-
Space Exploration and U.S. CompetitivenessU.S. space exploration inspired a generation of students and innovators, but NASA’s role has diminished, and the number of global space competitors is growing.
-
What’s Next for the WTO?With President Trump skeptical of the WTO’s usefulness and Doha negotiations stalled, the future of global trade rules is in doubt.
-
The State of Global Governance: A Conversation With Richard Haass and the Council of CouncilsRichard N. Haass, Sunjoy Joshi, and Elizabeth Sidiropoulos discuss the mounting challenges to global governance and their implications for international cooperation, including rising climate concerns, economic volatility, and increasing great power tensions amid a global pandemic. The Council of Councils (CoC) is an international initiative created by the Council on Foreign Relations to connect leading foreign policy institutes from around the world in a dialogue on issues of global governance and multilateral cooperation. The CoC is composed of twenty-eight major policy institutes from some of the world’s most influential countries. It is designed to facilitate candid, not-for-attribution dialogue and consensus-building among influential opinion leaders from both established and emerging nations, with the ultimate purpose of injecting the conclusions of its deliberations into high-level foreign policy circles within members' countries.
-
COVID-19: Why Vaccine Coverage Is ImportantVaccines are a major public health success story, but the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the many challenges involved in getting a vaccine to everyone who needs it.
-
Season Three TrailerWhat happens when the world runs out of fish? Does TikTok actually present a national security risk? Will Africa's population boom change the world as we know it? In season three, Why It Matters explores a new series of challenges that are gathering on the horizon.
-
The White House Adopts Cybersecurity Policy for Activities in Outer SpaceThe Trump administration's newly issued directive on cybersecurity policy for outer space is another small step towards taking cyber threats to U.S. space systems seriously.
-
What Is Next for the WTO?Speakers discuss the future of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including what role the WTO can play in a COVID-19 world, who could be the next Director-General, and what changes to expect from the WTO moving forward.
-
Women’s Power IndexFind out where women around the world wield political power—and why it matters.
-
The UN Security CouncilThe 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.
-
The Role of the UN General AssemblyThe UN General Assembly hosts a much-watched debate of world leaders each year but has struggled to make its work more substantive. For the first time in the assembly’s seventy-five-year history, leaders of member states will not gather in person due to the coronavirus pandemic.
-
Which Countries Are Requiring Face Masks?As the pandemic continues, more than half of the world’s countries are mandating the wearing of face masks in public. Is it helping to slow the spread of COVID-19?
-
How Countries Are Reopening Schools During the PandemicEducators worldwide are facing the agonizing decision of whether to resume in-person instruction while there’s still no cure for the new coronavirus. Countries including Denmark, India, and Kenya are taking different approaches.
-
U.S. Congress Returns to Session, Schools Grapple With Reopening, and MoreThe U.S. Congress returns to session; schools and universities struggle with reopening amid a surge in COVID-19 cases; and, China, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States prepare for spacecraft launches to Mars.
-
Living in HistoryWhether you think we are making history or repeating it, it’s safe to say we are living in a historic time. In this episode, Why It Matters asks three historians to weigh in on how to use the past to examine the present and make better choices for the future.
-
Could the Coronavirus Pandemic Revive International Cooperation?New thinking, enlightened leadership, and a favorable distribution of power are necessary for a more cooperative world to emerge in the aftermath of the pandemic.