Foreign Policy in Focus

Foreign Policy in Focus is a “Think Tank Without Walls” connecting the research and action of more than 600 scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the United States a more responsible global partner. It is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies. FPIF publishes timely commentaries on U.S. foreign policy, sharp analyses of global issues, and on-the-ground dispatches from around the world. We also are interested in pieces that explore the intersection of foreign policy and culture, and on dispatches from social movements involved in foreign policy.

Afghanistan

Whatever you Think of the Taliban, the Afghan People Desperately Need Help, not Broad Sanctions

By Ed Corcoran | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The Taliban waged an impressive military campaign and removed the prior government in August 2021. They know how to fight, but they clearly do not know how to run a government. The new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has not been able to get international […]

Displaced and Refugees

Welcoming Russians Who Refuse to Fight

Foreign Policy in Focus

By David Cortright |- ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The sudden mass exodus last week of Russian men fleeing military service is a positive development. It is a sign of shifting political momentum in Russian society against the war. So why have Finland and other European governments barred Russians from entering as tourists, […]

Afghanistan

End America’s Collective Punishment of Afghans

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Farrah Hassen | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – A year has now passed since the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal from decades of war and occupation in Afghanistan. With the Taliban functionally in charge, the country faces a deteriorating humanitarian crisis and economic collapse. But instead of taking action to promote stability and reinvigorate […]

Afghanistan

Is Afghanistan Balkanizing under the Taliban Rule? On the one-year anniversary of their seizure of power, the Taliban now face a wholly different threat.

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Atal Ahmadzai ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – In the year since the fall of Kabul, Afghanistan has endured rapid and agonizing setbacks. Two decades of socio-economic and political gains have vanished under the dystopian rule of the Taliban. Furthermore, while peace is far from being realized, political violence, including the Taliban’s extrajudicial executions, […]

Joe Biden

President Biden Must Commit to Ending the War in Yemen

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Farrah Hassen | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Biden once said the U.S. should never “check its principles at the door just to buy oil or sell weapons.” He should take his own advice. By Farrah Hassen | July 13, 2022 The United Nations has called the Saudi Arabia-led war in […]

Climate Crisis

‘Open Your Hearts’: The Movements Taking Climate Action Where Leaders and Media Won’t

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Donna Katzin and William Minter | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Media, politicians, and policymakers tend to focus on the most visible issues. The attention the war in Ukraine has received in the first half of 2022, for example, is unrivaled in the United States at least since the shock of 9/11 […]

National Security State

Supreme Court Expands Government Secrecy Powers in Torture-Related Case

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Robert Pallitto | – (Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The U.S. government doesn’t want to acknowledge a Polish torture site that everyone knows about. By Robert Pallitto | May 31, 2022 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently on the government’s use of the state secrets doctrine in an opinion that will make it […]

Climate Crisis

Green Energy as answer to Ukraine Crisis: Turning to Nuclear would make us hostage to Moscow’s Uranium

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Tatyana Novikova | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – In March 2022, Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced several bills calling for a ban on Russian uranium as a way to cut off funds for the war in Ukraine and also boost domestic uranium production. Although environmentalists applaud the Russian uranium ban, they […]

Uncategorized

Muslims and the War on Terror: Two-Plus Decades of ‘Othering’

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Anoa J. Changa | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The phrase “War on Terror” invokes many different feelings and images depending upon one’s position in America and the world. While many understand it merely as a descriptor for a new frontier in American foreign policy and war, for others it has meant […]