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Below you will find a chronological list of current Council research projects. You can search by issue or region by selecting the appropriate category. In addition to this sorting control, you can search for specific subjects within the alphabetical, regional, and issue categories by choosing from the selections in the drop-down menu below.
Each project page contains the name of the project director, a description of the project, a list of meetings it has held, and any related publications, transcripts, or videos.
December 1, 2001—Complete
| Staff: | Julia E. Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies |
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Based in Washington, D.C., and directed by Julia E. Sweig, the Andean Roundtable Series addresses strategic questions related to developments in Colombia’s war, Venezuela’s political crisis, the crises of governance in the Andean countries, as well as the policies of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and other international organizations regarding Colombia’s conflict and its spread. Thematic issues such as the connection between energy and security, corruption, and the use of natural resources in the Andes are also parts of the Roundtable Series. The Roundtable draws on a wide range of speakers, ranging from academia, the policy community, as well as U.S. and foreign government officials.
This roundtable is made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation.
February 1, 2001—June 30, 2003
| Director: | Morton H. Halperin |
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January 31, 2001—June 30, 2002
November 1, 2001—January 1, 2003
| Director: | Jordan S. Kassalow |
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The health of the world has expanded from a humanitarian issue to an issue of national security and economic growth. Global health not only has an impact on most of the foreign policy objectives we hope to achieve, but also a direct effect on the health of Americans, especially as globalization frays our national boundaries. A focus on health is part of a foreign policy agenda that aims at building a more secure world, draws all countries into a growing network of interdependence that sustains stability and maintains America’s central role within that network. This roundtable series brings leaders from the foreign policy and health communities together to discuss the recommendations of the CFR-Milbank Memorial Fund report, “Why Health is Important to U.S. Foreign Policy,” and to discuss contemporary topics that form the nexus between global health and U.S. foreign policy
Bio-terrorism is the one of the deadliest threats facing the United States today. This roundtable, in light of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, discusses measures to protect against or mitigate the effects of such a bio-terrorist attack by asking questions such as:
• What is the potential for a significant bioterrorist attack on the United States;
• What public health and related measures can be taken in advance of an attack to reduce their impact;
• Are we currently equipped to deal with the consequences of an attack?
• What type of biological agents can terrorists get their hands on?
• Can they keep them alive and grow enough of them to mount a significant attack?
• Can they weaponize them effectively to mount a massive attack that puts tens to hundreds of thousands at risk;
• How much money is needed to prepare the United States for a large scale biological terrorist attack?
• How the money should be allocated, which programs/agencies should be funded?
October 1, 2001—October 1, 2001
September 1, 2001—August 20, 2002
| Director: | Lawrence J. Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress |
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October 1, 2001—April 30, 2002
| Directors: | James J. Shinn Peter Gourevitch |
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October 1, 2001—Present
| Director: | Stephen Sestanovich, George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies |
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The Kennan Roundtable is an on-going series of meetings that focus on the major policy questions posed by changing U.S. relationships with Russia and the former Soviet states of Eurasia. Whether measured by the near-alliance between Presidents Bush and Putin, the establishment of bases in Central Asia, or Ukraine's decision to seek NATO membership, there has been significant enhancement of these relationships since September 11. Understanding their durability and direction is the principal aim.
Meetings examine areas of expanding cooperation, such as Moscow's unfolding energy strategy and the security of sensitive nuclear materials. We will also look at emerging areas of discord. In the case of Russia, these include the tensions associated with its recurrent pressures on Georgia; in the case of Ukraine and Central Asia, the continuing emphasis placed by U.S. policy on democratization and human rights.
October 1, 2001—July 1, 2003
| Director: | Lawrence J. Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress |
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Afghanistan’s future is now largely in the hands of the United States and the international community. This roundtable, led by a former Assistant Secretary of Defense, will explore the ways in which the United States, the UN, World Bank, and others should best deal with a post-Taliban Afghanistan by asking questions such as: How likely is a sudden collapse of the Taliban and what are the implications; What are US and international goals in the region; and how do we achieve those goals, i.e., what is the role of the United States, UN, other countries?
May 1, 2001—June 30, 2004
| Director: | Joe Siegle |
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The Democracy Promotion Roundtable is a monthly series of seminars examining various topical issues facing the democracy promotion community. The sessions aim to advance the policy debate on economic, political, and bureaucratic constraints to the current wave of democratization - affecting some 90 countries around the world. With this aim in mind, the roundtables serve as a forum to bring policy practitioners, non-governmental democracy promotion agencies, academics, think-tanks, and advocacy professionals together to discuss emerging policy issues involving democratization - ideas that are vetted by the collective experience of the participants. Sessions normally involve 2-3 panelists, each presenting for approximately 10-15 minutes on a selected theme. The remainder of the 90 minute sessions are opened for questions and broader dialogue. Some of the panelists that have participated in these sessions include William Easterly, Carl Gersham, Harold Koh, Paula Dobriansky, and George Folsom, among others.
November 1, 2001—June 30, 2002
| Director: | Mark Malloch Brown |
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| Staff: | Gene B. Sperling, Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center for Universal Education |
Cosponsored with the United Nations Development Programme.
This monthly series examines contemporary challenges to poverty alleviation in the Third World and explores ways to make the development process more effective. Past sessions have dealt with Afghanistan, the Monterey Conference on Development, the case for universal education, the relationship between democracy and development, and the need to address health concerns in the developing world. The roundtable serves mainly as a forum to raise awareness and foster a dialogue on development issues among New York-based members and agencies.
November 1, 2001—November 1, 2002
July 1, 2001—July 1, 2001
| Staff: | Roger M. Kubarych, Henry Kaufman Adjunct Senior Fellow for International Economics and Finance |
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October 1, 2001—Present
| Staff: | Caroline Atkinson, Adjunct Senior Fellow for International Economics |
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This roundtable series brings together key players from the private markets, government, Federal Reserve, IMF, World Bank, and think tanks to discuss pressing policy issues in international economics. The group, which meets monthly, has so far discussed issues such as the impact of terrorism on economic prospects, the outlook for emerging markets, and U.S. trade policy.
October 1, 2001—Present
This series, convened after the tragic events of September 11th, examines how best to confront the new security threats to U.S. territory. Sessions grapple with the effectiveness of the White House Office of Homeland Security, lessons learned from other White House offices, and how we can ensure necessary coordination between the FBI and CIA and the flow of information to operating agencies such as the INS and Customs.
March 29, 2001—Present
| Director: | Marine Lieut. Gen. (ret.) Bernard E. Trainor |
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This project seeks to bring together civilian and military experts for frank and in-depth discussions of issues in the areas of current national security and military affairs. The goal is to identify and define key viewpoints and differences for a select community of policy planners and analysts and is geared to serve Council members belonging to the Washington political/military community. As such, it tries to bridge the gap between civilian and military expertise to arrive at a sophisticated examination of current military/national security issues.
October 1, 2001—August 31, 2003
| Directors: | Richard G. Lugar Ronald D. Asmus |
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This ongoing roundtable series was established after the attacks of September 11, 2001 under the co-direction of Senior Fellow Ronald Asmus and Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), to give senior Senators an opportunity to talk to the Administration and a selection of outside experts in an informal atmosphere about NATO’s future after September 11 without the posturing that increasingly has come to characterize hearings on Capitol Hill.
Whereas previous discussions have focused on the impact of September 11 on NATO enlargement and NATO-Russian relations, the focal point of this year’s discussions has increasingly turned to the question of the Alliance’s purpose in a world where the West has increasingly secured its objectives in Europe and where the greatest threat to both American and European security comes from beyond the continent.
Sessions of this series will continue to debate the issues NATO faces in the run-up and aftermath of the Prague summit. In addition, both the Senators involved and the Administration have expressed an interest in focusing on the issue of “What is NATO for?” and how the United States might think about a NATO role beyond Europe.
October 1, 2001—Present
| Directors: | Robert H. Legvold Stephen Sestanovich, George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies |
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The war on terrorism opened a huge opportunity to put Russian-American relations on a different and more constructive long-term footing. This was the subject of the Council on Foreign Relations-Harriman Institute Roundtable in 2001-2002.
In 2002-2003, the project directors focused the group more closely on an area that seemed poised for new progress under President Putin: Russia's integration into the international economy. Sessions have addressed the question of a Russian-American energy "alliance"; Russian accession to the WTO and relations with the European Union; and the domestic political backdrop of Putin's strategy. A session held in early May assessed the impact of Iraq on Russian-American relations and Russian foreign policy more broadly.
In 2003-2004, sessions focused on the coming Russian election cycle (Putin faced re-election in March), while using the occasion to examine how Russian developments have and have not met expectations since 1991.
The roundtable's current focus is on the evolution of Russian domestic politics in the wake of President Putin's re-election, the YUKOS affair, and the higher priority assigned to democratization by the United States.
January 1, 2001—December 17, 2002
| Director: | Ann R. Markusen |
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| Chair: | David Robinson |
October 1, 2001—Present
| Staff: | Rachel Bronson, Former Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies |
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The U.S. ability to build productive relationships with Islamic states and people will have a direct and important role in stanching the terrorist threat. This roundtable will continue to focus on the following objectives: to determine how the war is affecting American relations with the Middle East and Islamic world; and provide recommendations to policy makers on how to manage unavoidable differences with key regional partners. Questions addressed throughout the year will be:
• Is the Israeli-Palestinian crisis distracting from the war on terrorism?
• What must Washington ask from key regional partners such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan in the war on terrorism and what should it offer in return?
• Can the United States effectively deter the export of Islamic radicalism, how and at what cost?
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
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