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

U.S.-China Security Relations (revised Apr 1999)

Despite frequent alarms about the supposed China threat, China is not an emerging superpower.

Overseas Military Bases and Environment

The United States operates a vast array of foreign bases manifesting many of the same environmental problems found at domestic bases, including toxics in drinking water, explosives on firing ranges, and noise pollution.

Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering

The trade in illicit drugs is estimated to be worth $400 billion a year, and it accounts for 8% of all international trade, according to the United Nations.

International Tobacco Sales (revised Oct 2000)

The human costs of tobacco use are staggering and rising dramatically.

The South Asian Nuclear Crisis

India has developed its nuclear weapons program in reaction to local, regional, and global nuclear and political realities.

Small Arms Trade

The easy availability of light military weaponry contributes to international crime, terrorism, and internal conflict, which are some of Washington’s foremost security concerns.

Global Climate Change

Climate change may be one of the defining issues of the twenty-first century, because it pits the potential disruption of our global climate system against the future of a fossil fuel-based economy.

Portfolio Investment

Since the mid-1980s, there has been a dramatic increase in the magnitude of international flows of portfolio investment (PI), especially from countries in the North to emerging market economies across the South.

Foreign Direct Investment

The global economic integration of trade, investment, and finance is raising new issues for U.S. foreign economic policy.

Global Banking

Since the early 1980s, bankers— working together with national policymakers and officials at such international financial institutions (IFIs) as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—have largely succeeded in deregulating the global banking system.

U.S.-Africa Economic Initiatives

Despite Clinton’s visit, the U.S. has failed to formulate a coherent policy with respect to Africa.

International Criminal Court

On June 15, 1998, diplomats from around the world will assemble in Rome to finalize a treaty that will establish an International Criminal Court (ICC).

Structural Adjustment Programs

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the U.S. has been a principal force in imposing Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) on most countries of the South.

Macedonia

Small and relatively unknown, Macedonia (officially called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM) is the key to stability in the southern Balkans.

IMF Bailouts and Global Financial Flows

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the central agency for enforcing the Bretton Woods Articles of Agreement, whose terms serve as its charter.

Korea

With South Korea facing serious economic problems and North Korea nearing political collapse, the Korean peninsula is entering a period of turbulence and change.

Taxing Overseas Investments

Tax policy becomes foreign policy when companies operate outside their headquarters country and are subjected to tax laws of multiple jurisdictions.

Arms Sales to Latin America

The 20-year-old U.S. moratorium on sales of advanced military equipment to Latin America was successful in preventing a high-tech arms race in the region.

Cambodia

Though Washington viewed the country as a mere sideshow to U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, U.S. actions in Cambodia were decisive in leading to the destabilization of the neutral government under Prince Norodom Sihanouk and triggering a slow slide into more than two decades of violence.

Colombia

Although violence is often blamed on the drug trade, the roots of violence run much deeper. A multiplicity of actors create a veritable kaleidoscope of violence.