Global Commons | Council on Foreign Relations

Space

Biden Will Have to Confront a New and Perhaps More Dangerous Space Race

The cooperative vision of space is under stress. Biden should commit the United States to forge new norms and rules of collective security to manage the shared risks and advance the common purposes of all peace-loving nations.

Blog Post by Stewart M. Patrick December 14, 2020 The Internationalist
Global Governance

The State of Global Governance: A Conversation With Richard Haass and the Council of Councils

Richard 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.

Virtual Event by Richard N. Haass, Sunjoy Joshi and Elizabeth Sidiropoulos November 9, 2020
Global

Season Three Trailer

What 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.

Podcast with Gabrielle Sierra October 14, 2020 Why It Matters

Space

The White House Adopts Cybersecurity Policy for Activities in Outer Space

The 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.

Blog Post by David P. Fidler September 23, 2020 Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program
World Trade Organization (WTO)

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.

Virtual Event by Peter Draper, Jennifer Hillman and Mark Wu September 22, 2020 Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies
Global

Women’s Power Index

Find out where women around the world wield political power—and why it matters.

Interactive by Rachel B. Vogelstein and Alexandra Bro September 18, 2020 Women and Foreign Policy Program
United Nations

The UN Security Council

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.

Backgrounder by CFR Staff September 16, 2020
United Nations

The Role of the UN General Assembly

The 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.

Backgrounder by CFR Staff August 25, 2020
Coronavirus

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?

In Brief by Claire Felter and Nathalie Bussemaker August 4, 2020
Education

How Countries Are Reopening Schools During the Pandemic

Educators 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.

Backgrounder by Claire Felter and Lindsay Maizland July 27, 2020
U.S. Congress

U.S. Congress Returns to Session, Schools Grapple With Reopening, and More

The 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.

Podcast with James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon July 16, 2020 The World Next Week
Political History and Theory

Living in History

Whether 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.

Podcast with Gabrielle Sierra, Richard N. Haass, Margaret MacMillan and Annette Gordon-Reed July 1, 2020 Why It Matters
Public Health Threats and Pandemics

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.

Blog Post by Stewart M. Patrick June 29, 2020 The Internationalist
Economics

Global Growth Tracker: World Economies by GDP

This tracker charts the economic growth performance through time of ninety-one countries around the globe.

by Benn Steil and Benjamin Della Rocca June 25, 2020 Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies
Human Rights

Same-Sex Marriage: Global Comparisons

A growing number of countries are legalizing same-sex marriage amid a steady advance in rights for LGBTQ+ people, but opposition remains strong in many countries.

Backgrounder by Claire Felter and Danielle Renwick June 23, 2020