AN INITIATIVE OF THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS connecting leading global foreign policy institutes
Briefs that gather opinions from global experts on major international developments.
World leaders this month have an opportunity to bridge the gap among the many divergent methods of governing artificial…
The Russia-Ukraine war is the most debated topic among international relations scholars in the United States, China, and ar…
The World Trade Organization (WTO) held its thirteenth ministerial conference (MC13) last week in Abu Dhabi…
Two years into the Russia-Ukraine war, fighting along the front remains stalled.…
This year saw many challenging developments: global temperatures shattering records, conflicts raging around the world, growing f…
More than 190 governments met in Dubai for the twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Fr…
The horrors of the Second World War spurred countries throughout the world to come together to draft the Universal Decl…
Council of Councils (CoC) experts from Saudi Arabia, Germany, China, and Italy react to the surprise assault by Gaza militant…
World leaders unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, ambitiously aiming to speed econ…
Did the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in New Delhi on September 9–10, 2023, break any meaningful new ground?…
The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) bloc met for its annual leader’s summit in Johannesburg, Sou…
Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gathered in Vilniu…
These papers identify new principles, rules, or institutional arrangements that can improve international cooperation in addressing global challenges.
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.
Outer space is growing more crowded and contested. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan recommends regulating activities that disrupt, deny, or destroy space systems to ensure that outer space is available to all.
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.
Refugee health needs in non-camp, urban settings have increasingly shifted to noncommunicable diseases. Providing preventive care and specialist treatment requires a massive influx of resources, but it is well worth the investment.
Mitigating potential communicable disease in refugee populations is a subset of efforts for human rights, equality, and dignity. A basic multilateral framework could improve health care in these situations and provide an example for future challenges.
Emission reductions alone are unlikely to prevent severe climate change impacts. As researchers and policymakers pay increasing attention to measures such as solar radiation management (SRM), states and private actors need to agree on the potential role of SRM in the overall climate change regime and to recognize its limitations.
Climate change poses an immense challenge to the biosphere and global economy. To make international trade more environmentally friendly, the world needs to use rules that have been around for decades, create new rules, and find new space for climate change policy.
India’s capability to grow in a carbon-scarce world will determine the fate of the Sustainable Development Goals. For India and other countries to conduct low-carbon transitions in an economically sustainable manner, it is imperative that they address the fractured financial state of power distribution companies, the lack of developed financial markets, and stringent international financial regulations.
As national governments, international institutions, and nonstate actors explore different approaches to Arctic governance, a cohesive approach is necessary to address the environmental, economic, sociocultural, and geopolitical challenges this region faces.
This paper has benefited from numerous comments and suggestion from Council of Councils members, in particular Jennifer Spence (Centre for International Governance Innovation), Sergey Kulik (Institute of Contemporary Development), Ettore Greco (Institute of International Affairs), and Tobias Etzold (German Institute for International and Security Affairs). The author also thanks CFR’s editorial staff and Terrence Mullan for their valued contributions to this paper.
To minimize the risk of greater global imbalances, U.S. policymakers should rethink U.S. fiscal policy and focus on the transatlantic imbalances, not the bilateral trade deficit with China.
This paper has benefited from numerous comments and suggestion from Council on Council members, in particular Brad Setser and Terrence Mullan.
A global policy framework and consolidated institutional architecture can help states facilitate regular migration, cope with illegal crossings, and humanely respond to forced migration.
The author thanks Asmita Parshotam (South African Institute of International Affairs), David Kipp (German Institute for International and Security Affairs), Asli Selin Okyay (Institute of International Affairs), Stewart Patrick (Council on Foreign Relations), and Christophe Bertossi and Matthieu Tardis (French Institute of International Relations) for their comments.
The world must not allow the establishment of cyber norms to atrophy. It is imperative that international cyber cooperation increases to protect the stability and resiliency of the global digital economy. Proposals for cooperation include restarting the U.S.-Russia dialogue, reconvening UN experts and implementing existing norms, starting discussions on a global cybercrime convention, and codifying cyberattack legislation into international law.
A collection of CoC member institute articles, blogs, and reports on global governance and international cooperation.
