North America

Ambassador Nicholas Burns in conversation with Andrea Mitchell about John Bolton's book.

Stephen Walt writes that political institutions are not permanent phenomena: they are artificial human creations and only as enduring, adaptive, and effective as people make them. He hopes for a serious and sustained process of democratic change, one that respects the nobler features of the U.S. constitutional order yet addresses all the ways in which The United States has failed to live up to its own professed ideals. The alternative, he fears, will be something much more dangerous. 

We pledge to be allies in the work to heal the wounds of racism, injustice, and oppression. To implement positive and lasting progress we must come together and unite behind the ideals of this nation’s founding—that we are all created equal and deserve equal treatment under the law.

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the increasing convergence of the physical and digital worlds and it affects us all. Hundreds of "things" are being connected to the Internet and each other, with more than fifty billion devices expected to be connected by 2030. Many IoT devices are manufactured abroad at low cost with little consideration for security. How can we secure these devices, especially those manufactured outside the United States?

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an important cooperative framework that increasingly affects the global economy, trade, and emission patterns. However, most existing studies pay insufficient attention to consumption-based emissions, embodied emissions, and non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs). This study constructs a GHG emissions database to study the trends and variations in production-based, consumption-based, and embodied emissions associated with BRI countries

Mr. Trump takes risks for the perfect photograph. He's not alone in that. Hundreds have died seeking the perfect selfie. But the moral calculus is entirely different. Mr. Trump isn't bearing the risk. Mr. Trump's photo ops are dangerous for everyone else - those standing next to him, sitting in front of a church, working at their jobs, or lying in their beds - three feet or three thousand miles away. 

The SAIS Review interviews Nicholas Burns on June 10, 2020.

Few nations elicit such fatalism among American policymakers and analysts as Vladimir Putin’s Russia. For some, the country is an irredeemable pariah state, responsive only to harsh punishment and containment. Others see a wronged and resurgent great power that deserves more accommodation. Perspectives vary by the day, the issue, and the political party. Across the board, however, resignation has set in about the state of U.S.-Russian relations, and Americans have lost confidence in their own ability to change the game.

Joseph Nye describes how the United States had lost its soft power before and regained it. He is optimistic about the United States regaining it again.

Speaking with NDR Info, Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook discusses the roots of systemic racism in the U.S. and how the country has changed since the 1960s, when sustained protests shifted the civil rights landscape. She addresses the impact recent events have had on the American political landscape, as measured in recent polls and  discusses the meaning of solidarity protests across the world and their impact on political discourse in the U.S.