Research Library

Since 2001, the White House Transition Project has provided reports to incoming White House staff members on topics critical to a successful transfer of power. Written by presidential scholars from across the country, the series aims to enhance the staff’s understanding of day-to-day operations in the West and East wings. Nearly every former White House chief of staff, press secretary, director of communications, and senior advisor since the Nixon administration has been interviewed for the project to determine how each office operates — what works, what doesn't and what did they wish they had known before arriving at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.? Other reports cover topics as diverse as the most effective use of the first 100 days and the dynamics of presidential travel. The 2017 series is a partnership between the Moody Foundation, the White House Transition Project and the Baker Institute. It is led by Martha Joynt Kumar, an emeritus professor at Towson University and author of several books on the presidency, and Terry Sullivan, author and member of the political science faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was supported by a grant from the Moody Foundation.

Science, technology, and innovation are vital to America’s economy and workforce, and the competitiveness of U.S. industry. The authors offer five recommendations to ensure the establishment of an effective White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

In this blog post, Mexico Center director Tony Payan discusses the results of Mexico's June 5 election and what they mean for the country's 2018 presidential election.

Nonresident scholar Isidro Morales examines the Mexican government's response to Donald Trump and other critics of Mexico in the U.S. and abroad.

This working paper analyzes the roots of Iran’s “dissonant” political system and revolutionary ideology, the fractious contest over defining and applying this ideology, and the implications of these struggles for Iranian foreign and security policy.

Five years after the Jasmine Revolution, Tunisia stands alone as the only country in North Africa where the Arab Spring has led to significant reforms and a democratic transition. Reservations have been voiced, however, on the gender equality provisions in the country’s revised constitution.

Middle East fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen analyzes recent government shuffles in the United Arab Emirates.

Is the U.S. better off linking its money supply to a global commodity market or allowing an independent central bank to respond to economic conditions?

Mexico Center director Tony Payan testifies before a House subcommittee on the major threats to the implementation of Mexico's energy reforms.

On May 23, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a series of bills to implement constitutional changes to the country’s political and electoral processes. The reforms bring some of the most dynamic shifts to Mexican politics since the 1990s, including replacing the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) with the National Electoral Institute (INE). The new INE and the measures behind it now strive to replicate the IFE’s success in the country's states and municipalities.