Research Library

Despite recent claims that “free trade is dead,” fellow Simon Lester explains that America was never close to anything resembling free trade in the first place. Instead, current U.S. trade policy, just like past policy, reflects a messy mix of free market and industrial policy views.

Five key factors make the Biden administration’s attempts to expand the Abraham Accords in the Middle East likely to fail, writes nonresident fellow Omar Rahman. Instead, regional approaches like the restoration of Saudi-UAE diplomatic relations with Iran are now holding sway.

How can advocates move the needle on immigration reform? Engaging policymakers through storytelling and combating misinformation are key, according to the American Psychological Association's Katherine B. McGuire.

Nonresident scholar Richard Kilroy explores how Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s decision to move the Guardia Nacional — an institution created to protect public safety — under the control of Mexico’s military could have dire consequences for civil-military relations and U.S.-Mexico security relations.

Kuwait lags behind the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council in its progress toward sustainable energy targets. Its pro-rentier democracy is slowing it down, writes visiting scholar Osamah Alsayegh.

A pledge to boost regional competitiveness is a welcome outcome of last month's North American Leaders’ Summit. But the region’s policymakers should remember the lessons of the past as they work to do so, writes fellow David A. Gantz.

China’s dominance over the supply of rare earths — which are critical for energy transition and defense technologies — should spur U.S. policymakers to bolster raw materials supply chains, write energy fellow Michelle Michot Foss and co-author Jacob Koelsch.

How durable is the Saudi-Russian relationship, and what are its implications for the longstanding energy-for-security arrangement between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.?

Anti-vaccine advocates have been deploying a new tactic: pushing for unvaccinated individuals to become a protected group under constitutional and statutory law. Expert Valerie Gutmann Koch explores why this could threaten public health.