home > the cfr think tank > experts > kara c. mcdonald
International Affairs Fellow in Residence
Location:
Washington, DC
Media downloads:
High-resolution photo (JPG, 3 MB)
One-page bio (PDF, 49K)
Former director for UN Affairs at the National Security Council and Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Department of State. Currently researching multilateral planning for peace-building operations.
Expertise:Africa, Central and Eastern Europe; United Nations; democracy, human rights, international organizations; peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations.
Experience:Former director for multilateral affairs at the National Security Council (2007-2009), special assistant to Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nick Burns (2006-2007), deputy director for planning in the State Department Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization (2004-2006), Czech Republic desk officer (2003-2004), vice consul/economic officer in Bucharest, Romania (2001-2003), democracy officer with USAID (1998-2000), and OSCE elections officer in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1996-1997).
Languages:French (fluent), Romanian (fluent).
Current Research Project
October 15, 2009
Expert Brief
The annual rotation of non-permanent members to the UN Security Council this year is likely to present difficulties for U.S. interests, including containing nuclear proliferation, writes CFR's Kara C. McDonald.
See more in International Organizations, U.S. Strategy and Politics
September 30, 2009
Podcast
Washington will now engage in direct talks with Myanmar's ruling junta while maintaining existing sanctions. CFR's Kara C. McDonald says the success of the strategy hinges on the U.S. ability to work with Myanmar's regional partners to build a multilateral consensus on how to deal with the country.
See more in Burma/Myanmar, Democracy and Human Rights, Diplomacy
July 22, 2009
Op-Ed
Foreign Policy
Kara McDonald argues, "one of the strongest multilateral sanctions architectures ever created already exists to pressure North Korea; it just needs to be enforced."
See more in North Korea, Sanctions, Proliferation
June 19, 2009
Podcast
CFR Fellow Kara C. McDonald says the new UN Security Council Resolution against North Korea is one of the strongest set of sanctions adopted thus far by the body, though success in bringing North Korea back to the negotiation table is dependent on enforcement.
See more in North Korea, Proliferation
May 13, 2009
Expert Brief
The election of the United States to the much criticized UN Human Rights Council must be used by Washington to help revive the UN's entire rights architecture, writes CFR's Kara McDonald.
See more in Human Rights, International Organizations
Explore the international finance regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
jlindsay@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.
