Task Force Report Feed

The Age of Change

Michelle Gavin — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 10:53:23 EDT

An approachable guide to the political, social, and demographic changes happening in Africa and why they matter for the rest of the world.

The UN Charter

David J. Scheffer — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 14:09:06 EDT

David J. Scheffer and Mark S. Ellis provide an introduction to the UN Charter and make the case that it is the most important secular document in the world.

Eastward, Westward

Jerome A. Cohen — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 08:00:00 EST

Topographies of African Spirituality

Ebenezer Obadare — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 14:11:58 EST

When the World Closed Its Doors

Edward Alden — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 10:51:44 EST

A detailed exploration of the most sweeping government border closures in human history during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for the future of global mobility.

If You Will It

Elliott Abrams — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 10:33:56 EDT

Hundreds of thousands of young Jews have drifted away from the American Jewish community and many more may follow. This book explains to Jewish parents, donors, and organizations how Jewish education, Jewish summer camping, and time spent in Israel can revive and strengthen Jewish identity.

Reagan

Max Boot — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 14:56:55 EDT

Son of the Midwest, movie star, and mesmerizing politician—America’s fortieth president comes to three-dimensional life in this gripping and profoundly revisionist biography.

Lost Decade

Robert D. Blackwill — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 16:16:29 EDT

Robert D. Blackwill and Richard Fontaine evaluate the limitations of the Pivot to Asia and offer a compelling vision for the future of U.S. foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific.

The End of Ambition

Steven A. Cook — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 16:08:17 EDT

A clear-headed vision for the United States' role in the Middle East that highlights the changing nature of U.S. national interests and the challenges of grand strategizing at a time of profound change in the international order.

God, Guns, and Sedition

Bruce Hoffman — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:14:15 EST

A riveting exploration of the current state of far-right terrorism in the United States—and recommendations to stop its rise.

The World That Wasn’t

Benn Steil — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 15:19:47 EST

A dramatic and powerful new perspective on the political career of Henry Wallace—a perspective that will forever change how we view the making of U.S. and Soviet foreign policy at the dawn of the Cold War.

The United States–South Korea Alliance

Scott A. Snyder — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 16:57:29 EDT

The Lumumba Plot

Stuart Reid — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 15:51:01 EDT

A spellbinding work of history that reads like a Cold War spy thriller—about the U.S.-sanctioned plot to assassinate the democratically elected leader of the newly independent Congo.

Getting Russia Right

Thomas Graham — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:07:21 EDT

Thomas Graham offers a practical vision of U.S.-Russia relations.

The Identity Trap

Yascha Mounk — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 17:06:38 EDT

One of our leading public intellectuals traces the origin of a set of ideas about identity and social justice that is rapidly transforming America—and explains why it will fail to accomplish its noble goals.

Sparks

Ian Johnson — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 17:20:47 EDT

A sweeping portrait from the 1940s to the 2020s of one of humanity’s great battles of memory against forgetting, including some of China’s best-known public intellectuals.

From Peril to Partnership

Paul J. Angelo — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 12:35:18 EDT

Paul J. Angelo provides the first headlining case studies of Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative.

The World Turned Upside Down: Maintaining American Leadership in a Dangerous Age (The Aspen Policy Book Series)

Stephen E. Biegun — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 10:13:08 EDT

Sovereign Funds

Zongyuan Zoe Liu — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:50:23 EDT

The first in-depth account of the sudden growth of China’s sovereign wealth funds and their transformative impact on global markets, domestic and multinational businesses, and international politics.

North Korea’s Foreign Policy

Scott A. Snyder — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 13:52:39 EST

A robust examination of North Korean foreign policy under Kim Jong-un, including its domestic drivers, summitry diplomacy, and nuclear program.

The Bill of Obligations

Richard Haass — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 11:18:04 EST

A provocative guide to how we must reenvision citizenship if American democracy is to survive.

Beijing's Global Media Offensive

Joshua Kurlantzick — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 16:06:41 EDT

Joshua Kurlantzick analyzes China's attempts to become a media, information, and influence superpower, seeking for the first time to shape the domestic politics, local media, and information environments of the United States, East Asia, parts of Europe, and the broader world.

The Globalization Myth

Shannon K. O'Neil — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 15:07:52 EDT

Shannon K. O’Neil offers a powerful case for why regionalization, not globalization, has been the biggest economic trend of the last forty years.

Pastoral Power, Clerical State

Ebenezer Obadare — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 16:08:14 EDT

Ebenezer Obadare examines the overriding impact of Nigerian Pentecostal pastors on their churches, and how they have shaped the dynamics of state-society relations during the Fourth Republic.

The Great Experiment—Obama's 2022 Summer Reading Pick

Yascha Mounk — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 12:13:36 EST

Yascha Mounk offers a brilliant big-picture vision of the greatest challenge of modern time—how to bridge the bitter divides within diverse democracies enough for them to remain stable and functional.

How I Got Here: Lives in Public Service

Gideon Rose — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 09:43:46 EST

The Power Law

Sebastian Mallaby — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 15:27:10 EST

The astonishingly frank and intimate story of Silicon Valley’s dominant venture capital firms—and how their strategies and fates have shaped the path of innovation and the global economy.

The World According to China

Elizabeth C. Economy — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 14:01:52 EDT

This compelling book reveals China’s ambitious new strategy to reclaim the country’s past glory and reshape the geostrategic landscape in dramatic new ways.

Master of the Game

Martin S. Indyk — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 13:32:55 EDT

A perceptive and provocative history of Henry Kissinger’s diplomatic negotiations in the Middle East that illuminates the unique challenges and barriers Kissinger and his successors have faced in their attempts to broker peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The Fight for Climate After COVID-19

Alice C. Hill — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 12:40:30 EDT

COVID-19 exposed the world’s failure to prepare for the worst—can we learn to build back better?

Awakening

Rachel B. Vogelstein — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 12:58:31 EDT

Rachel Vogelstein and Meighan Stone chronicle the remarkable global impact of the #MeToo movement.

Nonstate Warfare

Stephen Biddle — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 14:32:11 EST

Stephen Biddle explains how nonstate military strategies overturn traditional perspectives on warfare.

The Last Shah

Ray Takeyh — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 12:15:37 EST

Ray Takeyh provides new interpretations of many important events—including the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq and the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—significantly revising our understanding of the United States’ and Iran’s complex and difficult history.

The Daughters of Kobani

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 19:04:37 EST

Senior Fellow Gayle Tzemach Lemmon tells the extraordinary story of the women who took on the Islamic State and won.

Beyond the Sand and Sea

Ty McCormick — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:33:08 EDT

From Ty McCormick, winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, an epic and timeless story of a family in search of safety, security, and a place to call home.

Nigeria and the Nation-State

John Campbell — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:32:58 EDT

Former Ambassador John Campbell illustrates the history and importance of Nigeria, a country too often overlooked by the West.

Toxic Politics

Yanzhong Huang — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 12:06:44 EDT

CFR Senior Fellow Yanzhong Huang discusses how China’s environmental crisis is undermining public health and becoming an Achilles heel in its reemergence as a global power.

An Open World

Rebecca Lissner — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 11:30:03 EDT

Two foreign policy experts chart a new U.S. grand strategy to meet the greatest geopolitical challenges of the coming decade.

Isolationism—New in Paperback

Charles A. Kupchan — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 15:57:20 EDT

Charles A. Kupchan mines the nation’s past to uncover the ideological and political roots of ongoing changes in U.S. foreign policy, including the sources of Donald J. Trump's “America First” doctrine.

Losing the Long Game

Philip H. Gordon — Fri, 01 May 2020 17:56:45 EDT

The definitive account of how regime change in the Middle East has proven so tempting to American policymakers for decades—and why it always seems to go wrong.

Shields of the Republic

Mira Rapp-Hooper — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 11:26:59 EST

Is America’s alliance system so quietly effective that politicians and voters fail to appreciate its importance in delivering the security they take for granted?

The World

Richard Haass — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 15:21:38 EST

An invaluable primer from Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, that will help anyone, expert and nonexpert alike, navigate a time in which many of our biggest challenges come from the world beyond our borders.

Building a Resilient Tomorrow

Alice C. Hill — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 14:37:50 EDT

While squarely confronting the scale of the risks the world faces because of climate change, this pragmatic guide focuses on solutions—some gradual and some more revolutionary—currently being deployed around the globe.

The Fifth Domain

Richard A. Clarke — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:23:12 EST

An urgent new warning from two bestselling security experts—and a gripping inside look at how governments, firms, and ordinary citizens can confront and contain the tyrants, hackers, and criminals bent on turning the digital realm into a war zone.

How We Win

Farah Pandith — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 10:05:54 EST

Farah Pandith argues for a paradigm shift in our approach to combating extremism, one that mobilizes the expertise and resources of diplomats, corporate leaders, mental health experts, social scientists, entrepreneurs, local communities, and, most of all, global youth themselves.

Japan Rearmed

Sheila A. Smith — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 10:04:42 EDT

Japan’s United States–imposed postwar constitution renounced the use of offensive military force, but, Sheila A. Smith shows, a nuclear North Korea and an increasingly assertive China have the Japanese rethinking that commitment—and their reliance on U.S. security.

The Corrosion of Conservatism

Max Boot — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 10:33:51 EDT

Max Boot recounts his extraordinary journey from lifelong Republican to vehement Trump opponent. From the isolated position of a man without a party, Boot launches this bold declaration of dissent and its urgent plea for true, bipartisan cooperation.

The Empty Throne

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 14:27:09 EDT

American diplomacy is in shambles under Trump, but beneath the daily chaos is an erosion of the postwar order that is even more dangerous.

Plagues and the Paradox of Progress

Thomas J. Bollyky — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 15:51:36 EDT

Global health expert Thomas J. Bollyky explores the paradox in our fight against infectious disease: the world is getting healthier in ways that should make us worry.

The Third Revolution

Elizabeth C. Economy — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 15:40:56 EST

The Third Revolution argues that Xi Jinping’s dual-reform trajectories—a more authoritarian system at home and a more ambitious foreign policy abroad—provide Beijing with new levers of influence that the United States must learn to exploit to protect its own interests.