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Begin New Search Topic Politics Political Geography United States Content Type Policy Brief

1. EU Pressure Insufficient to Gain U.S. Visa Waiver for Poles

Author:
Marek Wasinski
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
In a communication of 12 April, the European Commission assessed the potential political and economic consequences of suspending visa exemption for U.S. citizens. Lacking pressure from individual EU Member States, the Commission discouraged such a move and gave the EU Council and European Parliament three months to take an official position. It seems almost certain that the measure of applying pressure on a non-EU country will not be used to help Poland and four other Member States obtain visa-free travel to the United States or other countries with a similar restriction. However, if current trends continue, Poland should join the U.S. Visa Waiver Programme in five years.
Topic:
Economics, Politics, European Union, and Citizenship
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

2. The Global Outlook of the Top Five Candidates in the U.S. Presidential Election

Author:
Cordella Buchanan Ponczek
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Traditionally, there is a partisan split on foreign policy in the United States: Republican candidates and voters worry more about terrorism, defense and national security than Democratic candidates and voters, thereby putting more stock in foreign policy issues, which manifests itself in the aggressiveness—of lack thereof—of each party’s foreign policy platform. But the candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential election can be categorised by more than just party: a line can also be drawn between conventional candidates—Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Republicans—and unconventional candidates—Donald Trump, a Republican, and Bernie Sanders, a Democrat. Should a conventional candidate be elected president, U.S. foreign policy would be based on predictable adaptation to the changing international environment. An unconventional candidate, however, would be a wild card, whose actions would be difficult to predict.
Topic:
Security, Politics, and Elections
Political Geography:
United States

3. An Assessment of the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement

Author:
Jeffrey Schott, Eujiin Jung, and Cathleen Cimino-Isaacs
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
Of all the free trade agreements (FTAs) concluded by Korea with its major trading partners since the turn of the century, the Korea-China FTA may be the largest in trade terms. It is, however, far from the best in terms of the depth of liberalization and the scope of obligations on trade and investment policies. Korea and China agreed to liberalize a large share of bilateral trade within 20 years, but both sides incorporated extensive exceptions to basic tariff reforms and deferred important market access negotiations on services and investment for several years. Political interests trumped economic objectives, and the negotiated outcome cut too many corners to achieve such a comprehensive result. The limited outcome in the Korea-China talks has two clear implications for economic integration among the northeast Asian countries. First, prospects for the ongoing China-Japan-Korea talks will be limited and unlikely to exceed the Korea-China outcome. Second, Korea and Japan need to strengthen their bilateral leg of the northeast Asian trilateral and the best way is by negotiating a deal in the context of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Politics, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, China, Asia, and Korea

4. Global Trends and the Future of NATO: Alliance Security in an Era of Global Competition

Author:
Barry Pavel and Magnus Nordenman
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
The current turbulent global landscape recalls past key transition points in history such as 1815, 1919, 1945, and 1989, when the path forward was not so clear-cut and the world faced the possibility of very different global futures. As the US National Intelligence Council suggested in its landmark 2012 report, Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, the transatlantic community is entering a new era in history that will pose a very different set of challenges and offer unprecedented opportunities. If it is to survive, the NATO Alliance must navigate this crucial period by fundamentally reconsidering its place in the global landscape as well as its future roles, missions, and functions from a strategic, long-term perspective. The world is changing rapidly, and if NATO does not adapt with foresight for this new era, then it will very likely disintegrate.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, NATO, Demographics, Economics, Politics, Military Strategy, and Reform
Political Geography:
United States

5. The American sequester - and us

Author:
Eva Gross
Publication Date:
04-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Following President Obama's budget proposal on 8 April, the US has embarked on another round of negotiations in attempts to reach a fiscal deal. Differences between the two sides (Democrats insist on taxing the wealthy whereas Republicans insist on spending cuts) have their roots in respective party doctrines, and the current gridlock displays the exceedingly partisan nature of the current US political process. Although the origins of this dispute are clearly to be found in domestic politics, they increasingly have foreign policy implications as well. They are likely to have an impact across the Atlantic - where fiscal austerity and budgetary cuts are equally underway, albeit for reasons that do not entirely coincide - and an effect on EU-US security cooperation.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States

6. Taiwan: Crisis Deferred, But Maybe Not For Long

Author:
Denny Roy
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Taiwan's elections on January 14, which for the first time combined polls for the presidency and the legislature, displayed further positive evolution in Taiwan's now well-established democracy. The results also precluded an immediate disruption in relations between Taiwan and the PRC, which is good news in Washington. In Beijing's view, however, the goal is not stability across the Taiwan Strait, but unification. Chinese impatience might weigh more heavily on President Ma Ying-jeou, and by extension on the United States, during Ma's second term.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Democratization, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States, China, Washington, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia

7. Publication Practices for Transparent Government

Author:
Jim Harper
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Government transparency is a widely agreed upon goal, but progress on achieving it has been very limited. Transparency promises from political leaders such as President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner have not produced a burst of information that informs stronger public oversight of government. One reason for this is the absence of specifically prescribed data practices that will foster transparency.
Topic:
Democratization, Political Economy, Politics, Communications, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States

8. Arming Hizballah? U.S. Military Assistance to Lebanon

Author:
David Schenker
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The August 3 fatal shooting of an Israel Defense Forces officer by a Lebanese Armed Forces soldier has sparked debate regarding the utility and wisdom of the U.S. military assistance program to Lebanon. Although such assistance is not new, the program's scope dramatically increased after the 2005 Cedar Revolution ended Syria's thirty-year occupation and swept the Arab world's only pro-Western, democratically elected government to power. In recent months, however, Syrian influence has returned, while Hizballah has secured enough political power to effectively reverse many of the revolution's gains. Even before the August 3 incident, these changes on the ground prompted Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, to place a hold on the 2011 assistance package.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
United States, Lebanon, and Syria

9. Ahmadinezhad's Bomb Rhetoric: Opportunities for U.S. Policy

Author:
Patrick Clawson
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On July 31, according to Iran's semiofficial Mehr News Agency, presidential chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashai claimed that the West had raised no objections to President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad's open proclamation that the Islamic Republic could build a nuclear bomb. How should this surprising claim be interpreted? And what implications might it hold for Iran's domestic politics, especially when viewed alongside Ahmadinezhad's history of confrontational rhetoric?
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons, Politics, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States and Iran

10. Egypt in Transition: Presidential Succession and U.S. Policy

Author:
J. Scott Carpenter
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's recent health scares -- including major surgery in Germany in March --have raised critical questions regarding the future of one of America's most important allies. In the event of his death, how would his successor be chosen, and who would it most likely be? Will the next president respect core U.S interests or challenge them? And how would the United States advance those interests in post-Mubarak Egypt? To reflect on these questions, The Washington Institute's Project Fikra recently brought together leading scholars, former senior U.S. diplomats, and other officials and activists for an off-the-record discussion on what to expect from Egyptian succession. Much of this PolicyWatch is based on that discussion.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, and Egypt