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

Beating Swords Into Solar Panels: Re-Purposing America’s War Machine

Why should we maintain our grossly expensive military-industrial complex when tax dollars are so desperately needed at home?

Electrifying Africa – But at What Cost to Africans?

Two U.S. initiatives to provide Africans with electricity seem likely to lead to large, climate-polluting projects rather than the locally sourced renewable energy rural Africa needs.

The Off-the-Cuff Breakthrough on Syria

John Kerry may have just accidentally earned himself a Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaking Openly in Serbia

Serbians who live with HIV report that they are stigmatized and have difficulties gaining access to treatment.

Competitive Suffering

As we focus on a particularly appalling human rights problem within its own context, we must remember the old labor slogan that ‘an injury to one is an injury to all.’

Burma President’s Dangerous Refusal to Condemn Buddhists for Violence Against Rakhine Muslims

By defending Buddhists who attack Muslims Thein Sein is pouring oil on the fire.

Poison Gas and Arabian Tales

Allegations of sarin use by the Syrian government are bedeviled by chain-of-custody issues.

Egypt Speaks, Again

Since the military coup that toppled the country’s elected Muslim Brotherhood government, the message of the many Egyptians we met last year resonates with even greater power.

Emphasis Added: the Week in Pieces (7/5)

From Edward Snowden to the Taliban-go-Miami Beach.

Celebrations and Dangers for Egypt’s Revolutions

The removal from office of President Mohammed Morsi portends great excitement but even greater threats to democracy.

The Roots of Social Rebellion? Social Movements.

The lesson from the streets of Brazil, Turkey, and the Arab world is to avoid underestimating social movements still in their infancy.

Two Cheers for the Serbian Government

Residual anti-communist beliefs that current state structures are only cosmetically altered versions of the old system have had to be overcome.

When American Universities Expand to China, Does Academic Freedom Suffer?

The case of activist Chen Guangcheng sheds light on how dependent American universities are becoming on tuition from Chinese students.

What Immigration Reform Means for Women

Your guide to how the U.S. immigration system affects women differently from men–and how the Senate bill will change it.

The Meaning of Rouhani

Hassan Rouhani’s win in Iran’s presidential election suggests that neither reformists nor conservatives are pleased with the country’s status quo.

Emphasis Added: the Week in Pieces (7/1)

Which is more useless? Missile defense or total surveillance?

When America Met Mandela

Mandela’s first visit to the U.S. in 1990s revealed how much America had yet to learn about the anti-apartheid leader who had captured the nation’s imagination.

What Drove Michael Hastings to His Death?

Fear? A simple need for speed? Or something else?

President Obama’s Anti-Nuke Sentiments a Cover for Plans to Secure Their Existence in Perpetuity

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s new Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan is as grandiose as it is unconscionable.

Algeria’s Trappist Monk Massacre: The Case That Won’t Go Away

It regained prominence with the release of the 2011 film “Of Gods and Men.”