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.

Epidemics

To Help Stem Coronavirus, Lift the Sanctions on Iran

By Ariel Gold and Medea Benjamin, March 13, 2020. (Foreign Policy in Focus) – U.S. sanctions have gutted Iran’s economy and health system. In a pandemic, that’s a global public health threat. The COVID-19, or coronavirus, pandemic is far from the first proof of how intertwined we are as a global community. The climate crisis […]

Donald Trump

Corporate Media Blackout: Americans need to Hear from Iranians about Life Under Sanctions and Trump’s Attack

Foreign Policy in Focus

Here are a few illuminating and emotionally resonant pieces by real Iranians on life under sanctions, the brutality of war, and the recent crisis.

Climate Crisis

We have a Decade to Slash Carbon Emissions: After That it Gets Harder and much Hotter

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Kelsey Hawkins-Johnson | – (Foreign Policy in Focus) – In the climate talks to come, we need more youth, indigenous, and civil society groups — and fewer oil companies. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned in October 2018 that we have 12 years to keep global temperatures increases at 1.5 degrees Celsius or […]

Donald Trump

A Feminist Alternative to Trump’s Sabre Rattling against Iran

Foreign Policy in Focus

Foreign policy should prioritize the needs of ordinary civilians and civil society — and wars of choice should always be off the table.

Iran

Is Iran an Expansionist Power or Just in Defensive Mode?

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Edward Hunt | – (Foreign Policy in Focus) – The Iranian military is focused on deterring external threats not launching an attack on its adversaries. As the Trump administration continues to incite fears about Iran, portraying the country as an aggressor that is destabilizing the Middle East, a new report by the Defense Intelligence […]

Donald Trump

The Ukraine Whistleblowers and the Question of Partisanship

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Hannah Gurman and Kaeten Mistry | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – This moment should spark a conversation about the place of national security whistleblowing in a democratic society. “We must determine the whistleblower’s identity,” tweeted Donald Trump, who has become obsessed with finding and punishing the individual(s) that blew the whistle on […]

nuclear weapons

Bolton pushed America’s Rush back to Nuclear Weapons, but wasn’t Alone

Foreign Policy in Focus

Lawrence Wilkerson is the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. He is current the Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Government and Public Policy in the Government Department of the College of William and Mary. In this interview, Lawrence Wilkerson discusses the Trump administration’s approach to military security. Foreign Policy in Focus ) […]

Far Right

Behind Islamophobia Is a Global Movement of Anti-Semites

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The world’s Jewish and Muslim communities are both in the firing line of far-right groups forged in the historic bowels of Nazism. By Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, August 26, 2019. Print Neo-Nazis and Neo-Confederates rally in Charlottesville, VA (Shutterstock) The global rise of white […]

India

This Time, the World Is Watching in Kashmir

Foreign Policy in Focus

By taking over Kashmir at gunpoint, India has set itself up to reap the whirlwind