Sustaining American Space Leadership: The Destination Debate Isn’t Enough
With the start of his administration now underway, President Donald Trump’s space policy priorities remain largely undefined. Amid uncertainty about his goals for NASA, many in the space community are concerned about what the new...
Peacebuilding in Colombia Requires Sustainable Development
After years of arduous negotiation with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and months of negotiation with his political opposition, President Juan Manuel Santos finally secured Congressional approval for the...
The United States Needs a New Regional Security Organization for the Asia-Pacific
Threats of tension and conflict in the Asia-Pacific will be a source of important security challenges facing the incoming Trump administration. Stability in the region is crucial to long-term American economic and physical...
How China is Quietly Containing India with Arms Sales
Few factors are as pertinent to contemporary military strategy and diplomacy as the growing power of emerging nations, the most notable of which being China and India. It is difficult to forecast world affairs in 2017 without...
Obama Moves Too Fast on Cuba
In his last press conference of 2016, President Barack Obama reflected on his policy toward Cuba. “Through diplomacy,” he stated, “We opened a new chapter with the people of Cuba.” Indeed, the 2014 prisoner swap and the 2015...
Clearing the Way: A Path Forward Under a New US International Development Reality
Evaluating the future of US international development policy under each new presidential administration is a crucial exercise in charting a thoughtful, realistic path forward. Regardless of intent, President-elect Donald Trump...
Moroccan Foreign Policy Pivots South
Morocco has recently signaled a renewed interest in building linkages with sub-Saharan Africa as it seeks to harness economic, cultural, and political ties. In the past year, King Mohamed VI has bid to re-join the African Union...
The European Union Needs to Extinguish Populism Before It’s Too Late
The European Union is currently experiencing a rise in populism that threatens to unravel decades of European integration. Populist groups are exploiting the widespread discontent over the European Union’s handling of the migrant...
The United States Must Help Central Asia Help Itself
For all of the United States’ focus on defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), countering Russia, and balancing against a rising China, it has neglected a region critical to all of these issues: Central Asia....
Beyond the Caliphate: The Emni and ISIL’s Global Exportation of Terror
In April 2014, in what quickly made al-Qaeda’s jihadist hegemony look passé, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) blazed through Syria and Iraq, ravaging cities and penetrating power structures to force its...