HBO VICE Special Report: The Future of Work, a documentary made in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations, that follows industry leaders and laborers to learn how radical developments in automation and artificial intelligence are set to change the world of work as we know it.
Daniel Kurtz-Phelan discusses the May/June 2019 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine with contributors Daniel Drezner and Rebecca Friedman Lissner.
Expert Spotlight
Explainers
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Refugees and Displaced Persons
No Refuge
Why the world’s swelling refugee population has shrinking options.
Women and Economic Growth
Growing Economies Through Gender Parity
Closing the gender gap in the workforce could add a staggering $28 trillion to the global GDP.
Wars and Conflict
Global Conflict Tracker
The Center for Preventive Action’s Global Conflict Tracker is an interactive guide to ongoing conflicts around the world of concern to the United States.
North Korea
North Korean Nuclear Negotiations: A Brief History
Nuclear negotiations involving the United States and North Korea, which have proceeded in fits and starts over more than a quarter century, have been stymied by mistrust.
China
China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is the most ambitious infrastructure investment effort in history. But is it also a plan to remake the global balance of power?
Featured Publications
President Donald J. Trump’s actions have often been rash, ignorant, and chaotic. Yet some of his individual foreign policies are substantially better than his opponents assert.
Japan’s United States–imposed postwar constitution renounced the use of offensive military force, but, Sheila A. Smith shows, a nuclear North Korea and an increasingly assertive China have the Japanese rethinking that commitment—and their reliance on U.S. security.
In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, The Road Not Taken definitively reframes our understanding of the Vietnam War.