Post Archives

The United States’ security strategy in the Indo-Pacific needs a course correction. In the past five years, China has built artificial islands to extend its sea claims and set a timeline for readiness to take over Taiwan. This revisionism threatens vital trade routes, resources, and alliances that everyday Americans depend on. While United States military […]

Foreign malign actors, specifically Russia, China, and Iran, are engaged in sustained efforts to harm the American information environment. By disseminating disinformation (defined as false, inaccurate, or misleading information intended to cause harm to a person, social group, organization, or state), these actors are increasingly able to deepen polarization and erode trust in democratic institutions […]

Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States faces a strategic impasse. The Trump administration entered office with clear objectives: conclude the war rapidly, transfer greater responsibility for European security to U.S. allies, and reorient American strategic focus toward the Indo-Pacific. Despite sustained diplomatic engagement and repeated attempts to broker a settlement, […]

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have grown into significant middle powers over the past decades. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) nimbly exercise strategic autonomy through economic might, careful multi-alignment, credible self-defense strategic assets, and constructive diplomacy on the world stage. What can be called “the Khaleeji social […]

The United States has led the multilateral system for 80 years. While its engagement should not diminish, it is time for the United States to advance bold reforms to overcome the dysfunction in central parts of the multilateral system. The multilateral system, and the contributions the United States makes to it, must make America stronger, […]

The United States is entering a period of escalating great power competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). China poses a unique challenge due to its rapid accumulation of military, economic, and development power worldwide. Competition with China will rely far more on economic tools, especially development finance, trade, investment, and digital technologies. This […]

Illiberalism is on the rise in the Americas. The region, once a bastion of post-Cold War democracy with countries like Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay forging strong liberal institutions after overthrowing dictators, is experiencing a period of democratic backsliding. Recent developments include growing corruption and the democratic election of strongmen, coupled with deteriorations in the rule […]

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is more economically powerful, militarily capable, and politically connected than at any time in the past, and its growing national power increasingly poses a threat to U.S. and Western interests in the Indo-Pacific. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which frequently draws upon historical global oppression of China—like the Century […]

The Western Hemisphere influences the prosperity of the United States (U.S.) more directly than any other region in the world. As a result, U.S. policies are designed to promote a secure, middle-class, and democratic landscape within Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). However, the erosion of democratic norms and the emergence of illiberal states in […]

Since the early 2000s, the governments of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Qatar have become increasingly important actors in the humanitarian system. KSA, the UAE, and Kuwait have each regularly been among the top ten donors in the world and provided a majority of assistance in several major crises. While […]