home > think tank > research projects
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.
January 28, 2003—Present
| Staff: | Princeton N. Lyman, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies |
|---|
The Africa Roundtable Series will meet periodically during the 2007-2008 programming year in both New York City and Washington, DC. As always, the series will seek to provide a representative sampling of the prospects and problems on the African continent, but special focus will likely be given to the evolving crisis in Zimbabwe, the ongoing attempts to stabilize the Great Lakes Region, and the political situation in Nigeria. During 2006-2007, the series hosted Amos Kimunya, Finance Minister of Kenya; Tony Leon, leader of the official opposition in South Africa; and Atiku Abubakar, Vice-President of Nigeria, among others.
April 1, 2003—June 30, 2004
| Chairs: | Daniel William Christman John G. Heimann, Financial Stability Institute |
|---|---|
| Staff: | Julia E. Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies |
August 1, 2003—September 1, 2004
September 1, 2003—December 31, 2004
| Director: | David Kellogg, Senior Vice President and Publisher |
|---|---|
| Staff: | Elizabeth C. Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies |
April 1, 2003—Present
| Director: | Uffe Ellemann-Jensen |
|---|
The Conflict Assessment Forum is an analytic tool for evaluating pre-conflict or conflict conditions and highlighting countries or regions to be targeted by CPA’s preventive action commissions.
February 1, 2003—Present
| Staff: | Princeton N. Lyman, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies |
|---|
The Africa program was a co-sponsor of the Corporate Council on Africa-Nigeria Economic Summit Group’s U.S.-Nigeria Investment Conference in Abuja, September 15-17, 2004. The Council’s delegation included Council Senior Fellow Walter Mead, President of the Fund for Peace, Pauline Baker, and the Director. They met with the finance minister, the minister of education, several state governors and local government officials, and others. The Director gave an address on the final day of the investment conference. It indicates the importance, but still tenuousness of economic reform in Nigeria.
The meetings in this project have helped shape what the Council can most usefully do to support the Nigerian reform effort. There is a dedicated and talented reform team in place in Nigeria, but their impact on other Ministries, the Assembly, and subsequently with State Governors is still quite uncertain. There is also considerable cynicism in Nigeria about reform.
The project's efforts to develop an integrated political and economic strategy for debt-relief; election reform; and corruption intensified with the visit of the Nigerian Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in March and the Director’s visit to Nigeria later that month.
During the minister’s visit, the Africa program hosted several meetings in New York and Washington. On March 1, Council member and Nigeria Working Group participant, George Soros hosted a dinner at his home for the minister with policymakers, media and business people. The New York Times ran a favorable editorial on Nigeria’s progress around the minister’s visit. At special Council briefing sessions in New York on March 2 and in Washington on March 3, hosted by our Nigeria project, the minister updated Council members and others on the progress to date of the government’s economic reforms.
Growing out of these sessions, there have been significant developments. With Council help, Nigeria has now developed a more specific and effective debt relief strategy. The project is also heavily invested in addressing the need for electoral reform before the 2007 presidential election. The Director participated in a workshop on electoral reform in Nigeria, March 15-17, sponsored by American University and the Yar’Adua Memorial Center. The workshop developed a set of principles for party leaders and a specific set of needed reforms. The Director also was a speaker at the closing session of the workshop. Electoral reform is critical to stability and continuity in Nigeria after 2007 and it is an important step toward a more comprehensive debt relief strategy with creditors worried about post-2007 developments. Also, the project contributes to the development of the terms of reference and bidding requests for a complete audit of the Nigerian oil and gas sector. Once complete, the audit it will put Nigeria at the forefront of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), endorsed at the last G8 meeting.
In 2004, the project received funding from the Ford Foundation and Shell International. The project is currently funded by a grant from Shell International.
The Director works with Equatorial Guinea, another oil-rich country in the region, to develop mechanisms to assure that oil proceeds are utilized for the benefit of the people in that country.
During the 2005-2006 program year, the project will focus on electoral reform by helping in seminars for the National Conference on Political Reform created by President Obasanjo, the Nigerian Parliament, and the Nigerian NGO community. The first of these should be held within three months and the latter two by the end of 2005 or early 2006.
The Director will visit the region several times in during the course of the year, traveling to the Gulf of Guinea and in other trips hosting small brainstorming sessions in the lead up to the 2007 elections in Nigeria in Abuja.
January 1, 2003—Present
This endowed lecture series was established in 2002, and is dedicated to the memory of Paul C. Warnke (1920-2001), member and former director of the Council on Foreign Relations. The series commemorates his legacy of public service, his friendship to the Council (he was a director and devoted member), and his unique combination of eloquence, intellect, and pragmatism in the cause of peace and America’s values.
Paul Warnke is best known for serving as the chief U.S. negotiator for the 1978 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. He was one of the first government figures to strongly support arms reductions as a means to security, an idea, radical at the time, which gradually gained currency. He also played a pivotal role in bringing about the Vietnam peace negotiations. The Warnke Lecture honors his ideals, courage, intellect and his belief that America’s power brings with it a special responsibility in world affairs.
The lectures alternate between New York and Washington.
October 1, 2003—June 30, 2006
| Staff: | Timothy Samuel Shah, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Religion and Foreign Policy Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy |
|---|
Made possible by the generosity of the Pew Forum on Religion & Foreign Life, the project addresses one of the most important challenges facing U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century: the growing importance of religion in world politics. The project seeks to identify the fundamental research questions on the relationship of religion to U.S. foreign policy and to provide an analytical framework that will generate useful, impartial information.
January 1, 2003—Present
| Staff: | David Braunschvig, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy |
|---|
This roundtable series explores current issues at the intersection of U.S. foreign policy and private sector activity. Meetings in the past have focused on the possible effects of anti-Americanism in Europe on U.S. brands, the negotiations between the European Union and the United States over genetically modified foods, and the impact of the European Union's satellite navigation system (Galileo) on U.S. strategic interests. The aim of the series is to inform the current debate on those policies important to both corporate executives and government officials, and to provide them with constructive and thoughtful recommendations.
January 1, 2003—June 30, 2004
| Director: | Jordan S. Kassalow |
|---|
July 1, 2003—Complete
| Staff: | Princeton N. Lyman, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies |
|---|
Work in the G8-Africa project continues as the project looks ahead to the 2005 G8 Summit at Gleneagles, chaired by the United Kingdom. In February 2005, the project published an Appendix to the Council Special Report issued last year, “Freedom, Prosperity and Security: The G8 Partnership with Africa: Sea Island 2004 and Beyond.” The Appendix included the analytic papers from the earlier project and a summary of achievements at Sea Island.
In June 2005, the Director will participate in pre-G8 Summit conference in Glasgow, sponsored by the University of Toronto (a major participant in our project last year) and the University of Glasgow. At the conference, he will discuss the progress under the G8-Africa Action Plan since last year.
This project was made possible through grants from CitiGroup and the UK Department for International Development (DfID).
January 1, 2003—May 19, 2004
| Staff: | James M. Goldgeier, Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations |
|---|
This roundtable seeks to identify key “over-the-horizon” issues related to the upcoming EU and NATO enlargements and explore both the anticipated as well as potentially unanticipated consequences of them, each of which will dramatically increase the institution’s size and scope. The first two sessions, held in March and April of 2003, laid out the general issues at stake in each enlargement, while subsequent sessions will examine issues such as the future of the Euro, the effect of the enlargements on countries further to the East, and European demographic trends.
December 1, 2003—February 1, 2004
| Director: | David L. Phillips, Executive Director, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity |
|---|
July 1, 2003—April 30, 2004
| Chair: | James C. Chace |
|---|---|
| Staff: | Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy |
This Study Group met to review draft chapters of Walter Mead's book, Power, Terror, Peace, and War: America’s Grand Strategy in a World at Risk, published by Knopf.
In this book, Mead attempts to provide a short and comprehensible guide to America’s strategy in the world—-the nature of the threat, the attacks of September 11, and the Bush administration’s response—-and an evaluation of how successful it has or has not been.
January 1, 2003—June 30, 2004
| Chair: | Kenneth Lieberthal |
|---|---|
| Staff: | Adam Segal, Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies |
January 1, 2003—September 1, 2004
| Chair: | Jeffrey R. Shafer |
|---|---|
| Staff: | Benn Steil, Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics |
Financial markets, institutions, and instruments are playing an increasing role in American foreign policy, both as servants of traditional foreign policy aims, such as national security, and as objects, in their own right, of foreign trade and market access negotiations. Tensions and contradictions abound in this formulation, and are apparent in fierce policy debates over the merits of IMF bailouts, dollarization, financial sanctions, and market access restrictions. The project director is writing a book that examines the growing role of finance in foreign policy, why it is important, where its effects are misunderstood, and how institutional reforms can help in managing incompatible goals. Sessions of this study group will provide feedback on draft chapters.
February 1, 2003—August 31, 2003
| Staff: | Elliot Schrage, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy |
|---|
The U.S. government and the multinational business community face an emerging foreign policy challenge: Under what circumstances should U.S. courts serve as an appropriate forum to hold corporations accountable for “human rights abuses” connected to their global operations? More broadly, what role should U.S. courts play in “globalizing” respect for international human rights standards and the rule of law in global economic activity?
This project attempts to take up this challenge by identifying the elements of a new framework of standards and the process by which it might be developed. It aims to define to what extent a new regime for defining the scope of transnational liability for multinational business conduct should include the following elements:
Jurisprudential rules that favor local solutions rather than recourse to U.S. (or foreign) courts;
Clearly defined and broadly accepted minimum standards for acceptable local relief—so that foreign courts (or policy makers) can determine whether plaintiffs have meaningful access to effective relief in their local courts;
Joint liability rules that acknowledge the closeness of commercial and investment relationships in the global economy;
Substantive standards that promote the progressive upward harmonization of business practices affecting environmental and labor conditions, or respect for civil and political rights; and
Linking foreign assistance or trade preferences to the effective administration of justice, including effective protection not only for private corporations in commercial disputes but also for victims of business practices that violate national laws or international norms.
This Study Group helps to inform an article written by Elliot Schrage, the project director, that analyzes the growing role and significance of American courts as arbiters of corporate conduct such as human rights practices of multinational corporations. Schrage offers policy recommendations that balance concerns for national sovereignty, respect for international standards, and the benefits of global economic integration.
January 1, 2003—June 30, 2004
| Director: | Robert Nelson |
|---|---|
| Chair: | Janne E. Nolan |
This Council on Foreign Relations project will assess the costs and benefits of proposed plans to reintroduce tactical nuclear weapons as part of U.S. military strategy. Proponents argue that new low-yield nuclear weapons are needed to fill the gap between existing conventional munitions and the nation’s current nuclear forces. Skeptics question the need for, and the utility of, developing smaller nuclear weapons. The combination of rapidly improving conventional precision-strike capabilities, the operational uncertainties of nuclear use, and the political difficulties posed by an emphasis on nuclear threats argue against reliance on such a strategy.
This study group will focus on four specific issues: 1) the impact new nuclear weapons policies will have on efforts to prevent the spread and use of weapons of mass destruction; 2) the feasibility and need of developing new nuclear weapons for bunker-busting recently identified by the administration; 3) whether resumed underground nuclear explosive testing may be required for that purpose and the implications of this for the current testing moratorium; and 4) the potential military benefits to other nations, such as China, if they are free to resume testing and modernize their own nuclear forces.
This project will result in a major article, for publication in a leading policy journal, and a technical white paper supporting the claims made in the article.
March 1, 2003—Present
| Staff: | Max Boot, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
This project has been made possible with the generous support from the following:
Smith Richardson Foundation
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Randolph Foundation
Roger and Susan Hertog
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Carnegie Corporation
John M. Olin Foundation
January 1, 2003—December 31, 2003
Sebastian Mallaby is writing the first book-length assessment of The World Bank under James Wolfensohn, the most important leader of the institution since Robert McNamara. He defends the Bank against many of its critics: Advocacy groups that exaggerate the Bank's indifference to the environment and poverty, and free-market thinkers that exaggerate the extent to which the Bank's borrowers could or should rely on private-sector financial flows. Mallaby also considers more serious concerns about the Bank's strategy and structure. Could the institution be better managed? Should it narrow the range of issues considered important to development? Why has it not done more to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS? Draft chapters of Mallaby's book are reviewed at study group meetings.
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.