Search

Begin New Search Political Geography United States of America Publication Year within 3 Years Publication Year within 1 Year

51. The UN Climate Regime and the US Withdrawal

Author:
Margareth Sembiring
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
The Trump administration announced the US withdrawal from the international climate regime earlier this year. One possible explanation lies in the growing influence of the IPCC’s scientific authority in domestic spheres, which may have altered the perceived costs and benefits of continued participation. Despite the US absence, the UNFCCC remains an important platform for international climate cooperation.
Topic:
Climate Change, International Cooperation, United Nations, and Donald Trump
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

52. Avoiding a Long War - Objectives and Conditions for the US Attack on Iran

Author:
Mateusz Piotrowski
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM)
Abstract:
The American operation in Iran may be prolonged, lasting several months instead of the planned few weeks. The low public support of Americans for intervention and the economic effects of rising oil prices are unlikely to change the US administration’s stance. Difficulties in completely eliminating the threats posed by Iran may prompt Donald Trump to increase military involvement, including the use of special forces or the launch of a ground invasion.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Public Opinion, Military Intervention, Armed Conflict, and Energy
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, North America, and United States of America

53. Global development policy and the New World Disorder: the Trump Administration's delivery of a high-voltage shockwave to multilateral norms, institutional commitments and long-standing principles

Author:
Stephan Klingebiel and Andy Sumner
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
Global development policy is a particularly revealing field in which the Trump administration combines crude transactionalism with a high level of ideological commitment, namely an authoritarian libertarianism oriented toward elite interests. This is coupled with, at times, a chaotic absence of tactical or strategic coherence. With Trump's return to the White House in January 2025, a significant phase in international affairs, including global development policy, began. This policy brief traces the evolution of the US approach to development cooperation and exposes how Trump's approach represents an overtly aggressive assault, delivering a high voltage shockwave to global sustainable development policy, undermining multilateral norms, institutional commitments and long-standing principles of international solidarity. The United States (US) has played a decisive role in the conception and evolution of global development policy since the mid-20th century. From the establishment of the post-Second World War order onward, the US shaped the normative, political and organizational foundations of development cooperation, often setting agendas, defining standards, and providing leadership and personnel for key multilateral institutions. Early reconstruction efforts such as the Marshall Plan and the establishment of the World Bank embedded development within a broader framework of power politics, positioning aid as both a tool of reconstruction and geopolitical influence. Since January 2025, US development cooperation has undergone a dramatic rupture. The administration rapidly withdrew from multilateral institutions, cut budgets, and de facto dissolved USAID, transferring residual functions to the State Department. This shift was accompanied by conspiracy narratives and an explicit rejection of multilateral norms, marking a sharp departure from previous Republican and Democratic approaches alike. The brief conceptualises this shift as the emergence of a “New Washington Dissensus”: a model of transactional, nationalist development cooperation that treats aid as an instrument of power rather than a global public good. Under this paradigm, development engagement is ideologically conditional, hostile to climate and equity agendas, oriented toward migration control, and explicitly transactional. The Trump administration's National Security Strategy (December 2025) is consistent with this in the sense that it frames an “America First” approach that narrows US priorities to “core, vital national interests” and places strong emphasis on Western Hemisphere pre-eminence via a stated “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine. For global development, foreign assistance and development finance are thus instruments of strategic competition and commercial diplomacy. US agencies are mobilized to back US commercial positioning. The consequences are dramatic and systemic. The US retreat has destabilized the global development architecture and intensified geopolitical fragmentation. For many countries in the Global South, this represents a watershed moment, creating both new room for maneuver and new dependencies as states pursue multi-alignment strategies amid intensifying great-power rivalry. At the same time, humanitarian impacts are severe. Overall, the brief concludes that development policy has entered a new phase, which is narrower, more instrumental and overtly geopolitical,and is reshaping not only US engagement but the future of global development policy itself.
Topic:
Development, Multilateralism, Institutions, Norms, and Donald Trump
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

54. Outward FDI and Hollowing-out: Towards the Strategic Reallocation of Korean Industries

Author:
Nam Seok Kim
Publication Date:
02-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
Following a prolonged period of negotiations under the “reciprocal tariff” regime, Korea, similar to other major exporters like the European Union and Japan, secured reduced tariff rates conditional upon committing to large-scale local investments in the United States. The U.S. administration has consistently placed the reconstruction of American manufacturing and domestic job creation at the top of its policy agenda. This commitment is so steadfast that Washington recently hinted at the possibility of re-imposing higher tariffs, citing Korea’s lukewarm implementation of the agreed-upon investment pledges. Crucially, this surge in investment is not merely a political concession but reflects a fundamental restructuring of global value chains. As geopolitical uncertainties intensify, Korean firms are pivoting from a traditional strategy of cost minimization to one of risk minimization. By establishing production bases directly within the United States, these companies aim to insulate themselves from future trade barriers and secure stable access to their most critical market, effectively decoupling their supply chains from geopolitical flashpoints. The scale of capital Korea has pledged to invest locally in the U.S. is staggering, potentially large enough to induce fundamental shifts in the valuation of the Korean won. The bilateral agreement encompasses a monumental package: USD 200 billion in direct cash investments and USD 150 billion in shipbuilding cooperation. These plans are rapidly materializing, evidenced by the U.S. government’s recent release of “America’s Maritime Action Plan,” which explicitly designates Korea as a key partner in rebuilding U.S. naval and commercial maritime capabilities. Beyond the maritime sector, this investment wave spans across Korea’s core strategic industries, including semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries, and advanced electronics. Major Korean conglomerates are rapidly breaking ground on large-scale manufacturing facilities across key U.S. states. This broad-based migration of manufacturing capacity signifies a deep integration of Korea’s industrial ecosystem with the U.S. supply chain, moving far beyond simple assembly operations to include high-value-added production processes. It is unprecedented for Korea to execute outward FDI (OFDI) of this magnitude based on a bilateral government agreement. Consequently, this unparalleled volume of capital outflow has sparked intense debate and varied projections among economists regarding its potential impact on the domestic economy.
Topic:
Foreign Direct Investment, Tariffs, Exports, Industry, and Semiconductors
Political Geography:
Asia, South Korea, and United States of America

55. The Structural Transformation of U.S. Foreign Economic Policy and Its Economic Effects

Author:
Gusang Kang
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
Over the past decade, U.S. foreign economic policy has undergone a structural transformation that extends beyond partisan political cycles. What initially appeared to be a temporary shift toward protectionism under the first Trump administration has consolidated into a broader orientation centered on economic security, strategic competition with China, and domestic industrial revitalization. The renegotiation of the existing trade agreements, withdrawal from multilateral frameworks, and imposition of Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs marked a clear departure from the liberal trade order that had characterized U.S. policy for decades. Rather than reversing this trajectory, the Biden administration utilized core tariff measures and expanded industrial policy through the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, reinforcing a production-centered strategy aimed at reshaping global supply chains. At the core of this transformation lies a reconfiguration of incentives governing global capital allocation and trade patterns. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) fundamentally restructured the U.S. international tax regime through provisions such as GILTI, FDII, and BEAT while lowering the statutory corporate tax rate, thereby altering firms’ location and investment decisions. At the same time, Section 301 tariffs sought to change relative prices in global value chains, reduce U.S. dependence on China, and induce supply chain realignment. Together, these measures illustrate how U.S. foreign economic policy increasingly integrates trade, tax, and industrial instruments into a coherent framework of economic statecraft. Against this backdrop, this report empirically evaluates the economic effects of these policy instruments. It examines how the TCJA affected U.S. outward and inward foreign direct investment and how Section 301 tariffs influenced trade flows at the product level, particularly with respect to trade diversion involving Korea. By employing panel regression and event-study methodologies, the study aims to identify causal impacts and dynamic adjustment patterns. The findings provide evidence that recent U.S. foreign economic policy has produced measurable structural effects on global investment and trade flows, offering important implications for Korea’s strategic economic positioning.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Economy, Global Value Chains, and Structural Transformation
Political Geography:
China, Asia, South Korea, North America, and United States of America

56. New Frameworks for Language Access: Tracking the Expansion & Features of State & Local Laws & Policies

Author:
Jacob Hofstetter
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Over the past 25 years, many state and local governments have sought to develop more organized approaches to helping residents with limited English proficiency access public services and information. There are multiple reasons for this. By addressing language barriers, language access policies and laws help governments communicate with an increasingly multilingual U.S. public, enhance public safety and emergency responses, improve access to public information and services, and boost the overall effectiveness of government programs. Since 2020, nine states and 31 localities have enacted new language access measures. These laws and policies, which now exist in 13 states, the District of Columbia, and more than 60 localities, generally share certain common features related to agency responsibilities (for example, on the provision of interpretation services and the translation of written materials) and policy administration (such as naming an oversight office). This report explores the rise of state and local language access policies and laws, their key features, and their role in a changing national policy context during the second Trump term. With growing cracks in the federal policy framework related to language access, state and local efforts play a vital role, the study finds, in meeting the practical, everyday communication needs of state and local governments and their communities.
Topic:
Immigrants, Integration, Immigration Policy, Local Government, and Language Access
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

57. A Human-Centric Framework: Employment Principles for Lethal Autonomous Weapons

Author:
Brennan Deveraux
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
This monograph challenges the Department of War to reframe the conversation about humans’ involvement in lethal autonomous weapons systems by codifying a human-centric framework built on the employment pillars of certification, authority, restriction, and accountability. Although an ample body of literature discusses lethal autonomous weapon systems, this monograph takes a novel approach by proposing a theoretical framework and applying it to historical and hypothetical practical scenarios involving weapons with autonomous characteristics. In terms of methodology, the monograph relies heavily on primary sources, including UN documents and Department of War publications, which are augmented by secondary sources from experts in the field and creative speculation about the characteristics of future warfare. The study’s conclusions will help US military and policy practitioners manage and integrate lethal autonomous weapon systems. This study is designed to spark a necessary and likely uncomfortable conversation about when relying on lethal machines is appropriate. The monograph provides tangible recommendations to help shape future policy decisions about developing and employing lethal autonomous weapon systems.
Topic:
Security, Drones, Emerging Technology, and Autonomous Weapons Systems
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

58. What Luck Has to Do With It: Understanding the Role of Nuclear Luck in Decision-Making

Author:
Tyrus Tibor Kalanyos
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Since the end of the Second World War and the start of the Nuclear Age, there have been numerous cases of nuclear near-use or near-incidents. This article makes a case for how luck, particularly nuclear luck, has not only been an essential variable in preventing nuclear wars and uses, but also how experiences with nuclear luck have shaped the decision-making process in America and the Soviet Union. Through case study analyses of the War Scare events in the early 1980s, primarily the Able Archer-83 incident and the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident, the paper identifies attitude and policy shifts in decision-makers’ posture towards nuclear security with an understanding of political psychology scholarship. The findings suggest that experiences of nuclear luck can lead to more careful and risk-averse behaviour, the paper also highlights how the relationship between nuclear luck and the decision-making process can advance theories on behavioural arms control.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Cold War, Nuclear Weapons, Decision-Making, and Luck
Political Geography:
Soviet Union, Global Focus, and United States of America

59. The PATRIOT Act: The Friction Between Civil Liberties and National Security

Author:
Megan Saito
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The shock that followed the attacks of 9/11 prompted the American public to urge the United States government to increase the protection of national security. The PATRIOT Act was created in response to these demands and set out to detect and prevent acts of terrorism from reoccurring in the United States of America. Since the conception of the PATRIOT Act, privacy advocates and civil liberties groups have been protesting the Act's ability to 'infringe' on American citizens’ amendments protected by the United States Constitution. This article responds to the questions to what degree does the Patriot Act infringe upon civil liberties?
Topic:
National Security, 9/11, Civil Liberties, and Patriot Act
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

60. Israel, Qatar, and the Hierarchy of Warning

Author:
Muhammed Ziyade
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
On September 9, 2025, Israeli missiles struck a residential neighbourhood in Doha while U.S. Space Force tracked the operation in real time and relayed no warning to Qatar — the very state that hosts CENTCOM's forward headquarters. This study traces the detection-to-dissemination chain across the September 9th strike and two prior Iranian missile attacks on U.S. bases in Erbil (2020) and Al-Udeid (2025), and demonstrates that who fires the missile determines whether the warning precedes the impact. The Qualitative Military Edge doctrine, codified in U.S. law since 2008, sustains this hierarchy. Its operational consequence is stark: Iranian threats activated direct military channels within minutes, while the Israeli attack routed through a four-layer political chain (CENTCOM to President to Special Envoy to Qatar). September 9th exposes a most-favoured-nation design in American alliance architecture and compels Gulf capitals to construct sovereign early warning capabilities that do not route through the political hierarchies of their guarantors.
Topic:
Military Affairs, Alliance, Space Force, Quantitative Military Edge (QME), and CENTCOM
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Qatar, and United States of America

61. American Populism, American Personhood

Author:
Colin Anthony MacNairn
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Current American populism—an endogenous product of liberal capitalism— functions less as an interruption of liberal democracy than as the political form through which its contradictions are expressed. Starting from that premise, this essay traces how citizens, rendered economically superfluous and politically abstracted, reach for meaning through affective grievance—grievance that populism captures, reroutes, and converts into allegiance. By placing C.B. Macpherson’s critique of possessive individualism in dialogue with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s analysis of moral incapacitation, A.N. Whitehead’s insights on simplified ideals, and Kant’s republican account of public right, this essay reconstructs the mechanisms by which structural dispossession is transformed into cultural antagonism. Through political-theoretical argument augmented with empirical illustrations, this essay provocatively demonstrates that American populism’s emotional economy reinforces the very structure it claims to resist and why any democratic renewal ought to begin with a reconstruction of personhood itself
Topic:
Politics, Capitalism, Populism, Donald Trump, Illiberal Democracy, Critical Democratic Theory, and New Democratic Theory
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

62. The Threshold of Dissent: A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism with Marjorie Feld 4/9/26

Author:
Marjorie Feld
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
The Threshold of Dissent: A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism with Professor Marjorie Feld (4/9/26) Throughout the twentieth century, American Jewish communal leaders projected a unified position of unconditional support for Israel, cementing it as a cornerstone of American Jewish identity. This unwavering position served to marginalize and label dissenters as antisemitic, systematically limiting the threshold of acceptable criticism. In pursuit of this forced consensus, these leaders entered Cold War alliances, distanced themselves from progressive civil rights and anti-colonial movements, and turned a blind eye to human rights abuses in Israel. In The Threshold of Dissent, Marjorie N. Feld instead shows that today’s vociferous arguments among American Jews over Israel and Zionism are but the newest chapter in a fraught history that stretches from the nineteenth century.
Topic:
Human Rights, Leadership, Zionism, Jews, and Antisemitism
Political Geography:
Israel, Palestine, and United States of America

63. Race, Resistance, and the Criminalization of Speech under Trump with Vince Warren (4/16/2026)

Author:
Vince Warren
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
Free speech is a lofty principle taught in American schools but not consistently protected when racial minorities collectively dissent against government practices. Vince Warren addresses the contemporary manifestations of these longstanding tensions between law on paper and enforcement in practice.
Topic:
Race, Minorities, Donald Trump, Resistance, Free Speech, and Criminalization
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

64. US-PRC Defense Relations: Looking Back and Looking Forward

Author:
David Finkelstein, Thomas J. Christensen, and Elizabeth Wishnick
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
April 15, 2026 — One of the less illuminated dimensions of the US-PRC relationship is that between its two militaries. Over the course of four decades, the Pentagon and the People's Liberation Army have gone from Cold War partners to strategic competitors. David Finkelstein provided historical and strategic context for understanding how the two militaries came to the place they are in today, and why it matters for the future of the bilateral relationship and the Indo-Pacific region. Speaker: David Finkelstein, Distinguished Research Fellow for National Security Affairs, CNA Introduction by: Thomas J. Christensen, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations; Director, China and the World Program, Columbia University Moderator: Elizabeth Wishnick, Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, WEAI; Senior Research Scientist, CNA
Topic:
Defense Policy, National Security, Bilateral Relations, and Strategic Competition
Political Geography:
China, Asia, North America, United States of America, and Indo-Pacific

65. When do voters stop caring? Estimating the shape of voters' utility functions

Author:
Aleksandra Conevska and Can Mutlu
Publication Date:
06-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
Abstract:
In this paper, we address a longstanding puzzle over the functional form that better approximates voter utility from political choices. Though it has become the norm in the literature to represent voter utility with concave loss functions, for decades scholars have underscored this assumption’s potential shortcomings. Yet there exists little to no evidence to support one functional form assumption over another. We fill this gap by first identifying electoral settings where the different functional forms generate divergent predictions about voter behavior. We then assess which functional form better matches observed voter and abstention behavior using Cast Vote Record (CVR) data that captures the anonymized ballots of millions of voters in the 2020 U.S. general election. Our findings indicate that concave loss functions fail to predict voting and abstention behavior, and it is the reverse S-shaped loss functions, such as the Gaussian function, that better match voter behavior.
Topic:
Politics, Voting, and Voting Behavior
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

66. Starr Forum: The Future of US-China Relations

Author:
Nicholas Burns and Yasheng Huang
Publication Date:
02-2026
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
Starr Forum: The Future of US-China Relations | Tuesday, February 17, 2026 Speakers: Nicholas Burns is the Goodman Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is the founder and faculty chair of the Future of Diplomacy Project and a faculty affiliate at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Burns worked in the United States government for over three decades, serving six presidents and nine secretaries of state. Most recently, he served as the US ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2021-2025, leading public servants from forty-eight US government agencies at the US mission to China in overseeing one of America's most important bilateral relationships. Moderator: Yasheng Huang is the Epoch Foundation Professor of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also serves as the faculty director of the MIT-China Program at the Center for International Studies. From 2013 to 2017, he served as an associate dean of MIT Sloan’s GlobalPartnership programs and its Action Learning initiatives. His previous appointments include faculty positions at the University of Michigan and at Harvard Business School. Huang is the author of 11 books in both English and Chinese and of many academic papers. His most recent book, “The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to its Decline”, was a 2023 Best Book of the Year by Foreign Affairs magazine.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
China, Asia, North America, and United States of America

67. Focus on Eurasia: Putin’s War Against the West

Author:
John J. Sullivan, Carol Saivetz, and Elizabeth Wood
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
Focus on Eurasia: Putin’s War Against the West: A Conversation with the Former US Ambassador to the Russian Federation | Monday, March 16, 2026 Speaker: Ambassador John J. Sullivan is the former US deputy secretary of state and former US ambassador to the Russian Federation. His career spans four decades in public service in prominent diplomatic and legal positions under five US presidents. He is a non-resident distinguished senior fellow with the National Security Law Program as well as a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC and New York offices. He co-leads the firm’s National Security practice. Co-chairs: Carol Saivetz is a senior fellow in the MIT Security Studies Program at the Center for International Studies (CIS). She is the author and contributing co-editor of books and articles on Soviet and now Russian foreign policy issues. Elizabeth Wood is Ford International Professor of History at MIT. She is the author most recently of Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine as well as articles on Vladimir Putin, the political cult of WWII, right-wing populism in Russia and Turkey, and US-Russian Partnerships in Science. She is the faculty director of the Center’s MIT-Ukraine Program and co-faculty director of the MIT-Eurasia Program.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Populism, Vladimir Putin, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Eurasia, Ukraine, and United States of America

68. Geopolitics of the Strait of Hormuz

Author:
Nader Habibi, Ali Kadivar, Caitlin Talmadge, and Dafna Rand
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
Geopolitics of the Strait of Hormuz | Monday, March 30, 2026 In a rapidly evolving region, gain clarity beyond the headlines. Panelists: Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of Practice in the Economics of the Middle East, Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University Ali Kadivar, Associate Professor of Sociology and International Studies, Boston College; Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University Caitlin Talmadge, Raphael Dorman and Helen Starbuck Associate Professor of Political Science, MIT; Faculty Affiliate, Center for Nuclear Security Policy, MIT Security Studies Program Dafna Rand, Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow, Center for International Studies; Former US Assistant Secretary of State Moderator: Richard Nielsen, Associate Professor of Political Science, MIT; Faculty Director, MIT-MENA, MIT Center for International Studies; Affiliate, MIT Security Studies Program and MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society This event is sponsored by the MIT-MENA Program.
Topic:
Geopolitics, Trade, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, Persian Gulf, United States of America, and Strait of Hormuz

69. From Vietnam to Campus Encampments & Anti-Ice Protests: A Legal History of Federal Cases On Student First Amendment Rights

Author:
Jacob Blau
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
Students who have been silenced for their participation in recent protests should be aware of a deep legal history that has seen federal courts grapple with and protect the concept of student free speech.
Topic:
Protests, Free Speech, 2023 Gaza War, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States of America, Palestine, Vietnam, and North America

70. Minnesota’s Perfect ICE Storm

Author:
Zoe Carver
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
As Minneapolis once again becomes the center of national protests, a dive into the state’s recent history of racial tensions and police violence reveals just why the North Star City has come head-to-head with the executive branch.
Topic:
Protests, Police Brutality, Immigration Policy, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Political Geography:
North America, Minnesota, and United States of America

71. Anchoring Ukraine’s postwar recovery with a US-Ukraine free trade agreement

Author:
Robert Z. Lawrence
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
An FTA with the United States would help Ukraine achieve stronger investor protections, regulatory transparency, and anticorruption and dispute settlement mechanisms that anchor private investment needed to support reconstruction and sustain long-term growth. For the United States, Ukraine offers a strategically valuable production platform: a large, skilled workforce; a legacy industrial base; and significant reserves of critical minerals, metals, and agricultural inputs needed for energy transition, defense, and supply chain resilience. Passage of a US-Ukraine FTA in Congress could be controversial because it would bundle together some of the most contentious issues in US trade politics—agriculture, investor protection, government procurement, digital rules, and market access—into one high-salience vote. Policymakers could start by advancing more limited agreements as precursors to a comprehensive FTA. Accession to the European Union will be the core of Ukraine’s reconstruction strategy, implying that a US-Ukraine FTA should be designed to complement, rather than compete with, EU integration. Body Ukraine’s reconstruction is often framed as a financing challenge, but the bigger challenge is institutional: Ukraine must credibly reassure domestic and foreign investors that market-oriented rules, transparent regulation, private property protection, and contract enforcement will prevail and that its territorial integrity will be secure. A free trade agreement with the United States can help Ukraine provide this assurance.
Topic:
Economic Growth, Trade Policy, Russia-Ukraine War, and Free Trade Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, North America, and United States of America

72. The America First investment pledges: How are they structured and are they realistic?

Author:
Gregory Auclair and Adnan Mazarei
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
In pursuit of President Donald J. Trump's "America First" agenda, the administration has pressured allies and partners to invest in US industrial and infrastructure projects. The White House has announced commitments by the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, several Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and others, to import specific amounts of goods and services from the United States and to make sizable investments on US soil. These agreements resulted from a more coercive US foreign policy than in the past. Because the administration is helping select the targets of foreign investment, it is embarking on a major expansion of US industrial policy—one paid for by allied countries. This Policy Brief shows that much about investment pledges, worth more than $5 trillion, remains unclear or aspirational.
Topic:
Politics, Foreign Direct Investment, Trade Policy, and America First
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

73. The COVID era inflation surge: Causes, consequences, and policy lessons

Author:
Karen Dynan and David Wilcox
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
The COVID era inflation surge was shaped by an unusual confluence of shocks and policy responses. It nonetheless raises enduring questions about the interaction of demand, supply, expectations, and policy frameworks that decision-makers are likely to confront again. In this Policy Brief, Dynan and Wilcox distill lessons from a broad body of work produced as part of the Peterson Institute for International Economics' Understanding the COVID Era Inflation project, which brought together an extensive group of experts to examine the different facets of the inflation surge. Dynan and Wilcox synthesize the group's insights to recount the origin of the surge, evaluate the key causes and consequences, discuss the limits and strengths of policy tools, and offer lessons for policymakers to deal with future undesirable increases in inflation.
Topic:
Monetary Policy, Economy, Inflation, Fiscal Policy, COVID-19, Labor Market, and Supply Chains
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

74. As US food aid retreats, can BRICS+ and biotechnology fill the world’s food security gap?

Author:
Cullen S. Hendrix
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
Cuts to agricultural development assistance and food aid by the United States and other advanced economies are creating a global vacuum just as climate change and conflict drive global hunger up. Many food-insecure developing economies with significant hunger lack the resources to self-finance agricultural research and development (R&D) and have had to depend increasingly on themselves—and one another—to meet rising food needs. Hendrix argues that the BRICS+ economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia—are well positioned to fill the world’s food security gap.
Topic:
Agriculture, Markets, Foreign Aid, BRICS, Food Assistance, and Biotechnology
Political Geography:
North America, Global Focus, and United States of America

75. Can Trump keep his tariffs if the Supreme Court invalidates them?

Author:
Alan Wm. Wolff
Publication Date:
02-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
The Trump administration’s trade team has vowed to employ alternative legal strategies to keep its high tariff wall in place if the Supreme Court invalidates President Trump’s sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” by striking down his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose them. Wolff reviews the four possible tariff statutes that could be invoked— Sections 122, 338, 301, and 232—but they have major limitations. Each is either narrow, temporary, or specific, compared with IEEPA, and cannot be used to recreate Trump’s across-the-board tariff wall.
Topic:
Politics, Supreme Court, Tariffs, Trade Policy, and Protectionism
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

76. Shifting Grounds: Public Opinion and the Future of Trilateral Cooperation in the United States, South Korea, and Japan

Author:
Je Heon (James) Kim
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
The August 2023 trilateral summit at Camp David marked a historic milestone in U.S.-South Korea-Japan relations, establishing new frameworks for crisis consultation, information-sharing, military exercises, and cooperation on critical supply chains. Two years on, the durability of that achievement is being tested by a turbulent second Donald Trump administration, rising Chinese assertiveness, an entrenched North Korean nuclear program, and unresolved historical tensions between South Korea and Japan. Whether the Camp David framework endures will depend not only on the decisions of leaders but on the publics whose support sustains them. This report presents findings from comprehensive public opinion surveys conducted in the United States, South Korea, and Japan in August 2025. It examines where the three countries’ publics converge, where they diverge, and what those patterns mean for the future of trilateral cooperation.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Cooperation, Public Opinion, and Trilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Japan, Asia, South Korea, North America, and United States of America

77. Trilateralism Through Transition: Reflections on U.S.-South Korea-Japan Cooperation From Experts and Emerging Leaders

Author:
Korea Economic Institute of America
Publication Date:
02-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
Two years after the Camp David summit among the United States, South Korea, and Japan institutionalized trilateral cooperation, the partnership faces new challenges amid leadership transitions in all three capitals. To assess the stakes, the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) and The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation convened a public panel with Zack Cooper (CSIS), Shihoko Goto (Mansfield Foundation), and Eun A Jo (William & Mary). Drawing on insights from these experts, 15 competitively selected emerging leaders joined a private roundtable to develop blue-sky ideas for the future of trilateral cooperation. This report offers timely perspectives for the policy community on how the three partners can sustain momentum amidst uncertainty.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Cooperation, Partnerships, Leadership, and Trilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Japan, Asia, South Korea, North America, and United States of America

78. Promote the antidote: Reducing the risk from toxins

Author:
Bipartison Commission on Biodefense at Atlantic Council
Publication Date:
05-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
While toxins occur naturally, contaminating food and feed with sometimes deadly consequences, malevolent actors have weaponized toxins for assassination and mass-casualty terror. Nation-states, terrorists, and lone actors continue to produce and weaponize these agents. The February 2026 confirmation by European governments that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was assassinated using epibatidine (a lethal neurotoxin derived from a South American poison dart frog) underscores the twenty-first century reality of state-sponsored toxin warfare. Yet, national and international defenses remain fractionated. Efforts to address toxin threats span the agriculture, defense, law enforcement, and public health sectors, which often operate in silos. The policymaking community is not fully aware of the expansion of the threat from toxins, instead focusing on contagious biological threats arising from viruses and bacteria. Significant and systemic governmental policy gaps persist despite a clear history of accidental contamination, criminal use, and the continued development of toxins in foreign offensive biological weapons programs. The United States cannot afford to ignore these vulnerabilities. It must identify and bridge these policy gaps immediately, as any biological event involving toxins will have profound implications for national and global security.
Topic:
Security, Biodefense, Defense Technology, and Toxins
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

79. The WhatsApp World Order: Learning to Live with the New Global Political Economy

Author:
David Henig
Publication Date:
06-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE)
Abstract:
An inter-connectivity and technology revolution transformed the world over the last 30 years – with AI being the latest instalment. Multiple, interlocking, instant networks now cover the world like an ever-expanding changing set of WhatsApp groups, affecting all countries and governments. Today’s trade is responsive, resilient, diverse, and above all global as a result. Modern globalisation has in turn proved resistant to the many claims of its demise. Yet clearly this is not creating a happy world. Politics has not kept pace with the changes. National control, stability, optimism and trust are as a result particularly in short supply. At a macro level, challenger economies – most notably China – are engaged in mutual suspicion with the former hegemons EU and US, not helped by issues around subsidies and access to markets. All the major powers are undermining existing global rules while simultaneously suggesting an impossible retreat into self-sufficient manufacturing as they seek to come to terms with today’s economy. They are not helped by political debate that largely misunderstands the moment. Meanwhile corporate concentration in global markets has entrenched dominant private actors who navigate diverse regulations but can undermine competitiveness and governments. Political turmoil is enhanced by demographic shifts to ageing populations, social media, and citizen dislocation in the face of intense societal change and financial insecurity. Government failure to deal with challenges they are wrongly assumed to have created is too often simply leading to a search for scapegoats. Matters may even get worse given that the major powers have weaponised trade to a degree in recent years. Many urge them to intensify planning for economic warfare. This is turning dependencies from an inevitable by-product of greater product availability to a dangerous weakness. Such approaches threaten peace and prosperity, reflecting frustration that public demand for control in an inter-connected world cannot be met. Better approaches need to be found, that start with accepting today’s technology-enabled world including a strong China and other emerging economies. Governments must recognise that adaptive institutions will be more effective than trying to second-guess complex supply chains or put in place extensive new national rule-sets, particularly given their diverse public policy objectives. They must then protect where they must, prioritise where they can including for national security, and guide the public through their choices based on the best information that they have. For Europe in particular, long-standing respect for and implementation of rules that balance societal interests is more important than protecting all old industries. Internationally, agreements among friendly countries can be helpful but will not be sufficient. What is required is all countries accepting and enhancing core trade principles which were specifically designed to prevent a 1930s style global descent into mutual suspicion. WTO rules should be modernised to reflect today’s inter-dependencies and the dangers of weaponisation, rebalancing commitments on the basis of a broad definition of reciprocity, and avoiding of concentration of supply when countries grow. This though can only happen satisfactorily when the largest powers understand the need to discipline their own behaviours. Challenges such as dealing with dominant companies and scarce raw materials will never be easily resolved. Improvements will require international cooperation similarly based on trust, and should draw upon global networks of expertise that have developed as another result of today’s inter-connected world. Economies do adjust to new circumstances. Governments must therefore stop decrying resilience as an easy but incorrect way to be seen doing something, and focus instead on rebuilding economies and societies that adjust to today’s emerging inter-connected global order.
Topic:
Globalization, European Union, Trade, Artificial Intelligence, and Connectivity
Political Geography:
China, Europe, Asia, and United States of America

80. Slipping Out of ‘Old Geopolitics’ Through TRIPP

Author:
Vasif Huseynov
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Baku Dialogues
Institution:
ADA University
Abstract:
For much of the post‑Cold War period, the South Caucasus was shaped by a distinct geopolitical logic in which unresolved conflicts functioned as instruments of external influence, connectivity was constrained, and stability was underpinned by interim security mechanisms and contested political arrangements, not by durable peace agreements. This old geopolitics did not seek resolution; it sought control. Frozen or semi‑frozen conflicts allowed external actors—above all Russia—to arbitrate outcomes, limit regional autonomy, and preserve leverage by keeping borders politically charged and economically inert. Order was produced not through integration or enforcement, but through managed ambiguity. The erosion of the old geopolitical order did not occur suddenly, nor has it unfolded uniformly across the region. It began in earnest in 2020, when Azerbaijan fundamentally altered the regional balance of power by liberating its internationally recognized territories that had been under Armenian occupation for nearly three decades. For the first time since the early 1990s, one of the central pillars of the South Caucasus’s old geopolitical order—territorial conflicts sustained by external oversight—was dismantled through local agency rather than external arbitration. This shift deepened in September 2023, when Azerbaijan brought an end to the Russia‑backed separatist entity in Karabakh, eliminating the last institutional remnant of the unresolved‑conflict paradigm in Armenia‑Azerbaijan relations. The withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Karabakh in May 2024 confirmed the strategic significance of this moment. This marked a turning point not only in the Armenia‑Azerbaijan conflict but in the wider regional balance of influence. Old geopolitics, however, has not disappeared entirely from the South Caucasus. The Georgia‑Russia conflict remains governed by old rules (i.e., military occupation, external veto power, and frozen political arrangements) and stands as one of the last strongholds of the former order in the region. It is against this backdrop that the qualitatively new character of the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be understood. Freed from the constraints of frozen conflict management, the two states have increasingly prioritized peacebuilding, connectivity, and economic cooperation. This transformation reached a further milestone at the August 2025 White House summit of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, when the two countries reached an agreement on one of the most contested issues of the post‑war period: the Zangezur Corridor, a transport route intended to connect mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through Armenia’s Syunik region. The corridor’s establishment was formalized under the framework of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), with the United States assuming a direct role in its infrastructural arrangements. By embedding regional connectivity within a U.S.‑backed infrastructural framework, the TRIPP agreement effectively shifted the role of external guarantor along the corridor through Armenian territory from Russia to the United States. The reactions of Russia and Iran to the TRIPP agreement demonstrated that the South Caucasus is not entering a post‑geopolitical era. However, developments between Armenia and Azerbaijan, together with the altered geopolitical context, indicate that the region is steadily, though slowly, moving away from the older order. The most consequential conflict in the region has been resolved, and the post‑war normalization process is increasingly managed through infrastructure, legal frameworks, and reciprocal commitments that reshape incentives on the ground. While old geopolitics persists in one part of the region (e.g., the Russia‑Georgia conflict), it no longer defines the dominant trajectory of regional order.
Topic:
Geopolitics, Normalization, and Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP)
Political Geography:
Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, South Caucasus, United States of America, and Nagorno-Karabakh

81. Between Giants: Strategic Autonomy for East Asia’s Middle Powers in the U.S.–China Rivalry

Author:
Yoochan Kong
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The intensifying rivalry between the United States and China places South Korea in a delicate strategic position where great-power competition pushes Seoul to choose sides. However, the concept of strategic autonomy shows that middle powers can still navigate a narrow but meaningful path of agency. This paper focuses on how South Korea can sustain strategic autonomy amid U.S.–China rivalry by recalibrating its alliance with the United States, protecting itself from Chinese economic and political coercion, and diversifying partnerships in security, technology, and diplomacy. The central research question asks how South Korea can strengthen its autonomy while managing asymmetric dependence on the United States and growing vulnerability to China. Drawing on historical alliances, the THAAD deployment, and debates over technology alliances, the paper argues that autonomy is not neutrality but, rather, proactive leadership, institutional resilience, and a commitment to democratic values. By doing so, South Korea can shift from a reactive state to a proactive actor shaping a regional order based on freedom and stability.
Topic:
Cold War, Economics, Science and Technology, Alliance, Rivalry, Strategic Autonomy, Coercion, Middle Powers, and Conflict Analysis
Political Geography:
China, Asia, South Korea, and United States of America

82. Risks for Europe of US dominance of global asset management

Author:
Dirk Schoenmaker
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
Asset managers work on behalf of asset owners, such as pension funds and insurance companies, allocating their holdings of household or other savings. In Europe, the market share of United States asset managers is rising, while that of their European counterparts is declining. US asset managers may even be about to overtake European asset managers in Europe. However, there are differences between US and European asset managers, and these could play out in the context of the European Union’s savings and investment union plan. On environmental, social and governance (ESG) engagement, European asset managers remain active, while their US counterparts increasingly vote against social and environmental resolutions. This is counterproductive for Europe’s sustainable finance agenda. To preserve the efficiency and efficacy of the EU asset management market, three steps should be taken: 1) strengthen stewardship policies, 2) create a central supervisor and 3) enhance strategic autonomy. Stewardship policies should be tightened and asset managers should highlight how their ESG policies aligns with those of the asset owners for which they work. A major element of this tightening would be the requirement to publish a detailed record of voting on shareholder resolutions. Strong supervision by the European Securities and Markets Authority should ensure that US asset managers are appropriately supervised across the EU. Asset managers apply a hub-and-spoke model, operating from Dublin and Luxembourg. National supervisors cannot effectively oversee the Europe-wide operations, which may create blind spots. A successful savings and investment union needs strong European players to allocate European savings to European investments. The European Commission should act to counter a home bias towards US investments. When hiring asset managers, pension funds and insurers should evaluate not only the lowest cost in the short term, but also financial and ESG performance in the long term.
Topic:
Climate Change, Finance, Investment, Sustainability, Capital, and Banking
Political Geography:
Europe, North America, and United States of America

83. A new strategy to contain stablecoin risks in the European Union

Author:
Lucrezia Reichlin, Bo Sangers, and Jeromin Zettelmeyer
Publication Date:
05-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
Stablecoins – a form of tokenised money issued primarily by non-banks – promise efficiency gains in payments but also bring new risks to financial stability and monetary control. Because of this, European Union policymakers have so far discouraged the development of stablecoins, instead favouring tokenised deposits issued by banks. This approach might well make sense in a one-jurisdiction world, but risks being counterproductive in the context of dollar-denominated stablecoins encouraged by the United States authorities. EU policy could push European demand for stablecoins outside the EU’s regulatory perimeter, leaving EU holders of dollar stablecoins exposed to US currency risks and US fiscal risks. The EU would also risk adoption by the digital settlement architecture of European financial markets of dollar-based conventions, and settlement activity may migrate away from the Eurosystem’s payments infrastructure in tokenised segments. A strategy to contain these risks without a regulatory race to the bottom should include: Acceleration of the European Central Bank’s Appia project to establish interoperability between digital ledger technology platforms and ECB payments infrastructure; Dispensing with the regulatory requirement to hold a large share of stablecoin reserves in the form of bank deposits; Allowing EU stablecoin issuers to remunerate stablecoin holders directly, as long as the remuneration rate is below the rate on ECB reserves and standard deposit rates; Giving EU-regulated stablecoin issuers access to the ECB’s balance sheet, including to lending-in-last-resort facilities.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Monetary Policy, European Union, Digital Economy, Cryptocurrencies, Digital Currency, Fintech, and Stablecoins
Political Geography:
Europe and United States of America

84. Defence innovation and procurement reform: an empirical evaluation of the US Defense Innovation Unit

Author:
Ethan Kapstein, Javier Ospital, and Guntram B. Wolff
Publication Date:
05-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
Battlefields are evolving rapidly, with new technologies reshaping military strategy and tactics. Many of the new technologies originate in firms outside the traditional defence sector, rather than with the existing prime contractors. In the United States, the Department of Defense (DoD) created the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in 2015 to incentivise commercial tech companies to work on national security challenges. How successful has this new unit been in achieving its mission? We provide the first causal evaluation of the DIU’s effects on defence procurement. Using administrative procurement data and a firm-level panel covering 2017-2025, and employing propensity score matching, additional firm-level covariates and a staggered difference-in differences design, we find that the DIU has expanded both the extensive and intensive margins of defence contracting. We find not only a significant increase in the likelihood of receiving a DoD contract because of DIU treatment, but also in the size of the contract. Our findings show that defence innovation organisations can broaden and deepen the defence-supplier base. Governments updating their defence acquisition strategies in response to the lessons from recent conflicts can benefit from reforms that facilitate firm entry into procurement, overcoming the transaction cost and information asymmetry problems typical in defence markets.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Industrial Policy, Science and Technology, Macroeconomics, and Innovation
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

85. Federal Government Spending Is a Leaky Bucket

Author:
Chris Edwards and Ryan Bourne
Publication Date:
06-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
People often hold optimistic views about federal government spending programs. They assume that new and expanded programs can fix the nation’s social and economic problems. The government is a powerful institution, and so people think that it can steer funding to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit groups to solve problems and aid those in need. However, solving problems through the federal government is not so simple. Spending programs require funding from taxation or borrowing, and both create collateral damage on the economy. As funds flow through the government, resources are wasted on bureaucracy, mismanagement, and faulty planning. As the remaining funds flow out of the government and into the private sector, they induce people to change their working and investing activities, further undermining the economy. Only a fraction of the tax dollars raised for programs ultimately delivers on the outcomes promised by policymakers. Economist Arthur M. Okun described this problem as a “leaky bucket.” When the government imposes taxes on some people to aid others, it is not a costless transfer of resources. Rather, it is like transferring water using a bucket riddled with holes. In this study, we describe the many types of holes in the government bucket, and we argue that the leakage of resources is large. We also argue that the government bucket gets leakier as federal programs and bureaucracies continue to expand. With the government running huge budget deficits, policymakers should rethink the many costly programs that it runs. Some programs are essential, and so policymakers should preserve them while reducing the types of waste or leakage that we identify. But many other programs are so leaky that their costs outweigh their benefits. These programs are spilling economic resources all over and should be eliminated from the federal budget.
Topic:
Government, Public Spending, and Fundraising
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

86. World Trade Without the US

Author:
James Bacchus
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
As the Trump administration imposes a barrage of illegal and unprecedented tariffs on an ever-increasing number of imported products, the rest of the world is showing that it can continue trading despite these tariffs and without the United States. Other countries are lowering trade barriers with each other by concluding new bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements, and exporters are reconfiguring supply chains to route around American protectionism. Regardless of whether the United States remains indispensable to the global economy, international trade is still happening—and it is happening increasingly without the United States. At the same time, these countries should not be doing what they have mostly been doing: forging new trading arrangements outside the World Trade Organization (WTO). Although the temptation to go outside the WTO legal framework is understandable, the better course of action would be for the other 165 WTO members to redouble their efforts toward trade liberalization within the institution while taking a different approach. That approach should be WTO-based plurilateralism that can build up to multilateralism, which is precisely how, over decades, the original General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) evolved into the WTO. For this approach to succeed, WTO members must move on from their continued insistence on decisionmaking by consensus, without waiting any longer for the United States. Consensus and American engagement at the WTO is ideal, but plurilateral agreements represent an opportunity to address unfinished business and negotiate rules that meet the demands of the 21st-century economy, while also leaving the door open for other countries to join any agreements if they are willing to be bound by them. The 165 other WTO members must also stand together to defend their rights under the WTO treaty. Although the singular actions of the United States have, at least for now, reduced the Appellate Body to a paper tribunal, that does not have to mean other WTO members have no recourse for standing up to the Trump administration’s bullying and for holding the US accountable under WTO dispute settlement.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, Economy, Tariffs, Trade, Donald Trump, and Protectionism
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

87. Politically Motivated Killers: 51 Years of Terrorist Murders on US Soil, 1975–2025

Author:
Alex Nowrasteh
Publication Date:
02-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Politically motivated terrorists are nonstate actors who commit violence to achieve political, ideological, religious, or social goals. Charlie Kirk’s recent assassination prompted many Americans to worry about the scale and scope of politically motivated violence. However, politically motivated terrorism is a small and vastly overstated threat regardless of the ideological motivations of the attackers. The 208 terrorist attackers who killed at least one person on US soil between January 1, 1975, and December 31, 2025, murdered 3,577 people. Murders in politically motivated attacks account for about 0.35 percent of all murders during that time, which translates to an annual chance of being killed in such an attack of about 1 in 4 million per year. The deadliest motivating ideology for those attacks is Islamism, which accounts for a total of 87 percent of all deaths and includes those who were murdered in the 9/11 attacks. Right-wing ideology is the second deadliest motivation at 10 percent, left-wing ideology at 2 percent, and unknown/​other, foreign nationalism, and separatism together accounting for less than 1 percent of all murders. Two attacks are responsible for most of the terror deaths on US soil: 9/11 and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Those two attacks caused 3,147 deaths, which is 88 percent of all terrorist murders over the 51-year period. Of the other 430 murders, right-wing terrorists account for 45 percent of people murdered, Islamists are responsible for 32 percent, left-wing terrorists are responsible for 16 percent, and attackers motivated by the other ideologies account for the remainder. The number of politically motivated killings is not increasing over time. Of course, murders don’t capture the totality of politically motivated violence or the amorphous feelings that people have that American politics are out of control. However, they are the best measure of the actual violence and an excellent indicator that the United States is not suffering through a wave of politically motivated terrorist killings.
Topic:
Political Violence, Terrorism, Non State Actors, and Ideology
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

88. Ending Community Development Subsidies

Author:
Chris Edwards
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spent more than $20 billion on community development subsidies in fiscal year 2025. The spending flows to state and local governments for housing projects, welfare programs, disaster aid, sidewalk repairs, pickleball courts, business support, grants to nonprofit groups, and many other activities. Congress launched many community development programs in the 1960s to aid poor inner cities. Federal experts were supposed to skillfully help local officials grow their economies. That was the idea, but today HUD’s community development aid is spread widely to both poor and wealthy areas, and experience has shown that aid imposes costly bureaucracy on local investment activities. The Trump administration has proposed eliminating most of HUD’s community development spending. Given the need to reduce federal budget deficits, it makes sense to cut funding for local activities that local governments can fund for themselves. Also, HUD’s community development programs are plagued by intense paperwork, fraud and corruption, and pork-barrel politics. Americans would be better off funding investments such as sidewalk repairs locally, rather than sending their taxes to Washington and hoping that some of it trickles through the bureaucracies and back to their neighborhoods. Congress should end federal subsidies for community development. Local public services and investments should be funded by local governments and the private sector.
Topic:
Development, Investment, Private Sector, Public Service, Subsidies, and Local Government
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

89. The Future of Online Expression and Innovation Depends on Robust Section 230 Protections

Author:
David Inserra
Publication Date:
02-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Section 230 is a cornerstone of how online speech works in the United States. It allows websites and platforms to host user-generated content without being legally responsible for everything their users say, while still giving them the freedom to remove content that they and their users may find objectionable. This legal framework helped the internet grow into a place where millions of Americans can speak, create, organize, and do business. Section 230 removed legal incentives that discouraged content moderation, allowing online platforms to engage in the moderation of user-generated content without assuming liability for all user speech. Section 230 has enabled more free expression and innovation by protecting platforms from being held legally responsible for everything posted by their users. Weakening or repealing Section 230 would backfire, pushing platforms to over-remove lawful speech, limit features, or exit markets to manage legal risk. Expanding platform liability would entrench large incumbents by raising legal and compliance costs that small and new companies cannot absorb, ultimately reducing competition and innovation. As new technologies emerge, such as generative AI, preserving a stable speech-protective liability framework is essential for the United States to remain a leader in innovation and free expression.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Freedom of Expression, Innovation, and Speech
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

90. Understanding Debanking: Evaluating Governmental, Operational, Political, and Religious Financial Account Closures

Author:
Nicholas Anthony
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
This study examines the growing phenomenon of debanking—the sudden and often unexplained closure of individuals’ or organizations’ financial accounts. While media and political narratives often attribute these closures to political or religious discrimination, this study finds that the majority of debanking cases stem from governmental pressure. To identify this cause more accurately, the study distinguishes between four forms of debanking—governmental, operational, political, and religious—evaluating each form in turn. Based on public evidence, governmental debanking appears to be the most significant issue. Congress can correct this issue by reforming the Bank Secrecy Act, repealing confidentiality laws, and permanently ending reputational risk regulation. Doing so would reduce the incentives to debank, expose how widespread debanking has become, and cut out the tools that the government has used to pressure banks and other financial institutions.
Topic:
Government, Financial Institutions, Debanking, and Financial Disclosure
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

91. Addressing Civil Investigative Demand Overreach at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Author:
Solveig Singleton
Publication Date:
05-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB, or the Bureau) often issues civil investigative demands (CIDs), a type of administrative subpoena that compels businesses and individuals to produce evidence such as documents and testimony. Many observers criticize the Bureau’s CIDs for being poorly justified, overbroad, vague, and costly. Modern Supreme Court precedents leave CID recipients with few constitutional protections. Courts defer to the Bureau in legal challenges to CIDs, rendering constitutional and statutory limits on the Bureau’s powers toothless. Legislators are considering reform proposals to bring accountability to the Bureau’s CID practice. The Civil Investigative Demand Reform Act of 2025 would curb overbroad CIDs by requiring them to make specific reference to particular facts, empowering recipients to petition for relief from burdensome or unnecessary demands, and allowing petitioners to appeal directly to federal court upon the denial of a petition. Policymakers should consider additional reforms. For example, the Bureau could be required to prove that CID compliance costs are proportional to the seriousness of the violation. Reforms should ensure that petitions are decided not by the Bureau’s director but by neutral arbiters such as administrative law judges housed outside the agency. The Bureau’s CID overreach can destroy lawful enterprises without corresponding benefits to consumers. Procedural reforms to the CID process are an important step. But ultimately, protection of firms’ and individuals’ liberty will require legislators to take a skeptical view of inessential substantive rules more broadly.
Topic:
Government, Reform, and Consumer Protection
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

92. Let 1,000 Flowers Bloom: Best Practices for Advancing Educational Freedom

Author:
Colleen Hroncich
Publication Date:
05-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The growth of educational freedom in America has been dramatic, with more than 70 programs now operating in over 30 states. While this is welcome news for many families in need of school choice, the rapid expansion has also revealed weaknesses with program design, particularly in funding stability, administrative structure, expenditure approval processes, and family access. This paper identifies essential components for successful educational freedom programs, each of which will be explained in more detail: Universal eligibility. Any student can apply. Universal funding. Funding sufficient to cover all students who apply. Rollover. Unspent funds can be used for eligible expenses in future years. Competitive administration. Allow for multiple program managers rather than a monopoly. Streamlined expenditure approval. Offer multiple ways to pay and utilize risk-based auditing instead of prepurchase approval for most purchases. The paper also traces how we arrived at today’s choice landscape and highlights lessons for policymakers seeking to maximize opportunity while avoiding new monopolies. To sustain momentum, states must move beyond piecemeal design toward comprehensive frameworks. Only then can educational freedom deliver on its promises.
Topic:
Education, Public Policy, Freedom, and Local Government
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

93. Improving Trump Accounts

Author:
Adam N. Michel
Publication Date:
06-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Trump Accounts are new early-life investment accounts that include a $1,000 government-funded seed investment for Americans born between 2025 and 2028. The accounts also allow additional contributions from families, employers, and charitable organizations. Trump Accounts are the latest addition to a tax code that already includes more than a dozen similar qualified investment accounts, each with its own eligibility rules, contribution limits, and withdrawal restrictions. This policy analysis finds that Trump Accounts function primarily as a government welfare program rather than a tax-neutral investment vehicle. For most families, Trump Accounts are less tax-advantaged than existing alternatives and add considerable complexity to an already fragmented system, limiting participation. The analysis concludes by proposing reforms that build on the best features of Trump Accounts by adopting a Universal Savings Account structure and consolidating the remaining system into simpler, more flexible options that expand access and reduce complexity.
Topic:
Reform, Tax Systems, Investment, Welfare, and Donald Trump
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

94. Federal Budget Reform Opportunities in Higher Education for 2026

Author:
Andrew Gillen
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Over the decades, federal programs have accumulated in higher education. Some of these programs have been rendered obsolete or redundant by subsequent developments, while others have failed to achieve their intended purpose. As a result, there are several federal policy reforms that would improve higher education policy and save taxpayers money. In this report I identify policies that would save more than $265 billion over the next 10 years, including eliminating subsidized loans, eliminating or capping Public Service Loan Forgiveness, modifying the Repayment Assistance Plan, phasing out campus-based aid, repealing ineffective tax expenditures, and benchmarking research overhead rates.
Topic:
Reform, Budget, Higher Education, and Public Spending
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

95. Minimum Wages and Racial Disparities

Author:
David Neumark and Jyotsana Kala
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
There has been substantial research on the employment effects of minimum wages. Much of this research shows that minimum wages reduce employment, with the largest effects observed in the lowest-skilled groups, usually defined in terms of age or education. This is likely because a larger share of lower-skilled workers earn the minimum wage; when the minimum wage increases, these workers are more likely to experience reduced hiring, fewer hours, and job losses. However, there has been little research on how minimum wages affect employment and other labor market outcomes for lower-skilled racial minority workers, even though these groups tend to earn lower wages and hence are more likely to be affected by the minimum wage.
Topic:
Race, Labor Market, Minimum Wage, and Earnings
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

96. Tariffs as Fiscal Policy

Author:
Kimberly A. Clausing and Maurice Obstfeld
Publication Date:
02-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The election of Donald Trump to a second term in November 2024 indicated that tariffs would play a much larger role in US economic policy. The use of tariffs—taxes on imports— expanded significantly during Trump’s first term, with tariff revenue nearly doubling relative to the value of imports. But his 2024 campaign promised a far larger role for tariffs, and he has delivered on that promise. In early 2025, the average tariff rate soared from less than 3 percent at the end of the Biden administration to over 20 percent. As of September 4, 2025, it stood at about 17.5 percent, the highest level since 1935. While recent analysis has shown that exemptions and other factors may lower the average tariff rate below this level, this number may understate the negative economic effects of the tariffs because they vary dramatically across trade partners and goods. In any case, the future of tariffs remains unclear: Congress has yet to legislate on tariffs, and legal challenges against many of them are underway. Nonetheless, we expect these issues to be relevant to policy discussions for some time.
Topic:
Tariffs, Fiscal Policy, Donald Trump, and Trade Deficit
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

97. A Look Back and Ahead at the Federal Budget

Author:
Alan J. Auerbach and William G. Gale
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
After running deficits from 1970 to 1997, the US government ran a budget surplus in fiscal year 2000 for the third year in a row, reaching a post–World War II high of 2.3 percent of annual gross domestic product (GDP). The Congressional Budget Office projected that surpluses would increase over time, totaling $5.6 trillion over the next 10 years, and that all public debt would be paid off by 2006. This led to a problem for policymakers and academics: How would monetary policy be conducted, and where would investors find safe assets if no US public debt were available? Then–Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan cited the need to maintain public debt in his pivotal argument in favor of tax cuts. Shortly thereafter, Congress enacted major tax-cut legislation, signed by President George W. Bush.
Topic:
Government, Budget, GDP, and Tax Systems
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

98. Bank Competition and Entrepreneurial Gaps: Evidence from Bank Deregulation

Author:
Xiang Li
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in stimulating economic growth by promoting job creation and innovation. However, pronounced racial and gender gaps persist in entrepreneurial ventures. Addressing these gaps can boost economic growth and job creation while also reducing inequality. Therefore, understanding the barriers that impede business formation among minorities and women is crucial. My research examines how bank competition alleviates financial obstacles that disproportionately prevent women and racial minorities from becoming entrepreneurs. My findings reveal that the deregulation of interstate banking in the United States between 1994 and 2021 narrowed gender and racial disparities in entrepreneurship by expanding and improving banking services, reducing discrimination in the financial market, and narrowing gaps in firm performance.
Topic:
Entrepreneurship, Banking, Racism, and Deregulation
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

99. Learning About Police Bias: Prosecutors and Police Before and After Body-Worn Cameras

Author:
Emma Harrington and Hannah Shaffer
Publication Date:
04-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Each year, police arrest around seven million Americans, often after discretionary stops, and criminal courts sentence more than half a million to prison. Prosecutors wield considerable discretion in determining which arrests lead to imprisonment, typically basing their decisions on information provided by the police, especially the police report’s characterization of the crime. However, police reports may misrepresent reality and reflect racial bias. Prosecutors thus face a difficult question: To what extent do police reports reflect truth versus bias?
Topic:
Law Enforcement, Police, Racism, Bias, Incarceration, and Bodycams
Political Geography:
North America, North Carolina, and United States of America

100. Should States Reduce Teacher Licensing Requirements?

Author:
Christa Deneault and Evan Riehl
Publication Date:
03-2026
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
All US states require training for teacher certification, making teaching the largest licensed occupation in the country. Because education is mandatory and provided by the government for free, teachers’ wages may not fully respond to supply pressures, and demand remains high regardless of quality. These factors can lead to teacher shortages, forcing some schools to hire unlicensed teachers to fill vacancies. Thus, training requirements may reduce the supply of certified teachers and increase schools’ reliance on teachers with little or no training, potentially undermining licensing laws even if training is effective.
Topic:
Education, Licensing, Teachers, and Local Government
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America