In this ongoing series of essays, MIT's Center for International Studies tours the horizon of conventional wisdoms that animate U.S. foreign policy, and puts them to the test of data and history.  By subjecting particularly well-accepted ideas to close scrutiny, we aim to re-engage policy and opinion leaders on topics that are too easily passing such scrutiny.  We hope that this will lead to further debate and inquiries, with a result we can all agree on: better foreign policies that lead to a more peaceful and prosperous world. In our Foreign Policy Index, we also publish an online annual review of U.S. foreign policy, by subject area.

Authors in this series are available to the press and policy community. To contact them—or for additional information about this publication series—call or e-mail Michelle Nhuch at nhuch@mit.edu / 617.253.1965.

• Future of the Euro: Threats and Opportunities
  (Video Audit)
  Marco Mazzucchelli and David Singer
  April 2012

• Improving Iran-US relations
  (Video Audit)
  Abbas Maleki
  February 2012

• Cutting aid to Africa won't help gay rights
  (Video Audit)
  Jackee Budesta Batanda
  February 2012

• Obama's Strategy Towards Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Asia
  (Video Audit)
  Paul Staniland
  June 2010

• Artificial Life: A Global Good or Evil?
  (Video Audit)
  Ken Oye
  May 2010

• Why is the Defense Budget So Big?
  (Video Audit)
  Benjamin Friedman
  April 2010

• Afghanistan: Elections, McCrystal Report, & the Taliban
  (Video Audit)
  Fotini Christia
  October 2009

• Iran’s Nuclear Program: A Race Between Sanctions and Centrifuges?
  (Video Audit)
  Jim Walsh
  September 2009

• Israel-Palestine: Great Expectations or Misplaced Euphoria?
  (Video Audit)
  Anat Biletski
  July 2009

• Multilateral Imposition: An Immodest Proposal for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
  (pdf, 320KB, 6p)
  Michael Barnett
  July 2009

• U.S. and Colombia: A Growing Military Intervention?
  (pdf, 208KB, 6p)
  Jenny Manrique Cortés
  December 2008

• Recovering the Liberal Foreign Policy Tradition
  (pdf, 204KB, 6p)
  Nick Bromell and John Tirman
  Novenmber 2008

• State-Building and U.S. Foreign Policy
  (pdf, 204KB, 4p)
  Jeremy Allouche
  November 2008

• The U.S. and Iran in Afghanistan: Policy Gone Awry
  (pdf, 217KB, 6p)
  Barnett Rubin with Sara Batmanglich
  October 2008

• The Global Financial Crisis and Obstacles to U.S. Leadership
  (pdf, 232KB, 4p)
  David A. Singer
  October 15, 2008

• Does the "Surge" Explain Iraq's Improved Security?
  (pdf, 190KB, 4p)
  Jon R. Lindsay
  September 2008

• Iran-U.S.: The Case for Transformation
  (pdf, 232KB, 6p)
  Sanam Anderlini and John Tirman
  September 2008

• Turkey's Crisis and Future
  (pdf, 183KB, 4p)
  Dogu Ergil
  August 2008

• Who Leads Russia?
  (pdf, 222KB, 6p)
  Elizabeth A. Wood
  June 2008

• Insights into Two American Empires
  (pdf, 244KB, 6p)
  Alice Amsden
  May 2008

• Pakistan's Governance Imperative
  (pdf, 198KB, 4p)
  Paula R. Newberg
  May 2008

• Much Ado About Nothing: The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
  (pdf, 188KB, 4p)
  Anat Biletzki
  May 2008

• Wilson's Radical Vision for Global Governance
  (pdf, 240.95KB, 6p)
  Erez Manela
  April 2008

• Good and Bad News on Global Development
  (pdf, 365KB, 6p)
  Dani Rodrik
  April 2008

• Wilson, Bush, and the Evolution of Liberal Foreign Policy
  (pdf, 218.5KB, 4p)
  Tony Smith
  April 2008

• Wilson and the Founders: The Roots of Liberal Foreign Policy
  (pdf, 196KB, 4p)
  Ted Widmer
  April 2008

• A Solution for the US-Iran Nuclear Standoff
  (pdf, 249KB, 6p)
  William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, and Jim Walsh
  March 2008

• Iraq's Three Civil Wars
  (pdf, 218KB, 4p)
  Juan Cole
  February 2008

• The US and Iran After the NIE
  (pdf, 218KB, 4p)
  Farideh Farhi
  December 2007

• Russia: An Energy Superpower?
  (pdf, 249KB, 4p)
  Carol Saivetz
  December 2007

• Pakistan on the Brink: Regional Perspectives and Implications
  (pdf, 222KB, 4p)
  Paul Staniland
  November 2007

• Russia and America: Is Another Arms Race Afoot?
  (pdf, 225KB, 4p)
  Jane M.O. Sharp
  November 2007

• Is Port Security Funding Making Us Safer?
  (pdf, 219KB, 4p)
  Veronique de Rugy
  November 2007

• Who Failed Whom? Assessing the UN's Human Rights Efforts
  (pdf, 246KB, 6p)
  Balakrishnan Rajagopal
  October 2007

• Distracted at the Creation: Washington's China Policy
  (pdf, 226KB, 4p)
  Christopher Twomey
  October 2007

• Iran-Pakistan-India Pipeline: Is it a Peace Pipeline?
  (pdf, 584KB, 4p)
  Abbas Maleki
  September 2007

• Immigration Reform: Failure and Prospects
  (pdf, 610KB, 4p)
  Tara Magner
  September 2007

• "New Fighting Power!" for Japan?
  (pdf, 880KB, 4p)
  Richard J. Samuels
  September 2007

• Is the Foreign Policy Process Working?
  (pdf, 595KB, 4p)
  John Tirman
  September 2007

• Pax Mercatoria: Does Economic Interdependence Bring Peace?
  (pdf, 588KB, 4p)
  P. R. Goldstone
  August 2007

• Fewer Missions, Not More Troops
  (pdf, 602KB, 4p)
  Benjamin H. Friedman
  July 2007

• Turkey: Misperceptions and the Healing Touch of Democracy
  (pdf, 204KB, 4p)
  Dogu Ergil
  May 2007

• Internally Displaced Populations: the Paradox of National Responsibility
  (pdf, 239KB, 6p)
  Francis Deng
  May 2007

• Paying for Homeland Security: Show Me the Money
  (pdf, 269KB, 6p)
  Cindy Williams
  May 2007

• China's Premature Rise to Great Power(pdf, 212KB, 4p)
  Liselotte Odgaard
  April 2007

• Can Scientific Codes of Conduct Deter Bioweapons?(pdf, 192KB, 4p)
  Jeanne Guillemin
  April 2007

• Sudan at the Crossroads(pdf, 1451KB, 6p)
  Francis M. Deng
  March 2007

• China's Energy Governance: Perception and Reality(pdf, 215KB, 4p)
  Edward A. Cunningham
  March 2007

• North Korea: Negotiations Work(pdf, 621KB, 4p)
  Leon V. Sigal
  February 2007

• Troop Levels in Stability Operations: What We Don't Know(pdf, 649KB, 4p)
  Peter Krause
  February 2007

• Iraq's Political Factions: The Last Chance to Build a Governing Coalition?(pdf, 680KB, 4p)
  Barry R. Posen
  January 2007

• Regionalizing the Iraq Conflict? (pdf, 601KB, 4p)
  John Tirman
  December 2006

• Violence and Insecurity: The Challenge in the Global South (pdf, 605KB, 4p)
  Diane E. Davis
  November 2006

• Waiting for Goldilocks: Getting Japan's Foreign Policy Just Right (pdf, 598KB, 4p)
  Richard J. Samuels
  October 2006

• The Bush Administration is Weak on Terror (pdf, 303KB, 8p)
  Stephen Van Evera
  October 2006

• The War on Terror: Forgotten Lessons from WWII (pdf, 301KB, 6p)
  Stephen Van Evera
  October 2006

• The U.S.-India Nuclear Deal: Triumph of the Business Lobby (pdf, 603KB, 4p)
  Subrata Ghoshroy
  September 2006

• Channel-Surfing: Non-engagement as Foreign Policy (pdf, 588KB, 4p)
  Barbara Bodine
  August 2006

• Why Do Islamist Groups Become Transnational and Violent? (pdf, 740KB, 6p)
  Quinn Mecham
  August 2006

• Budgets to Make America Safer (pdf, 580KB, 4p)
  Cindy Williams
  June 2006

• Immigration and Insecurity: Post-9/11 Fear in the United States
  (pdf, 584KB, 4p)
  John Tirman
  June 2006

• A Double Standard on Nuclear Weapons? (pdf, 748KB, 6p)
  Hugh Gusterson
  April 2006

• Human Bombs: Rethinking Religion and Terror (pdf, 240KB, 6p)
  Nichole Argo
  April 2006

• The War on Terror and the Cold War: They're Not the Same (pdf, 581KB, 4p)
  John Tirman
  April 2006

• We Can Live With a Nuclear Iran (pdf, 595KB, 4p)
  Barry R. Posen
  March 2006

• Remittances: Latin America's Faulty Lifeline (pdf, 575KB, 4p)
  Catherine Elton
  March 2006

• Japan-China Relations: Four Fallacies Masquerading as Common Sense (pdf, 575KB, 4p)
  Kazuo Ogoura
  March 2006

• A Better Strategy Against Narcoterrorism (pdf, 582KB, 4p)
  Vanda Felbab-Brown
  January 2006

• Is Iran's Reform Movement Dead? (pdf, 575KB, 4p)
  Fatemeh Haghighatjoo
  January 2006

• Why Intelligence Isn't to Blame for 9/11 (pdf, 587KB, 4p)
  Joshua Rovner
  November 2005

• The Hidden Cost of Homeland Defense (pdf, 586KB, 4p)
  Benjamin Friedman
  November 2005

• Iran: Rogue State? (pdf, 257KB, 4p)
  Ali Mostashari
  September 2005

• Who Needs the U.N.? (pdf, 242KB, 4p)
  Gary G. Troeller
  September 2005

• The Mirage of a United Europe (pdf, 222KB, 4p)
  Robert Vickers
  September 2005

• All Weapons of Mass Destruction Are Not Equal (pdf, 316KB, 6p)
  Allison Macfarlane
  July 2005

• The Iraq War: Do Civilian Casualties Matter? (pdf, 271KB, 4p)
  Les Roberts
  July 2005

• Filling the Army's Ranks for the Iraq War (pdf, 665KB, 6p)
  Cindy Williams
  July 2005

• Why U.S. National Security Requires Mideast Peace (pdf, 210KB, 8p)
  Stephen Van Evera
  April 2005

• Raising the Salience of Mexico and Canada (pdf, 161KB, 4p)
  Chappell Lawson
  April 2005

• U.S. Military Power: Strong Enough to Deter all Challenges? (pdf, 203KB, 6p)
  Barry R. Posen
  April 2005

• The United States as an Asian Power: Realism or Conceit? (pdf, 209KB, 6p)
  M. Taylor Fravel and Richard J. Samuels
  April 2005

• Introducing a Series (pdf, 167KB, 4p)
  April 2005