Category North America

International Development, North America

USAID and the Trump Foreign Aid Doctrine

April 29, 2025

On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, the administration launched a concerted attack on the U.S. foreign aid framework,[1] sending shockwaves through the global humanitarian landscape. Under a cloud of misinformation about USAID, this decision has already cost lives,…

North America, Policy & Politics

Social Media, Disinformation, and AI: Transforming the Landscape of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Political Campaigns

January 14, 2025

Political campaigns have been repurposed to accommodate the importance of social media platforms as powerful tools for communication, outreach, and influence. The 2024 U.S. presidential election highlighted the key role of social media presence in reaching the American audience. Candidates…

Governance & Law, North America, Policy & Politics, Regional

Three Myths About the Jimmy Carter Presidency

January 6, 2025

Jimmy Carter was a complex man who led the United States in a complex era. He lived humbly but was not humble. He believed in forgiveness but was unforgiving. He promised that his administration would be transparent, but he personally…

Energy & Environment, North America, South America

The Pitfalls of All-the-above Environmental Policy: Analyzing the Role of Right-Wing and Left-Wing Populism in Recent Brazil and U.S. Politics

October 30, 2024

Climate change is one of the most defining issues of our century. Changes in overall human behavior are necessary for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. These changes should come from everyone, including individuals, corporations, and governments. Politicians are leading…

Civil Society, Governance & Law, North America

To Defeat Populism, Bring Back the Fireside Chats

October 11, 2024

The world is facing a new generation of challenges that are of a different kind, degree, and dimension than those of the past. Many are borderless, including some that present existential risks to humanity. Many are interrelated, multiplying and magnifying…

Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Security & Conflict

WHAT IS ‘STRATEGIC COMPETITION’ AND ARE WE STILL IN IT?

February 2, 2024

The last two (Trump and Biden) US national security strategies have claimed that the United States is in ‘strategic competition’ (a.k.a., ‘Great Power Competition’) with the autocracies of Russia and the People’s Republic of China. What does the term mean?…

Asia Pacific, Book Reviews, North America, Security & Conflict

Cold Rivals: The New Era of US-China Strategic Competition edited by Evan S. Medeiros

November 8, 2023

Evan S. Medeiros offers a useful collection of essays that examine US-China relations from the 1970s towards our more recent, turbulent days. The defining characterization of US-China relations throughout the book is one of “strategic competition” among rivals. This is…

Europe, North America, Policy & Politics

How U.S. History Can Save North Macedonia and Defeat Putinism in the Balkans

October 2, 2023

Given the spectacular killing of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the less-than-spectacular Ukrainian counter-offensive, it’s looking a lot tougher to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fortunately, the United States has a rare opportunity to defeat Putinism in the Balkans. To score this…

Asia Pacific, Economics, Governance & Law, North America, Policy & Politics

How China’s Political System Discourages Innovation and Encourages IP Theft

July 31, 2023

U.S. observers have long complained that Chinese firms steal intellectual property (IP) from American companies, universities, and research institutions.¹ Most of these complaints stress that the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) directs this theft. Other analysts focus…

Governance & Law, North America, Policy & Politics

Unmoored from the UN: The Struggle to Ratify UNCLOS in the United States

June 26, 2023

On July 9, 1982, after three series of multilateral conferences spanning decades of rigorous negotiations, President Ronald Reagan formally announced that the United States would not sign the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), on the…

Asia Pacific, Civil Society, Economics, Europe, Middle East, North America, Policy & Politics, Regional, Security & Conflict, Topical

Johns Hopkins SAIS Faculty and Fellow Reflections: The War in Ukraine at One Year

February 24, 2023

One year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) faculty and SAIS Foreign Policy Institute fellows explain the current state of the war, the varying international responses to it, and…

Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East, North America, Policy & Politics, Regional, Security & Conflict, Topical

Countering Terror in Transition: A Typology of Terrorist Organization Successors and their Vulnerabilities

November 15, 2022

Dr. Tricia Bacon is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Affairs at American University. Dr. Elizabeth Grimm is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. One of the singular challenges for a…