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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

The Lost Generation in American Foreign Policy

Sep 15, 2020

Throughout the 55 years following World War II, successive U.S. administrations racked up major foreign policy successes at an average rate of about once a year. Since 2001, the pace of foreign policy achievement has fallen to once every four years. The result has been a lost generation in American foreign policy.
Commentary

America's Indo-Pacific Vision Is Becoming a Reality—Because of China

Sep 14, 2020

The Trump administration's Indo-Pacific strategy has received a significant boost in recent months toward achieving its goal of keeping the region “free and open” from Chinese coercion. Ironically, China itself has been doing the boosting.

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Commentary

Ambiguity Has Its Uses

As China's thirst to resolve the Taiwan issue intensifies, the United States' halfhearted commitment to the island will become increasingly perilous: too weak to deter Chinese aggression but strong enough to drag the United States into a war. No U.S. approach to Taiwan will offer a perfect guarantee of peace. But the United States has many options short of the provocative, costly, and diplomatically risky step of an unconditional security pledge.

Sep 24, 2020
Testimony

The Role of Allies and Partners in U.S. Military Strategy and Operations

America's time as the world's sole superpower is ending, and the country faces significant challenges. The United States needs to strengthen its network of partnerships to prepare for a new era of great-power competition.

Sep 23, 2020
News Release

News Release

New Game, the First Offered by RAND to Public, Challenges Players to Design Defense Strategies for Uncertain World

The RAND Corporation has released a boxed version of Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices that researchers originally developed to help the Pentagon craft its capstone guidance document, the 2018 National Defense Strategy. It is the first wargame offered by RAND to the public and carries a $250 price tag.

Sep 22, 2020
Multimedia

Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices

Hedgemony is a tabletop game designed to challenge players to outline a strategy and then make tough choices as they try to develop, manage, posture, and employ their forces in alignment with their strategies.

Sep 22, 2020
Dissertation

Dissertation

Loosening the Okinawan Knot: A Mixed-Methods Study of Okinawan Public Perceptions of the U.S. Military

Provides a detailed and reliable understanding of the nature of the Okinawan public's perceptions, policy preferences, and cultural attitudes regarding the problems and benefits associated with the U.S. military in Okinawa.

Sep 21, 2020
Tool

Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices

In this tabletop military strategy game, players represent the United States, its allies, and its key competitors. They must use “hedging” strategies and decide how to best manage their resources and forces.

Sep 21, 2020
Blog

Wildfires, America's Wealth Gap, Screening for COVID-19 at Work: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the growing risk of wildfires, how Americans' incomes have grown (or not), workplace screenings for COVID-19 symptoms, and more.

Sep 18, 2020
Commentary

In the Middle East, Russia and China Expand Their Influence

While the United States is concerned primarily about a resurgent China's inroads in the Middle East, it is also nervous about the gambits of a revanchist Russia. As the United States decides when and how to contest China and Russia—in and beyond the Middle East—it will have to resist alarmism as vigorously as complacency.

Sep 18, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Emerging Infectious Disease, the Household Built Environment Characteristics, and Urban Planning: Evidence on Avian Influenza in Vietnam

This study examines the relationship between the mix of household-scale water supplies, sanitation systems, and construction materials, and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza among poultry in Vietnam.

Sep 16, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Moscow's Calibrated Coercion in Ukraine and Russian Strategic Culture

This paper analyzes Russia's use of force in Ukraine since the end of major combat operations in February 2015.

Sep 16, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Strategic Sderzhivanie: Understanding Contemporary Russian Approaches to "Deterrence"

This paper argues that viewing Russia's actions through the lens of the concept "sderzhivanie" can help Western analysts and decision-makers better understand the drivers of Moscow's behavior.

Sep 16, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Hybrid Governance of Disaster Management in Freetown, Monrovia, and Dar Es Salaam

This article introduces a hybrid governance perspective to disaster management. Hybrid governance refers to situations where state and non-state actors collectively provide key services.

Sep 16, 2020
Multimedia

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper Visits RAND

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper visited RAND's Santa Monica headquarters on September 16, 2020. Secretary Esper emphasized the importance of deterring China and the role of the U.S. defense industrial base.

Sep 16, 2020
Commentary

The Islamic State in Afghanistan Is Down, but Not Out

The Afghan Taliban is on the verge of entering into a power-sharing agreement with the Afghan government in a peace deal facilitated by the United States. Washington seems to be holding out hope that the deal will stabilize the country. But the Islamic State Khorasan Province remains a concern. The Islamic State in Afghanistan may be down, but it's not out.

Sep 14, 2020
Blog

America's Declining Global Influence, COVID-19 and Schools, Pardoning Snowden: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on America's declining status on the world stage, why schools need long-term plans to address COVID-19, what Shinzo Abe's resignation means for the U.S.-Japan alliance, and more.

Sep 11, 2020
Commentary

Is Ayman al-Zawahiri Really the Future of Al-Qaida?

Nineteen years after 9/11, al Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has yet to achieve the household notoriety evoked by his immediate predecessor, Osama bin Laden. But even though Zawahiri has conjured less of a personality cult, al Qaida's current leader is just as dangerous to the United States as its old one.

Sep 11, 2020
Commentary

What Abe Leaves Behind

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's unexpected resignation leaves several of his policy priorities unfinished, including revising Japan's constitution and finalizing a peace treaty with Russia. But the security issues facing Japan and the region remain unchanged, and Abe's successor may be forced to confront several of them on his very first day.

Sep 11, 2020
Journal Article

Winning Friends and Influencing People: Naval Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics

This report provides an overview of the PLAN's approach to naval diplomacy, focusing on its activity outside maritime East Asia, in what it calls the "far seas."

Sep 11, 2020

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RAND Topic:
International Affairs

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