Research Library

Fellow Rachel A. Meidl critiques China's ban on plastics, arguing that "simply banning a product and encouraging the use of understudied alternative products" is not enough. Forbes Blog: http://bit.ly/2O0ALh2

The United States' exit from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty appears more like a gesture than part of a well-considered long-term plan. There are few signs that the Trump administration has given substantial thought to how the U.S. can best protect its interests in a new and challenging international environment.

The massacre in El Paso is a symbol of complex social phenomena that we are experiencing today — and is not simply a matter of mental health, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other politicians have stepped forward to suggest. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.

If the country is to be economically successful and democratically viable, it would require learning from past mistakes and developing its significant potential in other economic sectors, writes energy policy fellow Francisco J. Monaldi. Forbes blog: http://bit.ly/2R80KU3.

While the U.S. still maintains the overall lead in Nobel prizes (with the exception of literature), the rate at which American scientists have been awarded the prize has declined since the late 1970s. Fellow Kirstin R.W. Matthews and postdoctoral fellow Kenneth M. Evans explore the state of scientific collaboration in the U.S. in this Baker Institute blog: https://bit.ly/2yiNhzF

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.

James A. Baker, III, and George P. Shultz — both former secretaries of state and Treasury secretaries — offer "A Conservative Answer to Climate Change" in a commentary for The Wall Street Journal.

Research analyst Ariana Marnicio explores whether gender-segregated transportation in the Middle East protects women’s rights and presence in the public sphere, or serves to deepen gender divides.

Social unrest over the extraction of Peru’s natural resources has increasingly heightened, as evident in the intensity of citizens’ claims and the resulting levels of violence.

Despite right-wing pushes for the annexation of a significant portion of the West Bank, support remains for a two-state solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yair Hirschfeld, fellow in the Center for the Middle East, analyzes Israel's political environment in this post on the Baker Institute Blog.