Books & Reports
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UN Women has the potential to make serious progress on gender equality and equity—but the U.S. government needs to help make this a reality.
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The rise in coups and other types of military intervention in South and Southeast Asia will set back democracy by years and has been met by a weak and ineffective response from major global and regional powers.
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How well the United States and Japan are able to deter an attack on Taiwan and respond jointly and effectively to Chinese aggression if deterrence fails could determine Asia’s future, as well as their own.
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In CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey, U.S. foreign policy experts assess the likelihood and impact of thirty potential conflicts that could emerge or escalate in the coming year.
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Despite growing rivalry among the major powers, multilateral institutions like the United Nations can continue to play a vital role in the management of violent conflict. Washington should look for opportunities to work with these institutions and, where needed, bolster their role in cooperation with other powers to manage future regional threats to peace.
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The United States should regard distrust—not cooperation—as a baseline condition for starting negotiations around shared global threats and challenges with other major powers, such as China and Russia.
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This was an extraordinary year for the Council. Established in the wake of a global pandemic of influenza, CFR experienced its centennial year amid another—COVID-19. Although the celebrations this year could not be in person, CFR marked the occasion with a special website, a new CFR store, dedicated programming, and a short history book.
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South Asia will be both the venue for and the source of intensifying U.S.-China and China-India rivalries. The United States should prepare to manage these rivalries by collaborating with allies and partners, competing with rivals to protect U.S. interests, and grappling with the risk of conflict.
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Major power rivalry on the African continent cannot be ignored, but it should not dominate U.S.-Africa relations. The United States should pursue close, strategic partnerships with African states.
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To avoid falling behind the rest of the world on internet speed and access, the United States should rapidly deploy fiber-optic internet nationwide.
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To manage the increasingly stark geopolitical power shifts of the past decade-plus, the United States should pursue arms control strategies that regulate rivalry and introduce a broader array of reciprocal restraints.
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Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament
Differences between nuclear and nonnuclear weapons states could seriously weaken the nuclear regime. Recasting disarmament as a common endeavor that addresses each country’s legitimate interests and priorities would improve its prospects. -
In an era of intensifying U.S.-China friction and volatility, the risks of conflict are real and growing in East Asia, and U.S. policymakers should revitalize existing tools and build new ones to manage an increasingly militarized competition.
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Beyond devastating public health, COVID-19 has worsened socioeconomic inequality, possibly for years to come, and exacerbated democratic regression in the United States, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
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Great power competition is altering the prospects for managing conflicts in the Middle East. As policymakers rethink the United States’ role in the region, they should avoid the kind of strategic errors that have provided opportunities for other major powers, notably China and Russia, to undermine U.S. policy.
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Insufficient leadership, outdated curricula, and alienating school climates leave future foreign policy experts ill prepared to address the social forces contributing to fragility and unrest globally. Transforming U.S. foreign policy requires a comprehensive educational strategy on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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Outer space is growing more crowded and contested. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan recommends regulating activities that disrupt, deny, or destroy space systems to ensure outer space is available to all.
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In CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey, U.S. foreign policy experts assess the likelihood and impact of thirty potential conflicts that could emerge or escalate in the coming year.
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U.S. surveillance activities have alarmed European partners, throwing the future of transatlantic digital trade into question. The United States should embrace collaboration and protections for personal data.
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To prevent further democratic regression in South and Southeast Asia, countries should continue holding elections, put time limits on emergency powers, and empower civil society to contest illiberal leaders.
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African UN member states should act as unifiers and conveners rather than dividers. More coordination could help them overcome the structural challenges they face at the United Nations.
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Incorporating lessons from the approaches pursued by other countries, the U.S. government should take a more systematic and well-resourced approach to promoting gender equality in foreign policy.
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Although the world seems destined to grow more competitive, congested, and contested in the coming years, the logic of major power cooperation remains inescapable. Any effort to shape a new international order that is stable, inclusive, and beneficial to all must be a collaborative undertaking.
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The United States is one of the countries that is most susceptible to foreign election interference. To safeguard the U.S. elections in November, Robert K. Knake argues that the United States and other democracies should agree to not interfere in foreign elections.