The World Unpacked

Where is the Arab world heading? It’s been 5 years since the start of the Arab Awakening and in many ways, the region appears to be going backwards. Join Tom Carver and Carnegie’s Middle East team to discuss Carnegie’s new wide-ranging report, Arab Fractures: Citizens, States, and Social Contracts, which examines what has gone wrong in the relationship between the Arab people and their governments. You can continue the conversation on Twitter with #ArabFractures Marwan Muasher is vice president for studies at Carnegie, where he oversees research in Washington and Beirut on the Middle East. Muasher served as foreign minister (2002–2004) and deputy prime minister (2004–2005) of Jordan, and his career has spanned the areas of diplomacy, development, civil society, and communications. Michele Dunne is the director and a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on political and economic change in Arab countries, particularly Egypt, as well as U.S. policy in the Middle East. Perry Cammack is a fellow in Carnegie's Middle East Program in Washington, D.C., where he focuses on long-term regional trends and their implications for American foreign policy.

The U.S.-China relationship is pivotal to the world order. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized China during his campaign and since his inauguration. The director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, Paul Haenle, discusses Trump’s direct assaults on the cornerstones of the U.S.-China relationship, assessing the administration’s confrontational approach to questions such as the One China policy, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and North Korea. He also addresses the pressures facing Chinese President Xi Jinping as he approaches the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and how conceptions of China’s role in the world are shifting within the country. Paul Haenle is the director of the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center based at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. In addition to running the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center, Haenle is also an adjunct professor at Tsinghua, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses to Chinese and international students on international relations and global governance. Haenle served as the director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolian Affairs on the National Security Council staffs of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama prior to joining Carnegie.

In India, the world’s largest democracy, as many as a third of elected politicians are under criminal indictment. Carnegie Senior Fellow Milan Vaishnav discusses his groundbreaking new book, When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics, which takes readers deep into the marketplace for criminal politicians. Drawing on fieldwork from the campaign trail, large surveys, and unprecedented data on politicians’ criminal records, Vaishnav discusses his findings on the inner-workings of democracy’s underbelly, and how his work might illuminate the current U.S. political climate.

Carnegie Senior Fellow James L. Schoff discusses his research on U.S.-Japan relations and regional engagement, Japanese politics and security, and the private sector’s role in Japanese policymaking.

Carnegie Senior Fellow Sarah Chayes discusses her research on systemic corruption and its consequences for governance around the world, including within the United States.

As part of our series looking at what a Trump presidency could mean for the world, Carnegie Moscow Center Director Dmitri Trenin examines what Russia and Russian president Vladimir Putin may want from Trump's administration.

Donald Trump’s call with Taiwan’s leader suggests that the U.S.-China relationship might be about to change, a shift that would impact the balance of power throughout the region. As part of our series looking at what a Trump presidency could mean for the world, Carnegie Vice President for Studies for Asia Douglas H. Paal examines what countries in East Asia may want from Trump’s administration, and identifies potential sources of friction.

Carnegie Vice President for Studies George Perkovich and Senior Fellow Karim Sadjadpour discuss Iranian reactions to Trump’s election, possibilities for U.S.-Iranian relations and the international sanctions regime, and future of the Iran nuclear deal.

As part of our series looking at what a Trump presidency might mean for different parts of the world, Carnegie Senior Vice President for Studies Thomas Carothers and Senior Fellow Rachel Kleinfeld discuss how the election of Donald Trump might affect global populist movements.

In the first in our series looking at what a Trump presidency might mean for different parts of the world, Carnegie Vice President for Studies Marwan Muasher, Middle East Program Director Michele Dunne, and Visiting Scholar Joseph Bahout explain how Trump’s policies could impact the Middle East and how the region has reacted so far to his electoral victory.