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.
April 2006—December 2006
| Staff: | William L. Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program |
|---|---|
| Author: | Terrence Lyons, Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University |
July 2006—April 2007
| Staff: | Charles D. Ferguson, Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology |
|---|
This report examines the contribution nuclear energy can make to strengthening energy security and countering climate change while balancing these benefits against the risks of proliferation, safety, security, and nuclear waste disposal.
April 2006—February 2007
| Staff: | William L. Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program |
|---|---|
| Director: | Julia E. Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies |
| Author: | Eduardo A. Gamarra |
February 2006—June/November 2006
| Author: | Pamela K. Starr |
|---|---|
| Director: | Julia E. Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies |
November 2006—April 2007
| Staff: | William L. Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program |
|---|---|
| Author: | Robert I. Rotberg |
May 2006—March 2007
| Staff: | Sebastian Mallaby, Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics |
|---|---|
| Author: | Robert Z. Lawrence, Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University |
The Doha negotiations have stalled since last summer, and, as the November elections in the United States highlighted, American advocates of economic nationalism are growing in strength. Nevertheless, Robert Lawrence makes a case for the effectiveness of the World Trade Organization (WTO), particularly its dispute settlement system, and the benefits that would accrue to the United States and others from improving its effectiveness. These benefits include expanding world trade and increasing support for an often beleaguered organization that is central to the conduct of world trade.
In this Council Special Report, Professor Lawrence addresses the critics of the dispute settlement mechanism—both those who think it should be tougher on countries that violate trade rules and those who think it is already so tough as to violate sovereignty. He points out the successes of the WTO since its creation in 1995 and argues that radical changes to the system are ill-advised. Lawrence nonetheless suggests several areas for reform, from steps that require multilateral negotiations, such as improving opportunities for nonstate actor participation in and enhancing transparency of the process, to changes the United States could make in its own behavior.
Part of the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Series on American Competitiveness.
September 7, 2006—September 7, 2006
Cosponsored with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Macroeconomic Advisers
Georgetown University Conference Center
April 1, 2006—Present
| Director: | Edward Alden, Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow |
|---|
Made possible by the generosity of Bernard L. Schwartz, this roundtable series explores issues that affect the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. Meetings have addressed issues such as the sustainability of the U.S. current account deficit, the effectiveness of the WTO dispute settlement process, and intellectual property rights.
October 2006—December 2007
| Staff: | Shannon K. O'Neil, Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin America Studies |
|---|---|
| Director: | Julia E. Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies |
The Latin America, America Latin Roundtable Series explores how the growing Hispanic demographic in the United States is reshaping the domestic political and economic landscapes of the United States and of the sending countries. Issues being addressed include the role of remittances and the implications of hemispheric economic integration; transnational culture and the prominence of civil society organizations; security issues related to illegal immigration and drug trafficking; the hispanization of the U.S. market; the effect of Latinos on U.S. foreign policy; and the domestic and foreign policy considerations of U.S. immigration debates.
This roundtable series is made possible by the generous support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
2006—Present
| Staff: | Gene B. Sperling, Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center for Universal Education |
|---|
This series hosts ministers of education from developing countries, who come to speak about the current state of their education sectors, the reforms they are enacting, and their progress in achieving the Education for All goals. Recent speakers have included Ministers of Education from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Kenya.
September 13, 2006—Present
| Staff: | Charles D. Ferguson, Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology |
|---|
Exploring the future expansion of nuclear energy in the United States and internationally, the Nuclear Energy Project runs a roundtable series devoted to global nuclear power, with emphasis on economics, climate change, and nonproliferation. The roundtables support research for a Council Special Report on Nuclear Energy Policy.
December 1, 2006—Present
| 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 Henry Luce Foundation, the symposia series will not focus on just one religion or one set of issues. Topics to be addressed include: new trends in political Islam among Sunnis; the impact of religion on politics and society in Nigeria; the role that religious ideas and identity play in the ways that the worlds of Islam and the West understand (and misunderstand) one another; the impact of evangelical Christianity on American foreign policy; religion and politics in China; the rise of Christianity in the global South; and politics and religion in South Asia.
July 1, 2006—Present
January 1, 2006—Present
| Staff: | Vali R. Nasr, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies |
|---|
December 1, 2006—Present
| Fellows: | 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 Henry Luce Foundation. Areas to be addressed in roundtables would, depending to some degree on events, include topics such as the role of religion in U.S.-Iranian relations, religion and identity in the Caucasus, Turkey and the West, trends in Hindu nationalism, Islam and democracy in Indonesia, and a look at the activities of American evangelicals in Africa.
March 1, 2006—Present
| Staff: | Michael A. Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change |
|---|
October 2006—Present
| Staff: | Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow for Defense Policy |
|---|
July 1, 2006—June 30, 2007
| Staff: | Amity Shlaes, Senior Fellow for Economic History |
|---|
The roundtable on U.S. policy and entrepreneurship examines the appropriateness of U.S. economic and foreign policy for supporting entrepreneurship. This roundtable takes a comprehensive review of the overall stance of economic policy from the perspective of entrepreneurs.
February 1, 2006—Present
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.