Foreign Policy in Focus

Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF) 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.

FPIF provides timely analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs and recommends policy alternatives. We believe U.S. security and world stability are best advanced through a commitment to peace, justice, and environmental protection, as well as economic, political, and social rights. We advocate that diplomatic solutions, global cooperation, and grassroots participation guide foreign policy.

FPIF aims to amplify the voice of progressives and to build links with social movements in the U.S. and around the world. Through these connections, we advance and influence debate and discussion among academics, activists, policy-makers, and the general public.

Latest Work

Playing Trump for Peace

Here’s how the Korean peninsula can become a bright spot in a world gone mad

The Bolton Administration Has Already Begun

The hard-right national security adviser successfully tanked the Iran deal. His next target? The North Korea talks.

Haspel Is the Most Qualified to Run the CIA — That’s Why She’s a Terrible Choice

Gina Haspel is just the type of status-quo choice that Donald Trump promised not to make.

Two-Faced Trump: Peace in Korea, World War in the Middle East

Trump believes he can simultaneously capture a Nobel Peace Prize for North Korea while leaping toward war with Iran.

Korea and the Geopolitics of the Impossible

Careful Korean diplomacy, coupled Trump’s desire to do what Obama couldn’t, could mean a rapprochement on the Korean peninsula no one thought possible.

Far Right Groups Are Stumbling, But Their Rhetoric Is More Mainstream Than Ever

In a sense, the Republican Party has become a much more powerful instrument of white rage than the alt-right.

Trump’s Trade War is About Trump, Not China

Those China tariffs aren’t surprising. What’s bizarre are the people praising Trump’s recklessness and reviving his political fortunes.

Trump to the International Community: Drop Dead

Donald Trump has declared war on human rights — at home and abroad.

Get Ready for Bush 2.0

The president once distanced himself from the Bush legacy. Now he’s brought back the architects of its darkest moments.

Trump’s Quiet Meeting with Saudi Arabia and Israel Portends a Dangerous Collision Course with Iran

An under-the radar gathering at the White House exposes troubling new drifts in U.S. foreign policy.

Trump, Terrorism, and the Politics of Witch Hunts

It’s ironic that the most powerful man on earth would protest that he’s the subject of a “witch hunt,” especially given his enthusiasm for bombing and torturing people.

With Tillerson Out, Trump’s Bringing Foreign Policy Deeper Into the Dark Side

Trump, who started out his administration with radical outsiders, is now bringing in a new wave of competent extremists.

How Those Trump-Kim Talks Might Go: A Transcript

Trump’s “art of the deal” is about to get its most high-profile test yet. The early prognosis is not good.

The New, New Cold War

The Cold War has been around, in various permutations, for a long time. It will take patience, organizing, compromises, and some luck to bury it once and for all.

The Far-Right Effort to Win Hearts and Minds Across the Atlantic

Far more dangerous than the far-right effort to win elections alone is its concentrated campaign to change the culture – a strategy it owes, perversely, to the left.

Florida Farmworkers Push for Fairness in the Fields

South Florida was known as a hotbed for modern day slavery. Now, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is using their innovative model to bring dignity to the tomato fields.

Apocalyptic Christianity Returns to U.S. Foreign Policy

For evangelicals, Trump’s hard right line on Israel and machinations against Iran make him an instrument of the endtimes.

Do Russiagate Skeptics Go Too Far?

As top intelligence officials warn of Russian meddling in the upcoming mid-terms, John Feffer of Lobelog and Foreign Policy in Focus joins TRNN’s Aaron Mate to discuss Feffer’s new article arguing that some progressive critics are going too far in dismissing the Russiagate narrative

The Ideology That Unites Trump and the Authoritarians He Admires

It’s about propping up “besieged majorities” in multiethnic countries.