Defense and Security

Peacekeeping

  • Sustainable Development Goals (UN)
    A Vision for Sustainable Development With Linda Thomas-Greenfield
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    U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield discusses the Sustainable Development Goals, avoiding the cynicism trap, and ways the United States and the United Nations can work together to increase peace and prosperity at home and across the world.
  • Ireland
    Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement Threatened by Brexit Fallout
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    In Northern Ireland, the consequences of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, known as Brexit, are threatening to unravel the twenty-five-year-old Good Friday Agreement. It’s a peace deal that ended decades of violence between nationalists who wanted Northern Ireland to be reunified with the Republic of Ireland and unionists who wanted it to stay part of the United Kingdom. The agreement largely ended the bloodshed, and allowed for freer movement of trade and people across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. However, Brexit has imperiled that free movement, and there are major concerns that resolving that issue could inflame old divisions and lead to renewed bloodshed in Northern Ireland.
  • Ireland
    Lessons From History Series: The Good Friday Agreement: Twenty-Five Years Later
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    Former officials involved in the negotiations discuss the landmark 1998 Good Friday Agreement (or Belfast Agreement), lessons for the ongoing peace process, enduring sectarian tensions, and the future of Northern Ireland. The Lessons From History Series uses historical analysis as a critical tool for understanding modern foreign policy challenges by hearing from practitioners who played an important role in a consequential historical event or from experts and historians. This series is made possible through the generous support of David M. Rubenstein.
  • Military Operations
    CFR Term Member Spotlight Series: Asha Castleberry-Hernandez
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    Welcome to a new series that spotlights individuals within the Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program. Drawing on the enormous amount of talent and expertise within the Council’s Term Member Program, this series features a term member in conversation with a fellow term member discussing their career path, how they got to where they are, the challenges they have faced along the way, and the current work they are doing. We hope this regular series will provide an opportunity for Council term members to better engage and learn from one another, draw upon shared experiences within the group, and connect across geographies. This installment in this series features third-year term member Asha Castleberry-Hernandez, senior advisor in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and major in the U.S. Army Reserve, in conversation with second-year term member Brian Mateo, associate dean of civic engagement for Bard College. For those of you who do not know her yet, Asha is a distinguished national security expert whose career includes serving as the Kuwait desk officer at U.S. Army Central, working on security cooperation with the Office of Military Cooperation and the Kuwait Ministry of Defense, and senior key leadership engagement officer for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Kuwait. During the Obama administration, Asha served at the U.S. Mission at the United Nations working peacekeeping operations in Africa. In 2020, Asha ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York District 17. In addition to her work in government, she is a founder of Diversity in National Security Network, board member of Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation, and international strategy fellow with Schmidt Futures.
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
    The EAC’s Challenges in Eastern Congo
    As the DRC becomes the newest member of the East African Community,  the regional organization confronts multiple challenges in its effort to tackle insecurity in eastern Congo.
  • Global Governance
    Does the UN Risk Becoming a Second League of Nations?
    The war in Ukraine marks the biggest test for the United Nations in three decades, but its failure is not inevitable, nor is it destined for irrelevance.
  • Somalia
    Somalia’s Political Paradoxes Forestall Progress and Stability
    Somali politicians use nationalism to evade political pressure that seeks to create a more accountable and effective state.
  • Religion
    Religion and Conflict Resolution
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    Lisa Sharland, senior fellow and director of the Protecting Civilians in Conflict program at the Stimson Center, and Sukhsimranjit Singh, the Judge Danny Weinstein managing director of the Straus Ins…
  • Conflict Prevention
    Major Power Rivalry and Multilateral Conflict Management
    Despite growing rivalry among the major powers, multilateral institutions like the United Nations can continue to play a vital role in the management of violent conflict. Washington should look for opportunities to work with these institutions and, where needed, bolster their role in cooperation with other powers to manage future regional threats to peace.
  • Middle East and North Africa
    Master of the Game
    A perceptive and provocative history of Henry Kissinger’s diplomatic negotiations in the Middle East that illuminates the unique challenges and barriers Kissinger and his successors have faced in their attempts to broker peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
  • South Korea
    A Conversation With Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong of the Republic of Korea
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    South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong discusses the peace process on the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s role in the Asia-Pacific and on the global front, and the ROK-U.S. comprehensive partnership.
  • Nigeria
    Boko Haram Capture of Military Equipment Fuels Lake Chad Insurgency
    Boko Haram's capture of materiel from government forces in the Lake Chad region bolsters the jihadi insurgency's lethality, posing a grave risk to civilians, peacekeepers, and other military personnel.