Our Work
At IPS, our work is centered in our vision: we believe everyone has a right to thrive on a planet where all communities are equitable, democratic, peaceful, and sustainable. Our intersecting programs and initiatives, led by a diverse group of expert staff and associate fellows, are helping to shape progressive movements toward this vision.
Latest Work
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).