Research Library

Mark Finley explains the cost-benefit analysis behind the Saudi government's recent move to pause plans to increase spare oil production capacity — and why spare capacity still equates to power in the oil market.

Hama's Oct. 7 attack on Israel threatens to undermine a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s foreign and domestic agenda: the “de-risking” of the region, writes fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen.

President Kennedy’s dream for joint cooperation between nations was realized with the International Space Station. That dream should not be abandoned, writes George W.S. Abbey, former director of NASA Johnson Space Center.

President Barack Obama’s visit to Argentina launched new bilateral relations in which traditional diplomacy was widely displayed with the signing of agreements in economics, energy, climate change, multilateral cooperation, global health, democracy, human rights, security and defense.

Water scarcity in Jamaica has brought serious development and social challenges, as 30 percent of the poorest households rely on untreated water sources. Proper water conservation, management and adaptation approaches are required to enhance social, economic, food and health sustainability.

The range of responses in the six Gulf states to the Iran nuclear deal illustrates both the diversity of regional approaches to Iran and the absence of any monolithic “Gulf position” on the issue.

Although the hemisphere is keen to insulate itself from Venezuela’s political and economic problems, the country constantly challenges regional capabilities in crisis management. The latest victim of the turmoil in Venezuela is the Brazilian government.

Whether out of strategic calculations or due to attitude towards women, the outcome is the same: female candidates often do not follow the party route to political office in Bahrain.

Governments of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) have called for a discussion on the decriminalization of marijuana after a pilot study found that legalized medical marijuana sales could boost the region’s ailing economies. As a result, the topic was an important agenda item at a CARICOM Inter-Sessional Heads of State Summit held in March 2014. Two aspects of decriminalization were discussed: decriminalization for medical use and decriminalization for recreational use.