Model Diplomacy
World101
CFR Centennial
Council of Councils
Think Global Health
The Trump administration leaves a legacy of confusion over cybersecurity issues with few positives.
Tiksa Negeri/Reuters
The Ethiopian military’s campaign in the northern region has resulted in a humanitarian crisis at home and fears of destabilization across the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia’s prime minister promised an aggressive reform agenda, but renewed turmoil threatens to throw the country’s democratic transition off course.
Myanmar
Getty Images
The recent military coup and ongoing violent campaign against the Rohingya have dashed hopes for democratic progress. This Backgrounder traces how Myanmar got here.
Taiwan
To preserve peace in the Taiwan Strait, Robert D. Blackwill and Philip Zelikow propose the United States make clear that it will not change Taiwan’s status, yet will work with allies to plan for Chinese aggression and help Taiwan defend itself.
In CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey, U.S. foreign policy experts assess the likelihood and impact of thirty potential conflicts that could emerge or escalate in the coming year.
Terrorism
For years, security experts have warned that white nationalist and white supremacist extremism represent the most significant domestic terrorism threat to the United States. Now, in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the country seems to be gaining clarity about the seriousness of the situation for the first time. How did we get here, and what can be done?
The breaching of the U.S. Capitol and disruption of the presidential succession by a pro-Trump mob has inflicted lasting damage on the nation’s image as a bastion of democracy. The country should now dedicate itself to rebuilding civil discourse.
Afghanistan
U.S. troops are supposed to leave by May 1, according to a U.S.-Taliban agreement. But a complete withdrawal could be disastrous.
The Taliban insurgency remains resilient nearly two decades after U.S.-led forces toppled its regime in what led to the United States’ longest war.
Digital Policy
Social media has been blamed for spreading disinformation and contributing to violence around the world. What are companies and governments doing about it?
January 6, 2021 serves as the darkest moment of the democratic experience with the internet and digital technologies.
Events
Research and development (R&D) are fundamental to the progress of innovation. With the advent of the internet of things, an interconnected global development landscape, and uneven but increased investments into R&D, the difficulty of maintaining U.S. primacy and competitiveness is more challenging than ever before. Please join our speakers, Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital and Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to discuss the current trajectory of research and development and its impact on innovation.
Public Health Threats and Pandemics
The World Economic Update highlights the quarter’s most important and emerging trends. Discussions cover changes in the global marketplace with special emphasis on current economic events and their implications for U.S. policy.
This series is presented by the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and is dedicated to the life and work of the distinguished economist Martin Feldstein.
Public Health Threats and Pandemics
The coronavirus pandemic has not been an advertisement for the healthy effects of democracy. There have been some notable success stories among democracies, but it is also true that nine out of the ten nations with the highest cumulative COVID-19 cases are democracies. One possibility is that the mechanisms that ordinarily produce better health in democracies—accountability through free and fair elections and freedom of expression—may not function to produce the same result in a pandemic. In this Council on Foreign Relations roundtable, Drs. John Gerring and Ilona Kickbusch discuss this possibility and their work from a new BMJ series on democracy and health.
Tony Coles in conversation on his distinguished career in medicine and biotechnology, including his roles as CEO of Cerevel Therapeutics and chairman and founder of Yumanity Therapeutics where he was instrumental in advancing potential new treatments for Parkinson's disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease).
Lessons Learned is a roundtable series, open to term members and younger life members, which features distinguished speakers who reflect on their career experiences, the choices they made along the way, and the lessons they have learned from them.
Expert Spotlight
Richard N. Haass
President, Council on Foreign Relations
U.S. Foreign Policy International Relations
@RichardHaass
Sebastian Mallaby
Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics
Monetary Policy International Finance Globalization
@scmallabyExplainers
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Middle East and North Africa
The Arab Spring at Ten Years: What’s the Legacy of the Uprisings?
Ten years on, the lives of people in Arab Spring countries have improved in certain aspects but worsened in others. CFR.org visualizes the changes in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen.
Food and Water Security
Rising Hunger: Facing a Food-Insecure World
Global food insecurity has surged amid the coronavirus pandemic, threatening to worsen humanitarian crises and spur further mass migration.
Public Health Threats and Pandemics
The Coronavirus Pandemic, With Tom Bollyky
Thomas J. Bollyky, director of CFR’s Global Health program and senior fellow for global health, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the World Health Organization’s newly declared pandemic, COVID-19.
Conflict Prevention
Conflicts to Watch in 2021
In CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey, U.S. foreign policy experts assess the likelihood and impact of thirty potential conflicts that could emerge or escalate in the coming year.
China
China’s Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang
More than a million Muslims have been arbitrarily detained in China’s Xinjiang region. The reeducation camps are just one part of the government’s crackdown on Uighurs.
Experts in the News
Featured Publications
Ray Takeyh provides new interpretations of many key events—including the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq and the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—significantly revising our understanding of the United States' and Iran’s complex and difficult history.
Former Ambassador John Campbell illustrates the history and importance of Nigeria, a country too often overlooked by the West.
CFR Senior Fellow Yanzhong Huang discusses how China’s environmental crisis is undermining public health and becoming an Achilles heel in its reemergence as a global power.