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.
-
Western leaders have long criticized OPEC’s power to raise oil prices, but the bloc’s influence is on the wane as U.S. oil production has soared and alternative energies have come to the fore.
-
Public Health Threats and Pandemics
Opioid addiction in the United States has reached epidemic proportions, threatening not only public health but economic output and national security. -
-
Brexit supporters argue that the EU threatens sovereignty and stifles growth, while opponents counter that EU membership strengthens trade, investment, and the UK’s standing in the world.
-
Public Health Threats and Pandemics
Endemic to the African tropics, the Ebola virus has killed thousands in recent years, putting the World Health Organization and major donor countries in the limelight as they’ve grappled with how to respond to outbreaks. -
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Though President Trump withdrew from the TPP, the remaining members of the trade pact have forged ahead with a new version, leaving the U.S. role in the Asia-Pacific in question. -
U.S. troops have been sent to the border with Mexico to supplement the work of Border Patrol agents amid debate over the merits of building a wall.
-
With the U.S. national debt already exceeding $15 trillion, tax reform championed by President Trump and increased spending are adding to the country’s deficits.
-
Relations between the two countries, long bound by common interests in oil and security, have strained over what some analysts see as a more assertive Saudi foreign policy.
-
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group, are fleeing persecution in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, fueling a historic migration crisis.
-
Since its founding in 1944, the World Bank has evolved from a lender focused on European reconstruction to the preeminent international institution for economic development and poverty reduction.
-
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.
-
Federal investigators in Brazil have uncovered corruption at the highest levels of the government and in the country’s largest corporations.
-
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.
-
With President Trump taking aim at existing trade agreements, countries are increasingly grappling with dispute resolution mechanisms and their implications for global trading rules.
-
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.
-
Closing the gender gap in the workforce could add a staggering $28 trillion to the global GDP.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.