High-profile mass shootings in the United States in recent years have rekindled the gun control debate and raised comparisons of policies around the world.
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The role of the Federal Reserve has transformed in the past decade, as it has deployed trillions of dollars to boost the U.S. economy while expanding its regulatory oversight of the nation’s financial system.
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Federal investigators in Brazil have uncovered corruption at the highest levels of the government and in the country’s largest corporations.
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U.S. troops are being sent to the southwestern border, but they are limited by law in the ways they can supplement the work of Border Patrol agents.
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The International Monetary Fund, both criticized and lauded for its efforts to promote financial stability, continues to find itself at the forefront of global economic crisis management.
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With President Trump taking aim at existing trade agreements, countries are increasingly grappling with dispute resolution mechanisms and their implications for global trading rules.
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Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament
A landmark arms control agreement concluded between the United States and the Soviet Union in the final years of the Cold War is at risk of unraveling amid mutual suspicions. -
Most countries still have laws that make it harder for women to work than men. This inequality shortchanges not only women but also entire economies.
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Closing the gender gap in the workforce could add a staggering $28 trillion to the global GDP.
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As religious observance in China grows, the Chinese Communist Party continues to toughen oversight, increase religious persecution, and attempt to coopt state-sanctioned religious organizations.
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Tens of millions of Chinese now identify as Christians, and the number has grown rapidly, posing challenges for a government that is officially atheist and wary of threats to its power.
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Refugees and Displaced Persons
The United States has long accepted refugees from around the world, but President Trump’s sharp cuts to refugee resettlement have sparked debate over the program’s national security implications. -
Ethiopia’s new leader is seeking aggressive reforms to put an end to discord and build on the country’s progress in recent decades, but a towering set of challenges threatens his agenda.
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President Trump has reached a deal with Canada and Mexico to restructure the North American Free Trade Agreement, hoping a new trilateral accord will reinvigorate the U.S. manufacturing sector.
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With President Trump advocating for deep cuts to U.S. foreign aid, debate has renewed over the role of foreign assistance funds in boosting growth, promoting democracy, and saving lives.
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The UN Security Council is the premier global body for maintaining international peace and security, but it faces steady calls for reform to better meet twenty-first–century challenges.
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The UN General Assembly hosts a much-watched high-level debate of world leaders each year but has struggled to make its work more substantive. The seventy-third session will likely be dominated by issues including nuclear disarmament, a global migration pact, prevention of noncommunicable diseases, and reform of the UN itself.
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Political shifts and economic challenges in Latin America could either boost Latin America’s largest trade bloc or lead to its obsolescence.
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The United States and other Western countries are reevaluating their foreign investment regulations amid an uptick in Chinese interest in strategic sectors.
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The U.S. government responds to scores of disasters each year, coordinating closely with state, local, and foreign partners. However, more frequent and severe storms, fires, and floods are straining resources.
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Through mass kidnappings, bombings, and other acts of terrorism, the Islamist insurgent group remains an enduring threat to northern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin.
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China’s industrial policy is aimed at rapidly expanding its high-tech sectors and developing its advanced manufacturing base, but President Trump and other leaders of industrial democracies see the plan as a threat.
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In North Korea, all authority flows from Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. He has reinstated the party as the central hub to consolidate his power and bring elites to heel.
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Nearly all nuclear weapon states, as a matter of policy, remain ready to use their weapons without having first suffered a nuclear attack.
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NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
NATO is girding up for what some believe is a new Cold War with Russia, but President Trump’s criticism of longtime allies has unsettled the twenty-nine-member bloc.