CIRSD Recommends

The Promise of China’s G-20 Presidency

In just over a month, China will assume the G-20 presidency. Over the next year – and especially at the organization’s September summit, to be held in Hangzhou – China plans to help lay the groundwork for a world economy that is more “innovative, inv

The Right Price for Preserving Our Climate

When world leaders convene in Paris this week for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, their task will be to reach a global agreement on curbing greenhouse-gas emissions. A successful outcome, demonstrating that countries can work together f

What to Expect After the Downing of a Russian Fighter Jet

Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet in Syria has raised the stakes in an already crowded and complicated conflict. The Nov. 24 incident will also likely undermine efforts to find a solution to the country's protracted civil war.

The Truth About Trade

Trade negotiators rarely get to celebrate a victory. The United States, for example, has been negotiating over 15 bilateral free trade agreements, with none concluded since the Korea-US agreement was finalized at the end of 2010. This makes the recen

Diplomatic Access: Bangladesh

For 2015, The Diplomat presents “Diplomatic Access,” a series of exclusive interviews with ambassadors from the Asia-Pacific region. By talking to these diplomats, we’ll give readers a sense of each country’s perspective on various regional economic

The economic debates behind COP21

What’s at stake: France will chair and host the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) at the end of the year. While the scientific community has reached a consensus that climate-warming tr

If Ever There Was a Case for Genuine Global Action in the Mideast, Destroying ISIS Is It

ISIS, with its horrific attack on purely civilian targets in Paris, has established new realities about its nature, capabilities and intentions. The need for its elimination can now no longer be in doubt. It is not that Parisian lives are more import

Dealing with the Islamic State demands patience, not panic

Henry Kissinger has noted that in his adult lifetime, the United States has fought five major wars and began each one with great enthusiasm and public support. But in each of them, Americans soon began to ask, “How quickly can you withdraw?” In three

The Empathy Gap Between Paris and Beirut

Hours before the carnage in Paris on Friday, a double suicide bombing ripped through a working-class shopping district in Beirut. ISIS claimed responsibility for the explosions, which caused 43 deaths and hundreds of casualties in the worst bombing t

Paris and the Fate of the Earth

The lives of billions of people, for centuries to come, will be at stake when world leaders and government negotiators meet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris at the end of the month. The fate of an unknown number of endangered

Cybersecurity treaties may be nice, but it’s really every country for itself

The United States and China are attempting to negotiate what would be the first cyber arms-control agreement to ban peacetime attacks on critical infrastructure. The talks reflect the commitment that Washington and Beijing made at the conclusion of C

The 4 Issues That Can Make or Break the Paris Climate Agreement

As a general rule, governments like to conduct international negotiations in secret. The recent Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear program, for example, as well as the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, have both been concluded u

There’s no perfect answer to the migrant crisis – and we must face that

There are no easy answers to Europe’s migration crisis. Perhaps that fact alone – the reality that all options are insufficient – could be the basis to build a consensus out of the bitter divisions that now grip the continent. The answer to the crisi

To Fight Inequality, Support Women’s Work

Early this year, a team of distinguished economists, current and former government ministers, academics, labor leaders, and opinion makers gathered at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., to announce an ambitious plan to create “inclusive prosper

Refugee road to nowhere: the Western Balkans

It has become a corridor, the route thousands of refugees take daily from Macedonia through Serbia to the border with Hungary and Croatia. Beyond that lie Slovenia and Austria and finally Germany and Sweden.

The Arab world’s challenge

The fact that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet – a group of four organizations that played a key role in Tunisia’s attempts to build a pluralistic democracy after its 2011 revolution – demonstra

The U.N. at 70: Fix this broken institution

The United Nations turns 70 on Saturday. Its founders, rebuilding the world from the ruins of World War II, had lofty and probably unreasonable expectations for what it could accomplish.

Jimmy Carter: A Five-Nation Plan to End the Syrian Crisis

I HAVE known Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, since he was a college student in London, and have spent many hours negotiating with him since he has been in office. This has often been at the request of the United States government during thos

World Weary: Evaluating the United Nations at 70

Pity the United Nations, which turns 70 this month. Rather than enjoying a carefree retirement, the UN faces unrelenting demands on its time and resources from threats both old (violent conflict, nuclear proliferation, and infectious disease) and new

Wat in the World

Aleksander Wat’s life and work stand as warning that the totalitarian temptations of the 20th century have yet to run their course.

A Path Out of the Middle East Collapse

With Russia in Syria, a geopolitical structure that lasted four decades is in shambles. The U.S. needs a new strategy and priorities. The debate about whether the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran regarding its nuclear program stabilized t

These 5 Facts Explain Why We Need the United Nations

It's important and infuriating, but the world wouldn't be the same without the UN. It just needs to be better.

Greece, Russia and the politics of humiliation

Just before Alexis Tsipras was elected Greek prime minister in January, he made a vow to the voters: “On Monday national humiliation will be over. We will finish with orders from abroad.”

King Salman Comes to Washington

Philip Gordon: Syria. The U.S.-Saudi gap on Syria remains wide, but recent developments there and in the region may provide an opportunity to start to close it. Washington and Riyadh have long agreed on the desirability of getting Asad to leave, but

The UN at 70

Jeffrey D. Sachs: The United Nations will mark its 70th anniversary when world leaders assemble next month at its headquarters in New York. Though there will be plenty of fanfare, it will inadequately reflect the UN’s value, not only as the most impo

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