Research Library

In a new brief, contributing expert Robert Barron explores the first phase of the Israel-Hamas war and what stakeholders must consider for a viable pathway to peace.

Are our views of sustainability becoming distorted by the often unsubstantiated “green” actions of companies and organizations? This brief explores why we urgently need a new framework for sustainability — one that relies on a holistic, cross-disciplinary, and multidimensional life cycle approach.

Hostile immigration enforcement policies and anti-immigrant actions against refugees and asylum seekers are causing trauma to migrant families and exposing them to dangerous living conditions on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

President Joe Biden's new border rule will route many asylum seekers to Mexico — where migrants face abuses and a growing asylum case backlog. Kelsey Norman and Ana Martín Gil explain why Mexico isn't a "safe third country" for asylum seekers.

This brief explores pressing issues the Biden administration should address in developing a strategy for the Middle East. It provides analysis and policy recommendations related to the GCC states, U.S.-Iran relations, Islamist groups, and refugees and migration. Further CME publications will address issues such as the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace and the crisis in Lebanon.

Integrating a life-cycle dimension into future policies to assess the social, environmental and economic implications of various products across their life cycle and throughout their value chain is critical to achieving sustainability and a circular economy, writes Rachel A. Meidl, fellow in energy and environment.

With the cost of virgin plastic directly affected by oil and natural gas prices, the global plastics economy is highly vulnerable to shocks. The authors argue that in order to advance sustainability and solve existential crises like resource depletion and the environmental and social impacts of climate change, high-income countries should take the lead on the development of transparent, closed loops for plastics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25613/JXVH-K250

The drastic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on organized crime in Mexico requires policymakers and law enforcement in the U.S. and Mexico to adapt their strategies, the authors write.

Mexico's government has eliminated almost all conditions (health checkups, school attendance for children) previously attached to cash transfers for the poor. The author considers the impact of the antipoverty overhaul.

Fellow for the Middle East A.Kadir Yildirim and undergraduate intern Meredith McCain explore survey data on the goals, outcomes and beneficiaries of the Arab Spring protests.