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November 2019

commentary

Celebrating Children's Rights Is Important, but More Progress Is Needed
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which set a legal framework and put children's rights firmly on the international policy agenda, was adopted 30 years ago. While there are a number of initiatives in place, more work could be done to maximize children's involvement in policy and decisionmaking on issues that affect their lives.
Nov 25, 2019
commentary

Mali Violence Shows Limits of Intervention
Each year brings more violence to Mali and its neighbors. Mali and Burkina Faso are rapidly destabilizing; the situation in Niger is less dire, but that is hardly a commendation. Why is the violence in Mali getting worse given the significant efforts by the international community to stem it?
Nov 22, 2019
commentary

City Diplomacy Has Been on the Rise. Policies Are Finally Catching Up
Cities are not signing international treaties, nor do they have embassies around the world. But they can engage in all kinds of negotiations, reach agreements, and influence world politics. The State Department could tap into this power to enhance U.S. diplomacy, global image, and influence.
Nov 22, 2019
commentary

The Arab Spring in the Upside-Down
Where the original Arab Spring protests removed authoritarian leaders, the current demonstrators in Iraq and Lebanon are trying to topple popularly elected governments. This could have dramatic implications for the future of representative democracy in the Middle East.
Nov 21, 2019
commentary

Did No One Audit the Apple Card Algorithm?
Complex, opaque technologies like artificial intelligence provide significant benefits to society. But those benefits don't eliminate the need for accountability and transparency.
Nov 21, 2019
commentary

What Will the Opioid Crisis Look Like in Five Years?
Evidence suggests that once a synthetic opioid like fentanyl becomes dominant in a drug market, it stays that way. With that in mind, the United States should prepare for these drugs as a lasting phenomenon.
Nov 18, 2019
commentary

Recognizing Family Caregivers as Part of the Health Care Team
Recent shifts in health care practices have left family caregivers increasingly responsible for medical tasks. Given family caregivers' central role in medical care, there are efforts underway to improve family caregiver integration into the health care team, but there are barriers to effective integration and engagement.
Nov 18, 2019
commentary

Vietnam Needs to 'Struggle' More in the South China Sea
With the standoff between China and Vietnam at the disputed Vanguard Bank ended, it makes sense to take stock of how Hanoi's security strategy fared in countering Chinese coercion. It may be time for Vietnam to consider a careful recalibration to allow for more “struggle” and less “cooperation.”
Nov 15, 2019
commentary

How Voters Can Assess New Climate Plans
While the U.S. government has announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, most presidential candidates and many states have proposed climate plans of their own. How might voters determine if any of these plans can seriously address climate change?
Nov 14, 2019
commentary

Don't Overestimate the Power of Iraqi Protests
As protests in Iraq grow, a “good news” narrative seems to be developing that they are a significant blow to Iranian influence. But the bigger story is not who is up and who is down between Washington and Tehran; it is that yet another Arab public has taken to the streets demanding change.
Nov 14, 2019
commentary

The RAND Institute for Civil Justice: 40th Anniversary Reflections
For 40 years, the RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ) has supplied government and private decisionmakers and the public with the results of objective, empirically based, analytic research. In this era of the diminishing role of facts and analysis in public life, or Truth Decay, the mission and research of the ICJ have never been more important.
Nov 6, 2019
commentary

A New Phase in Middle-Power Adjustment to U.S.–China Competition?
Observers of world order focus inordinately on intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China. Less examined, but no less important, is how their competition is affecting geopolitics outside of the two countries.
Nov 5, 2019
commentary

South Korea Should Consider Sticking with Intelligence-Sharing Pact with Japan
South Korea announced its intent to withdraw from an intelligence-sharing arrangement with Japan. There are four reasons that Seoul should strongly consider reversing course.
Nov 5, 2019
commentary

How a Poor Indoor Environment at Home Affects Children's Health in the EU
One third of children in the EU are exposed to damp or mold, cold, darkness, and noise in their own homes. The good condition of homes should not only be seen as an issue of comfort, but as an essential basic requirement for good health of the residents, especially when they are families with children.
Nov 4, 2019
commentary

First, Manage Security Threats to Machine Learning
Deception is as old as warfare itself. Until now, the targets of deception operations have been humans. But the introduction of machine learning and artificial intelligence opens up a whole new world of opportunities to deceive by targeting machines.
Nov 4, 2019
essay

More Can Be Done to Save Veterans from Suicide
A decade of research at RAND has sought to focus the national conversation about suicide in general, and veteran suicide in particular, around solutions that work. The overwhelming message: We could do more to save the lives of veterans like Daniel Somers. Here is his story.
Nov 4, 2019
commentary

What Is the Future of England's Research and Research Assessment?
Rapid technological developments, changes in public policy, and shifts in the international environment all affect academia. To help understand these effects, RAND researchers asked more than 3,600 academics in England how they expect their research to evolve over the next decade.
Nov 1, 2019
blog

When Driverless Cars Were a Remote Idea
Researchers at RAND have been working on the technology behind driverless vehicles for over 50 years. From 1968 to the present, studies have involved remote-controlled drones, military land vehicles, autonomous submarines, and the safety and liability issues of self-driving cars.
Nov 1, 2019