Research Library

As foreign interference and the prevalence of disinformation test our democratic processes, election administrators must work across the aisle to demonstrate a shared commitment to healthy election systems at all levels of government. This report provides a framework for effective bipartisan policies that balance the linchpins required equitable access and integrity of the results.

Elizabeth M. Mendoza offers nine commonsense actions Congress can take to provide immigration relief and protect U.S. national and economic security.

This report explores the current situation in Palestinian-Israeli dynamics and concludes that the only real solution is a return to the two-state paradigm. Peace and security — for both Israelis and Palestinians — will come through mutual recognition of statehood and clearly defined and respected international borders, the author writes.

In this report, the authors outline the U.S. federal budget process for scientific R&D, discuss trends in federal R&D funding and provide an outlook for federal scientific R&D funding during the Biden administration.

By Paul Lagunes, Baker Institute for Public Policy; Xiaoxuan Yang, Columbia University; and Andrés Castro, Columbia University. Corruption is a persistent problem throughout Latin America. Higher rates of perceived corruption are associated with lower levels of economic welfare and direct foreign investment, write the authors.

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.

In the current absence of direct negotiations, the Obama administration has an opportunity to reshape the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating framework, according to a report by the Conflict Resolution Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The report recommends that the administration continue to demonstrate strong U.S. support for the two-state model, test the willingness of the parties to compromise and adopt a more comprehensive approach to resolving the conflict with the support of the international community.