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Begin New Search Topic International Relations Publishing Institution Foreign Policy In Focus

1. Trump Isn’t Really Trying to End America’s Wars

Author:
Andrew J. Bacevich
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
Let us stipulate at the outset that President Trump is a vulgar and dishonest fraud without a principled bone in his body. Yet history is nothing if not a tale overflowing with irony. Despite his massive shortcomings, President Trump appears intent on recalibrating America’s role in the world. Initiating a long-overdue process of aligning U.S. policy with actually existing global conditions just may prove to be his providentially anointed function.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
America and Global Focus

2. The #MeToo Movement Has Gone Global

Author:
Michael Galant
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
The #MeToo movement started with a single tweet — now, it has produced an international treaty. One in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes, while close to three in four report having been sexually harassed. Much of this violence occurs in the workplace, where power imbalances and economic pressures increase the risk of abuse. Yet 59 countries have no legislation specifically addressing workplace harassment.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Trump’s Betrayal of the Kurds Is Terrible, But the Answer Is Not Endless War

Author:
Khury Petersen-Smith
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
It is sickening that the U.S. would deliver the Kurds to Turkish violence, but that doesn’t mean we should embrace the U.S. presence in Syria.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Bad Behavior Brings Good Results

Author:
Michael Shank and Marwan Kabalan
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) apparently has a penchant for badness. For visiting Syria, the Speaker received a harsh reprimand by Vice President Dick Cheney who thought it “bad behavior.” Though the Speaker remained relatively un-phased by the scolding, Cheney made his point. The warning contained a deeper meaning—one that the Speaker understood immediately and that may explain why she passed on House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Lantos' (D-CA) recommendation to do the same with Iran. Take a closer look at Cheney's criticism and two questions arise. Does bad behavior connote an undermining of U.S. foreign policy, i.e. that U.S. officials should not engage in direct dialogue with adversaries? Or, does bad behavior suggest that the legislative branch should not, under any circumstances, challenge the executive branch? According to Cheney, it's the latter. In a radio appearance, the veep said, “The President is the one who conducts foreign policy, not the speaker of the House.” But before examining the schism widening between legislative and executive branches on foreign policy issues, the former point—i.e. should the U.S. dialogue with adversaries—needs attention.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Middle East

5. U.S. Blocks Israel-Syria Talks

Author:
Stephen Zunes
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
Even as American officials reluctantly agreed last month to include Syrian representatives in multiparty talks on Iraqi security issues, the Bush administration continues to block Israel from resuming negotiations with Syria over its security concerns. In 2003, President Bashar al-Assad offered to resume peace talks with Israel where they had left off three years earlier, but Israel, backed by the Bush administration, refused. Assad eventually agreed to reenter peace negotiations without preconditions, but even these overtures were rejected.
Topic:
International Relations and Security
Political Geography:
United States and Middle East

6. Nothing to Laugh At

Author:
Davvid Warszawski
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
On January 15, a Moroccan court gave editor Driss Ksikes and journalist Sanaa al-Adzi three-year suspended sentences for publishing jokes related to Islam. Here, Dawid Warszawski of Poland's leading daily Gazeta Wyborcza comments on the case.
Topic:
International Relations, Islam, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
North Africa

7. Reconstructing Iraq

Author:
Jason Yossef Ben-Meir
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
The new strategy of the United States in Iraq does not include an extensive overhaul of reconstruction efforts at this critical time. Very little money is now being appropriated for reconstruction. As the Iraq Study Group Report explains, of the $21 billion to date that has been appropriated for the “Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund” (IRRF), $16 billion has been spent and the remaining funds have been committed. The administration requested $750 million for 2007, and President Bush's new proposal is to add $1.2 billion to that.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East

8. China: What's the Big Mystery?

Author:
John Feffer
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
The latest recruitment brochure from the Central Intelligence Agency, which beckons the uninitiated to be a part of a mission that's larger than all of us, opens to reveal an image of the red-roofed entrance to Beijing's Forbidden City. From an oversized portrait on the ancient wall, Chairman Mao and his Mona Lisa smile behold the vast granite expanse of Tiananmen Square. The Cold War is over, and the Soviet Union is gone. The cloak-and-dagger games of Berlin and Prague have been replaced by business and tourism. But Chinaland of ancient secrets, autocratic leaders, and memories of suppressed uprisingsstill holds out the promise of world-historical struggle that can help the CIA meet its recruitment goals.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Cold War
Political Geography:
United States, China, Asia, and Soviet Union

9. Anti-Americanism and the Rise of Civic Diplomacy

Author:
Nancy Snow
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
Anti-Americanism has emerged as a term that, like “fascism” and “communism” in George Orwell's lexicon, has little meaning beyond “something not desirable.” However it is defined, anti-Americanism has clearly mushroomed over the last six years, as charted in a number of polls. This phenomenon is, everyone agrees, intimately tied to the exercise of U.S. power and perceptions around the world of U.S. actions.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, Government, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

10. Falling In Line on Israel

Author:
Stephen Zunes
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
The election of a Democratic majority in the House and Senate is unlikely to result in any serious challenge to the Bush administration's support for Israeli attacks against the civilian populations of its Arab neighbors and the Israeli government's ongoing violations of international humanitarian law.
Topic:
International Relations, Democratization, Humanitarian Aid, and Politics
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Arabia

11. North Korea Returns to the Negotiating Table

Author:
John Feffer
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
North Korea's decision to return to the negotiating table is a win-win-win situation, at least temporarily. The United States, China, and even North Korea gain from the announcement. However, the boost given to each country—a modest “October surprise” for the Bush administration, a diplomatic achievement for China, and a stronger negotiating position for North Korea—will not carry over into the negotiations themselves. A decision to talk, after all, does not translate automatically into a decision to compromise.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Asia

12. Pyongyang 1, Bush 0

Author:
John Feffer
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
Five years ago, when George W. Bush took office, North Korea didn't claim membership in the nuclear club. Its plutonium reprocessing facilities were frozen. It was even willing to negotiate away its missile program.
Topic:
International Relations and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States, Asia, and North Korea

13. Oil Trip

Author:
Emira Woods
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
It is almost impossible to imagine, as we sit in a well-lit, fully functioning gas station on Main Street, USA, that a community blessed with oil riches under its soil could look as impoverished as Yenagoa in the Nigerian state of Bayelsa.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, Energy Policy, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States

14. North Korea and the Politics of Famine

Author:
Jeff Feffer
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
This paper was produced under the auspices of a research project sponsored by the Sejong Institute. It will be published in book form later this year. The author would like to thank the following people for their helpful suggestions on earlier drafts: Ruediger Frank, Sang-jin Han, Chuck Hosking, Karin Lee, Wonhyuk Lim, Marcus Noland, and Kie-duck Park. He would also like to thank Randy Ireson, Erica Kang, Rajiv Narayan, Richard Ragan, and Sun-song Park for agreeing to be interviewed.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Asia and North Korea

15. Living on a Life Support Machine: The Challenge of Rebuilding Afghanistan

Author:
Peter J. Middlebrook and Sharon M. Miller
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
The forthcoming “London Conference” on Afghanistan (January 31-February 1, 2006), to be attended by President Hamid Karzai, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Paul Wolfowitz, head of the World Bank, brings together high ranking dignitaries from the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the international development community to endorse a new multilateral agreement to be known as the “Afghanistan Compact,” the successor of the Bonn Agreement.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Middle East, and London

16. CIAO: War Crimes: The Posse Gathers

Author:
Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
Diverse forces are assembling to bring Bush administration officials to account for war crimes. Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Mother for Peace, insists: “We cannot have these people pardoned. They need to be tried on war crimes and go to jail.” Paul Craig Roberts, Hoover Institution senior fellow and assistant secretary of the treasury under Ronald Reagan, charges Bush with “lies and an illegal war of aggression, with outing CIA agents, with war crimes against Iraqi civilians, with the horrors of the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo torture centers” and calls for the president's impeachment. Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton and former president of the American Society of International Law, declares: “These policies make a mockery of our claim to stand for the rule of law. [Americans] should be marching on Washington to reject inhumane techniques carried out in our name.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, Peace Studies, and War
Political Geography:
Iraq and Washington

17. President Attempts to Show that Asia Matters to the United States

Author:
John Gershman
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
President Bush is in Asia this week for a series of meetings, including bilateral meetings in Japan, South Korea, China, and Mongolia and attending the economic leaders meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. This trip comes on the heels of a disastrous trip by President Bush to Latin America, but there is little sign this trip will do much to rescue the President's sinking foreign policy reputation.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, China, Asia, and South Korea

18. Beyond Bonn: Revisioning the International Compact for Afghanistan

Author:
Peter Middlebrook and Mark Sedra
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
The Bonn Agreement, signed on December 5, 2001, provided the road map for the transformation of the Afghan state, culminating in the September 18, 2005 legislative elections. The landmark polls, which proceeded largely peacefully, have elected an Afghan Parliament for the first time in more than three decades. Although the Bonn political process has made great strides toward facilitating Afghanistan's transition to democracy, the costs and challenges associated with the reform agenda are immense and continue to spiral. With a narrow revenue base, Afghanistan will remain dependent on support from the international community for many years to come, not just to cover the capital costs associated with reconstruction and poverty reduction but also to underwrite core operating expenditures. Once funding for Coalition military operations is factored in, the cost of maintaining relative peace and stability in Afghanistan could exceed the $16-18 billion per year currently being spent—a prohibitively high figure in light of creeping donor fatigue. With the security situation in the country still volatile, regional posturing intensifying, and the United States signaling that troop withdrawals are imminent, Afghanistan's transition remains fragile and uncertain. Senior Washington officials already quietly acknowledge that the reform process has failed to maintain the critical momentum that the Afghan government's landmark report, Securing Afghanistan's Future: Accomplishments and the Strategic Path Forward, appeared to generate when it was launched at the spring 2004 Berlin Donors Conference.
Topic:
International Relations, Politics, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Middle East

19. Karen Hughes' Indonesia Visit Underscores Bush Administration's PR Problems

Author:
Stephen Zunes
Publication Date:
10-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
It is doubtful that the Bush administration will be very successful advancing America's image in the Islamic world as long as its representatives have such trouble telling the truth. A case in point took place on October 21, when U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes was talking before a group of university students in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country. As she has found elsewhere in her visits in the Islamic world, there is enormous popular opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the ongoing U.S. counter-insurgency war.
Topic:
International Relations and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, America, Indonesia, Middle East, and Southeast Asia

20. Waiting to Exhale: The Six-Party Talks Agreement

Author:
Wade Huntley
Publication Date:
10-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:
Nuclear nonproliferation advocates worldwide welcomed the joint agreement issued September 19 by the participants in the "Six-Party Talks" process aimed at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. The agreement evinces not only a commitment by North Korea to end all nuclear weapons development, but also a validation of a negotiated approach to the current Korean nuclear crisis which both North Korea and the United States have, at various times, resisted.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States, Asia, and North Korea