AN INITIATIVE OF THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS connecting leading global foreign policy institutes
Briefs that gather opinions from global experts on major international developments.
On December 16, 2021, the Council of Councils (CoC) convened its…
The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed global summits and undermined the ability of leaders to act on issues that imperil the safety,…
Leaders of more than one hundred countries took part in the U.S.-hosted Summit for Democracy in early December, s…
Negotiations were tense at the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the UN Framework Convention on C…
The scale and audacity of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, spurred sweeping changes in the way the United S…
Transatlantic relations were boosted by nearly a week of summits marking U.S.…
In this Council of Councils global perspectives roundup, experts at lead…
In this Council of Councils global perspectives roundup, members of five…
Summit diplomacy was a prominent casualty of COVID-19 during 2020.
In 2020, the world was confronted by a litany of challenges compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.…
In this Council of Councils global perspectives roundup, members of seventeen leading global think tanks reflect…
The United Nations, founded in the aftermath of World War II’s devastation, …
These papers identify new principles, rules, or institutional arrangements that can improve international cooperation in addressing global challenges.
Differences between nuclear and nonnuclear weapons states could seriously weaken the nuclear regime. Recasting disarmament as a common endeavor that addresses each country’s legitimate interests and priorities would improve its prospects.
Outer space is growing more crowded and contested. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan recommends regulating activities that disrupt, deny, or destroy space systems to ensure outer space is available to all.
African UN member states should act as unifiers and conveners rather than dividers. More coordination could help them overcome the structural challenges they face at the United Nations.
Refugee health needs in non-camp, urban settings have increasingly shifted to noncommunicable diseases. Providing preventive care and specialist treatment requires a massive influx of resources, but it is well worth the investment.
Mitigating potential communicable disease in refugee populations is a subset of efforts for human rights, equality, and dignity. A basic multilateral framework could improve health care in these situations and provide an example for future challenges.
Emission reductions alone are unlikely to prevent severe climate change impacts. As researchers and policymakers pay increasing attention to measures such as solar radiation management (SRM), states and private actors need to agree on the potential role of SRM in the overall climate change regime and to recognize its limitations.
Climate change poses an immense challenge to the biosphere and global economy. To make international trade more environmentally friendly, the world needs to use rules that have been around for decades, create new rules, and find new space for climate change policy.
India’s capability to grow in a carbon-scarce world will determine the fate of the Sustainable Development Goals. For India and other countries to conduct low-carbon transitions in an economically sustainable manner, it is imperative that they address the fractured financial state of power distribution companies, the lack of developed financial markets, and stringent international financial regulations.
As national governments, international institutions, and nonstate actors explore different approaches to Arctic governance, a cohesive approach is necessary to address the environmental, economic, sociocultural, and geopolitical challenges this region faces.
This paper has benefited from numerous comments and suggestion from Council of Councils members, in particular Jennifer Spence (Centre for International Governance Innovation), Sergey Kulik (Institute of Contemporary Development), Ettore Greco (Institute of International Affairs), and Tobias Etzold (German Institute for International and Security Affairs). The author also thanks CFR’s editorial staff and Terrence Mullan for their valued contributions to this paper.
To minimize the risk of greater global imbalances, U.S. policymakers should rethink U.S. fiscal policy and focus on the transatlantic imbalances, not the bilateral trade deficit with China.
This paper has benefited from numerous comments and suggestion from Council on Council members, in particular Brad Setser and Terrence Mullan.
A global policy framework and consolidated institutional architecture can help states facilitate regular migration, cope with illegal crossings, and humanely respond to forced migration.
The author thanks Asmita Parshotam (South African Institute of International Affairs), David Kipp (German Institute for International and Security Affairs), Asli Selin Okyay (Institute of International Affairs), Stewart Patrick (Council on Foreign Relations), and Christophe Bertossi and Matthieu Tardis (French Institute of International Relations) for their comments.
The world must not allow the establishment of cyber norms to atrophy. It is imperative that international cyber cooperation increases to protect the stability and resiliency of the global digital economy. Proposals for cooperation include restarting the U.S.-Russia dialogue, reconvening UN experts and implementing existing norms, starting discussions on a global cybercrime convention, and codifying cyberattack legislation into international law.
A collection of CoC member institute articles, blogs, and reports on global governance and international cooperation.
