Afghanistan
Pakistani aid together with support from Pashtun traders and tribesmen enabled the Taliban to capture Kabul.
Chemical and Biological Weapons
Since the end of the cold war, the global proliferation of chemical and biological weapons (CBWs) has become more prominent in U.S. national security and foreign policy planning.
Restructuring East-Central European Economies
In promoting structural adjustment, the U.S. has concentrated on short-term profits for businesses and narrow diplomatic gain.
Free Trade Area of the Americas
The economic crisis in Mexico has dampened enthusiasm in the U.S. for the extension of free-trade agreements throughout the Americas.
North Korea
The controversy that surrounded North Korea’s incipient nuclear capacity had the fortuitous outcome of engaging the U.S. in direct and fruitful dialogue with the DPRK.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament
Over the past decade, nuclear weapons have been reduced from 70,000 to 40,000. The U.S. and Russia hold 97% of these remaining nuclear weapons.
Trade and Environment
Environmentalists expect access to information and broad participation in decisionmaking. In addition to culture, substantive differences divide the trade and environmental communities.
Peacekeeping and the United Nations
The Clinton administration came into office espousing support for UN peacekeeping. Characterizing his policy as assertive multilateralism, President Clinton appeared enthusiastic about the creation of a small UN quick-deployment force and seemed unwilling to commit U.S. forces to UN operations.
Controlling Transnational Corporations
Transnational corporations (TNCs) increasingly shape our lives as they weave worldwide webs of production, consumption, finance, and culture.
The CIA, Contras, Gangs, and Crack
Based on a year-long investigation, reporter Gary Webb wrote that during the 1980s the CIA helped finance its covert war against Nicaragua’s leftist government through sales of cut-rate cocaine to South Central L.A. drug dealer, Ricky Ross.
U.S. Foreign Agricultural Policy
U.S. agricultural policymakers have long relied on the world marketplace to serve a diverse agendaincluding management of the domestic farm economy, promotion of geopolitical interests, and most prominently, bolstering exports.
U.S. Drug Control Policy
U.S. drug policy is based on a punitive logic of deterrence that assumes that targeting the drug supply through aggressive law enforcement will deter drug use by making drugs scarcer, more expensive, and riskier to buy.
Controlling U.S. Arms Sales
The conventional arms trade continues to bedevil the international system. Although the world arms trade continues to decline in dollar value, the major arms supplying states have redoubled their efforts to export their weapons overseas.
U.S. Strategic Reach in the Middle East
Washington’s goals in the Middle East involve support for Israel, assuring oil flow, and ensuring political stability for economic growth.
Confronting the Multilateral Debt Burden
Multilateral debt, the result of lending by the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), is contributing to the economic and social crisis that is overtaking many Low Income Countries (LICs).