Research Library

Joe Barnes explores why, in the absence of a viable alternative that does not involve an open-ended commitment in Afghanistan, President Biden’s plan to withdraw makes sense — even if it does entail potential real costs and real risks. Read his post in the Baker Institute Blog.

While foreign policy has rarely been the predominant issue in U.S. presidential campaigns, the November election will provide voters a clear choice when it comes to U.S. relations with other nations, writes fellow Joe Barnes.

Fellow Joe Barnes blogs on the Trump administration's new approach to Iran, as laid out by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Fellow Joe Barnes blogs on the latest foreign policy shake-up in the Trump administration.

In his first prime-time address to the nation, President Trump committed the United States to a sustained and, indeed, enhanced military presence in Afghanistan.

With the implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement, many Gulf Cooperative Council states now openly wonder whether U.S. support can still be relied upon, given the speed with which the U.S. government has engaged Iran in negotiation and diplomacy since 2013. This incomprehension may lead to further instability in the Middle East as the Gulf States continue to take increasingly unilateral action in Yemen and other regional conflict zones, fellow for the Middle East Kristian Coates Ulrichsen writes.

The only women elected to Bahrain’s new parliament are all Shi’a. While the Shi’a community in Bahrain is often considered to be economically and politically marginalized from the regime, the winning female candidates are wealthy and linked professionally with the regime.

Thursday's Baker Institute Blog carries a commentary from fellow Joe Barnes on President Obama’s Sept. 10, 2014, speech on ISIS and Iraq.

President Obama’s commencement address at West Point on Wednesday was clearly aimed at deflecting rising criticism of his administration’s foreign policy. In particular, the speech was designed to address complaints that U.S. foreign policy under Obama has lacked strategic coherence and signaled a U.S. retreat from the international arena. The administration promoted the address as a platform for the president to describe his “vision” for U.S. foreign policy during the remainder of his term. To the extent that the speech did present a vision, it was not a particularly new one.

The situation in Ukraine is the most serious foreign policy challenge ever faced by the Obama administration, writes Rice faculty scholar Richard Stoll.