Food transcends beyond the plate, creating both pleasure and purpose. It defines our place in the world and the issues we care most about. This year’s James Beard Foundation honorees are recognized for their leadership within their communities, their contributions to their cultural heritage, and their utilization of farming and food as a form of advocacy for social good.

Amid Brexit, a rising China, and an increasingly assertive Russia, Germany finds itself in the middle of a range of foreign policy challenges. Meanwhile, reverberations from the US-China trade war are taking their toll on Germany’s export-driven economy, contributing to its slowest rate of growth in five years. The rise of populism worldwide has also reached German politics, with its consequent pressure on Germany’s postwar liberal democracy.

America’s post-war history offers a blueprint for a more equitable economic future, argue MIT economists Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson. Starting in 1940, unprecedented public investment allowed for breakthroughs in science and technology. Advancements such as radar, digital computers, jet engines, and eventually the internet, enabled America to achieve economic supremacy, and were themselves catalysts for even greater economic growth.

The Sahel region of Africa faces many challenges in building a more peaceful and prosperous future. From violent extremism to increasing migrant and refugee flows, instability in the Sahel has become a focus for regional and global policy leaders. In order to achieve a sustainable peace, the underlying causes for regional instability must be addressed. How can sustainable development and regional partnerships help improve security in the Sahel?

Concerns over Iran’s increasing influence in the Middle East have placed high on the US foreign policy agenda. The alliance with Saudi Arabia, withdrawing from the JCPOA, and recent decision to retain over 2,000 troops in Syria, reflect Washington’s wider effort to contain Tehran. Yet, foreign policy experts warn that America’s new strategy may be missing the bigger picture, namely the changing geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East.

The Republic of Ghana is widely considered to be a shining star in Sub-Saharan Africa. With growing economic strength and a strong democratic political system that recently experienced another peaceful transition of power, Ghana’s successes mean further prosperity for its people, the West African region, and the African continent. Please join us at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs as we discuss Ghana’s future with President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Is Russia back? Following a decade of post-Soviet malaise, Russia has reemerged under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin as a chief player on the world stage. Indeed, Putin’s Russia has been ever more assertive in testing—and defying—the liberal international order created after World War II.

In the coming years, artificial intelligence could fuel tensions between the United States and China, argues quantitative futurist, Amy Webb. Today, nine giant corporations—six American, three Chinese—control the bulk of the data and advances in computing that underpin these technologies. But while the US tech titans face little oversight and report primarily to shareholders, the Chinese government closely supervises the work of its tech companies.

Trade tensions rose sharply in 2018 between the United States and China as both sides imposed steep tariffs on imports of certain goods. The mounting tension between the world’s two largest economies caused global markets to drop, and uncertainty remains as to whether negotiators will be able to break the impasse and end the trade war.

Next year China is expected to implement a far-reaching Social Credit system, using data collected from a multitude of digital sources to score the "trustworthiness" of its citizens. For many in the West, such all-encompassing surveillance might sound darkly Orwellian.

Women's rights have become increasingly important to development efforts. On the eve of International Women's Day 2019, Melanne Verveer joined the Council's Katelyn Jones to consider progress made, to acknowledge past and present challenges, and to identify future policy avenues on the path to gender equality nationally and globally.

We're doing it wrong. As government and the market economy, two highly debated and complex pillars of our society, become more sophisticated and powerful, the core of society, the community, the third pillar, is being lost. When the gap between communities and the political and economic elite grows too wide, it has manifested itself in violence and populism. With communities left out of the equation, Raghuram Rajan suggests that we are "doing it wrong."

In the 1980s Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power,” referring to a country’s ability to attract rather than coerce. For many years America has enticed the world through the appeal of its cultural outputs, even when US foreign policy is unpopular. It has unleashed an attractive arsenal of Hollywood blockbusters, genre-shaping tunes, and mega brands such as McDonald’s and Apple. As these cultural phenomena spread globally, so did US influence, attracting partners and support.

n an era of decentralized terrorism, digital threats, and an unpredictable political climate, national security tactics are being put to the test. This is especially true concerning Israel, Palestine, and the United States, where shifts are happening as fast as policy can be developed. How are these actors staying up-to-date with regional and domestic challenges ranging from nuclear dangers, to demographic and societal changes, and political factionalism?

Warfare today is a mixture of ancient principles and modern realities. Military planners must consider a bewildering range of conventional and emerging threats—everything from the actions of rival nations, to terror networks, cyber-attacks, eroding international treaties, and even climate change. In this complex and fraught security environment, the United States faces no shortage of potential flashpoints as it seeks to defend its global interests.

In late 2012, ISIS began kidnapping Western journalists and aid workers in Syria. While several European governments paid millions of dollars in ransom, and their hostages were freed, the United Kingdom and United States refused, arguing that any ransom would fuel terrorism and encourage further kidnappings. As a result, many American and British hostages faced a terrible fate.

On December 1, Andrés Manuel López Obrador was sworn in as Mexico’s president, beginning a new era in relations between the United States and its southern neighbor. The two nations share a complex set of overlapping interests on trade, security, and immigration, which have drawn them closer together in recent decades.

Over the past few decades, changing economic and demographic trends have led to a new demand for innovative downtown spaces. However, as people and wealth are increasingly concentrated in city centers, resources have been invested into projects that often exclude low-income communities. Transformative placemaking frames urban regeneration as an equity issue and calls upon city leaders and innovators to address equal access to public spaces and invest in communities with less social and...

Prime Minister May's Brexit deal was been overwhelmingly rejected by the House of Commons on January 15, and no one seems sure what will happen next. For the Council's second exclusive members-only Brexit update conference call, anlysts and commentators from Brussels and London will join Council president Ivo Daalder to discuss and consider the many Brexit outcomes.

Located in the basement of the White House, the Situation Room has been the scene of some of modern history’s most fraught moments. For years it has served as a secure communications center with global reach, where policymakers analyze highly classified intelligence while debating and guiding America’s national and foreign strategy. Join the Council for a behind-the-scenes account into the complexities and challenges of global policy-making in the White House’s most guarded decision-making...