Research Library

Faculty scholar Jim Blackburn proposes a series of realistic ideas that can substantially reduce misery and damage the next time a catastrophic storm like Harvey tears through the Houston-Galveston area. 

Aside from the massive cost of constructing a physical barrier along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, factors such as private and tribal land ownership and the impact on the environment must be taken into account.

On March 28, 2017, Energy Dialogues organized an event co-hosted with Shell at the Shell Woodcreek Campus in west Houston in which participants from across the oil and gas sector engaged in discussions that centered on three themes: economy, environment, and coalition-building. This report summarizes the day's discussions.

In a post for the Baker Institute Blog, the authors examine two associations that have been among the pillars of civil society in Tunisia and have played a key role in keeping alive a feminist, secularist discourse in favor of women’s rights in the last several decades.

Fellows Gabriel Collins and Jim Krane argue in this issue brief that despite changes in U.S.-Persian Gulf trade relations, the U.S. retains an enduring interest in preserving political stability and securing oil flows from the region.

A universally agreed-upon definition of the U.S.-Mexico border region is elusive, to say the least. The boundaries vary widely depending on the government entity or academic institution involved. This brief reviews the many officially sanctioned definitions of the region, and explains why a consensus is necessary for effective border management.

The authors investigate two plausible causes for the significant price discount of U.S. crudes during the U.S. “shale boom” and evaluate how much each mattered.

The authors examine whether Italian scientists have experienced any religious shifts and how they went through these shifts, addressing personal secularization theories by analyzing whether and how scientists reconstruct their religious identities by utilizing science. Published by Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences

A critical reassessment of NASA’s current programs and future is essential to ensure the nation’s continued leadership role in human spaceflight, writes senior fellow George Abbey.

Since early 2014, Brazil has been in the midst of a political and economic crisis characterized by the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff, steadily worsening economic conditions, and an investigation into widespread corruption within the government and Petrobras, the state-owned oil company. Experts from the Latin America Initiative analyze different aspects of the current situation in the issue briefs listed below.