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Ben Rhodes Takes a Gloomy Tour of the World

CIC senior fellow James Traub publishes a book review of Ben Rhodes, the chief speechwriter for US President Obama's new release, "Being American in the World We've Made."

"Now Rhodes has written a more ambitious and less conventional book that seeks to combine the firsthand experience of the foreign correspondent, the special access of the intimate to power, personal memoir and armchair speculation."

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Jun 01, 2021
James Traub
United States

How Missing Data Can Make the Global Fragility Strategy Work

CIC non-resident fellow Michael F. Harsch co-authored this analysis, published by the United States Insitute of Peace. The authors cover how a new measure of state capacity could enable the U.S. to engage more effectively with fragile states

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May 20, 2021
United States

Restoring Civic Trust in the Post-Pandemic Era

This analysis from the CIC team looks at what empirical research says about why trust matters for many different forms of political, social, and economic development—and why we should take declining trust seriously. The team also takes a look at what we know about the determinants of trust, in particular corruption, inequality, and history. Lastly, this analysis discsusses the different policy options to restore and nurture trust.

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May 05, 2021
Sarah Cliffe, Paul Von Chamier
China, United States
Global Governance, International Security
Promoting and Defending Multilateralism

Biden’s Immigration Plan Exists on Paper, Not in Reality

In his latest Foreign Policy column, CIC senior fellow James Traub wrote about the implementation of Biden's immigration plan.

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Apr 26, 2021
James Traub
United States

Biden’s Refugee Policy Is a Profile in Cowardice

CIC senior fellow James Traub wrote about President Biden's decision to maintain retain Donald Trump’s historically low cap of refugees to be admitted to the United States in 2021.

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Apr 17, 2021
James Traub
United States
Humanitarian Crises

Inequality, Lockdown, and COVID-19: Unequal Societies Struggle to Contain the Virus

There is nothing equal about COVID-19. It is now well established that poor and underprivileged social groups have absorbed most of the pandemic’s negative impact. However, the connection between COVID-19 and inequality might run even deeper. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, one additional point of the Gini coefficient correlated with a 1.34 percentage point higher rate of weekly new infections across countries. This difference in infection rates compounds like interest every week.

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Apr 13, 2021
Paul Von Chamier
Central Asia, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, United States, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, West Africa
Global Governance, Humanitarian Crises
Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies

When LBJ and Hubert Humphrey Teamed Up to Break a Talking Filibuster

CIC senior fellow James Traub wrote for Politico about previous attempts to reform the filibuster, and what it means for the proposal backed by President Biden.

"If we must have a filibuster, let it be a talking one. But let’s not stop there: We need to find new ways to limit debate, as Humphrey and his colleagues sought to do, so that our legislative bodies serve rather than obstruct the cause of justice."

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Mar 21, 2021
James Traub
United States

Biden’s Plan to Lead From Alongside

In his latest column for Foreign Policy, CIC senior fellow James Traub writes about the legitimacy of American power and foreign policy, and how U.S. President Joe Biden will face the issue.

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Feb 26, 2021
United States
Global Governance

Who Robert Malley Is—and Isn’t

CIC senior fellow James Traub writes about Robert Malley, President Biden's nominee as special envoy to Iran, in his latest column for Foreign Policy.

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Feb 16, 2021
James Traub
Middle East, United States

Actions on Afghanistan During the Biden Administration’s First 100 Days

For the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, CIC senior fellow Barnett Rubin wrote about Doha Agreement and what the May 2021 deadline for the US to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan means for the Biden administration.

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Jan 26, 2021
Middle East, United States, Afghanistan
Afghanistan-Pakistan Regional Project
Afghanistan

Related Publications

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    ©Brookings Institution

    Considerable policy analysis has been devoted to bilateral strategic relationships between Pakistan and India, India and China, and China and the United States. But the strategic dynamics among these four nuclear powers cannot be understood or effectively addressed on a strictly bilateral basis. While Pakistan responds strategically to India, India responds both to Pakistan and China, which in turn responds both to India and the United States.

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    Mar 02, 2017
    Robert Einhorn, WPS Sidhu
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  • What could the US election results mean for the UN?

    Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks by phone with Donald J. Trump, President-elect of the United States, on 11 November. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

    © UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

    The election of Donald Trump as US president was a seismic event for Americans – those who celebrated and those who wept – and for the rest of the world.   The currents that underpinned the result are neither new nor confined to the US: discontent with politics and economics as usual, lack of trust in elites and populist nationalism have been on the rise in many parts of the world. These were clearly expressed through the Brexit vote but also in social protests and electoral upsets worldwide, from the Philippines to South Africa to the Colombia referendum. For the United Nations, an organization that is in some ways both the elite club to end all elite clubs and the global voice of “we the peoples”, the new administration is likely to bring significant change. 

    Read more
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    United States
    United Nations

  • Australia and the US Asian Alliance Network

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    • The United States’ presence in the Indo-Asia-Pacific is transforming from a traditional alliance network (of Australia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand) into a web of strengthened alliances, new partnerships and creative linkages.
    • Washington must manage this transformation carefully, so its alliance network maintains a deterrent function and reassures allies, but does not exacerbate USChina tensions.
    Read more
    Mar 14, 2016
    China, East Asia, United States
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