RAND's international affairs research comprises a range of cross-cutting issues, including global economies and trade, space and maritime security, diplomacy, global health and education, nation building, and regional security and stability. RAND also analyzes the policies and effectiveness of international organizations such as the UN, NATO, European Union, and ASEAN.
Commentary
Libya should remain in charge of its own post-conflict path, but it needs the help of external actors to succeed with its transition, writes Christopher Chivvis.
Commentary
The dilemma is how sanctions and pressure would dissuade Iran's leaders from pursuing their nuclear program (as Mr. Romney recommended) if a President Romney wouldn't agree to sit down and talk with them, writes Dalia Dassa Kaye.
Report
Seven NATO countries are reducing the size of their armies, navies, and air forces. The capacity of these major European powers to project military power will be highly constrained.
Research Brief
This study analyzes the impact of planned defense budget cuts on the capabilities of seven key European members of NATO and suggests ways in which the Alliance can adapt to meet emerging security challenges.
Commentary
The roots of the unrest are not in the desire to cast off authoritarian regimes that took expression in Arab Spring protests. The roots came before the uprisings, and progress will take longer than we wish, writes Laurel Miller.
Report
The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic political movement that heads the national government in Egypt, faces a generational divide that poses significant challenges to the group as it works to extend its role in Egyptian society.
News Release
The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic political movement that heads the national government in Egypt, faces a generational divide that poses significant challenges to the group as it works to extend its role in Egyptian society.
Commentary
It is time to be clear-headed again about the influence the U.S. has in the world. And it is time for the country to show the confidence—not to be confused with arrogance—that the rest of the world seems to have in it, writes Andrew R. Hoehn.
Commentary
Afghanistan will fail if it does not have a central government with enough strength, support, and willpower to maintain control of the bulk of its forces, writes Olga Oliker.
Commentary
As long as the United States holds tight to its values and solves its problems at home, it will be able to manage the rise of China, write Andrew Scobell and Andrew J. Nathan.
Commentary
In Afghanistan, the U.S. military has been fighting the longest war in the nation’s history—and many Americans don't understand why. The final presidential debate on Monday affords President Obama and Governor Romney an excellent opportunity to provide answers, writes Jonah Blank.
Commentary
As a case of military intervention, Libya does not tell us much about how useful the lower-cost, lighter footprint adopted there can be under more challenging conditions, or when the objective is broader and more transformational, as was the case at the outset in Iraq and Afghanistan, writes Christopher S. Chivvis.
Commentary
The Afghan government and the Taliban have signaled that the United States would be the most suitable third-party interlocutor and most effective at holding the parties to their word in any agreement. Yet the U.S. must accept that the timeline must be organically determined by the Afghans and not manufactured to meet a predetermined schedule, writes Jason Campbell.
Commentary
Given Syria's complex society and external ties, the West should happily settle for a stable government not dominated by Russia or Iran, and not in military conflict with its neighbors, including Israel, writes Harold Brown.
Research Brief
Describes a methodology for analyzing public opinion and mood in closed societies, focusing on a case study that analyzed Iranian public opinion and mood as expressed over Twitter in the nine months following Iran's 2009 presidential election.
Commentary
Any instability in Iran, even if it is meant to pressure Ahmadinejad, is bad news for the entire regime. The nose-diving economy has affected the lives of millions of Iranians; they are unlikely just to blame Ahmadinejad alone, writes Alireza Nader.
Commentary
Just by threatening to close the Strait, Iran increases pressure on the U.S. to restrain Israel from attacking Iran. Other key players—including major oil importers such as China, Japan, and India—would be reluctant to support military action because of heavy dependence on Persian Gulf oil, writes Alireza Nader.
Report
When the Soviet Union posed an existential threat to America, there was no room for mistakes. Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, under President Carter, called on his former experience as Secretary of the Air Force (under LBJ in the Vietnam War), as director of Livermore Laboratory, and as director of U.S. Defense Research and Engineering (under Kennedy) to deter the Soviets during the Cold War. Brown's new memoir gives an insider's view.
News Release
When the Soviet Union posed an existential threat to America, there was no room for mistakes. Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, under President Carter, called on his former experience as Secretary of the Air Force (under LBJ in the Vietnam War), as director of Livermore Laboratory, and as director of U.S. Defense Research and Engineering (under Kennedy) to deter the Soviets during the Cold War. Brown's new memoir gives an insider's view.
News Release
Three Stanton Nuclear Security Fellows at the RAND Corporation—Robert Reardon, Markus Schiller, and David Kearn—have published new research examining nuclear security issues.
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