The RAND Blog

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Taiwan and Six Potential New Year's Resolutions for the U.S.-Japanese Alliance

How might the United States and Japan prepare for possible conflict with China over Taiwan, and ensure forces are postured to operate together? The alliance could benefit from greater clarity, and practical conversations could make a better and stronger alliance in the new year.

Jeffrey W. Hornung

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What Sounds Do a Million Random Digits Make?

The title of RAND's 1955 classic, A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates, doesn't exactly dance off the page. But Paul Dunham, a sound artist in New Zealand, thought the work could make its own kind of music.

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Citizen Science Helps Communities Participate in, Understand, and Trust Science

Good citizen science brings a community together and helps it prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. A RAND guide takes non-expert investigators from the early stages of defining their questions and setting their goals, through building their teams, to planning for action.

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South Korea's Presidential Election: Beyond Mudslinging, What Gives?

The 2022 South Korean presidential campaign has focused largely on personal attacks and allegations of corruption with little attention being paid to pressing issues facing the nation. The absence of meaningful policy debate and clarity on policy deliverables will continue to leave the South Korean electorate largely uninformed about what may be the most important decision they will make in 2022.

Soo Kim

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Resolutions and Optimism from the Santa Monica Community Going into the New Year

Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy director Rhianna Rogers reflects on her 2022 resolution: Draw together folks from different cultural perspectives to speak with and learn from one another, and work together to find ways to make the world better for all.

Rhianna C. Rogers

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Manipulating the Climate: What Are the Geopolitical Risks?

Geoengineering technologies that could block the sun's rays or siphon huge amounts of carbon from the air are not that far out of reach. Yet the international community has not established the kinds of guardrails you might expect for potentially world-changing technologies.

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At the Intersection of Leadership, Strategy, and Foresight

Police leaders spend considerable time developing strategic plans, but events and circumstances can evolve in unanticipated ways. To create survivable plans, leaders should assess capabilities and the environment within which they work. To do so, they should incorporate foresight to develop the adaptability necessary to thrive.

Bob Harrison

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America Can Still Deliver on Global Vaccine Diplomacy

It is hard to see how science alone can end the pandemic without the rallying power of global diplomacy. The United States has played a leadership role in previous outbreaks, such as Ebola. It could play a similar role now to help consign the current pandemic to epidemic status.

Krishna B. Kumar @kbkumar_

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Russia May Underestimate Ukraine and NATO

Moscow has unveiled outlandish security demands that sound aggressive and suggest that it may underestimate both NATO and Ukraine. Kremlin leaders might consider instead seeking a stable European security architecture that protects Russia's interests while also allowing for a vibrant and sovereign Ukraine.

William Courtney @courtneywmh, Peter A. Wilson

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Taiwan Would Be Better Off Alone

Relinquishing diplomatic partners could free Taiwan from an unwinnable competition with China and refocus attention on what really matters: reducing China's coercive power by strengthening relationships with powers that can truly help.

Derek Grossman @DerekJGrossman

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Helping People Affected by Conflict: Q&A with Jacqueline Burns

From the Air Force to Africa to RAND, Jacqueline Burns resolved to help people whose lives have been torn apart by conflict or disaster. As a senior policy analyst she wants to be a part of finding better solutions to the complex questions of peace and security.

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The Most Popular RAND Research of 2021

As another extraordinary year draws to a close, we continue to believe that objective, nonpartisan research and analysis has a key role to play in navigating what continues to be a difficult time. Here are the 10 research projects that resonated most with rand.org readers in 2021.

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RAND Commentary Highlights of 2021

Vaccine rollouts, an attack on the U.S. Capitol, massive ransomware attacks, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, record numbers of job openings and people quitting, and more. RAND researchers weighed in on all these topics and more.

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Complex Calculations Shape Pakistan-TTP Negotiations

Pakistan sees the Taliban as a facilitator of discussions with the TTP, as an ally in persuading the TTP to negotiate, and as a guarantor of whatever agreement is reached. And given the Taliban's diplomatic isolation and desperate economic situation, Pakistan can in return assist Afghanistan's new rulers in gaining acceptance and aid.

Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins

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RAND Video Highlights of 2021

The best RAND videos from the past year brought our research to life in new ways. From the sidewalks of Pittsburgh to preschools in the Middle East, see how people around the world are using RAND research to make their communities safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.