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The impact of global challenges such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic manifests most acutely in urban settings, rendering cities essential players on the global stage. 

This Chicago Council on Global Affairs blog post explains pandemic preparedness must include more than research, vaccine development, and stockpiling supplies.

Catch the week's top news and research in food, agriculture, and global development in our Global Food for Thought news brief.

Economic sanctions: what they are, how the US has used them in foreign policy, and considerations for current policymakers.

Recent polling reveals both good and bad news for the future of US-Russian relations.

Despite the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, survey data reveals growing support for a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized workers.

Polling shows the Swedish public is keenly aware of the threat posed by Russia and favors a strong policy response to the invasion of Ukraine.

The Detroit Future City plan seeks to address the city's decades of decline and calls for returning portions of vacant land to natural and agricultural uses.

A way to reduce traffic and pollution and improve city transit systems, cordoned pricing exists in several cities around the world. Could it work in Chicago?

In this blog post from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, we dig deeper into how the pandemic has affected immigrants to the US.

The Feed the Future Food Safety Innovation Lab aims to support sustainable, high impact research that improves food safety in developing economies.

While Americans support federal spending on education, healthcare, and Social Security, there partisan divides on other key issues.

The Council’s Katelyn Jones examines women in science and the gender dimensions of agriculture.

Penny Abeywardena explains how the New York experience demonstrates city diplomacy’s impact.

COP15 set new targets for protecting ecosystems, but funding, implementation, and a lack of global attention to biodiversity give pause for Chris Morris.

How can the US confront human rights abuses in China, without robbing athletes of the opportunity to compete on the world stage?

This Earth Day, one plant breeder reflects on the food security promise of innovative biotechnology and how it has been misunderstood.

This paper offers actions businesses, governments, foundations, and community organizations can explore to ramp up ecosystems for future youth entrepreneurs.

The 2020 Chicago Council on Global Affairs-University of Texas at Austin survey explores to what extent Democratic, Republican, and Independent foreign policy professionals support Biden’s international agenda.

Around the world, cities continue to protect the basic human rights of vulnerable populations in the face of fierce opposition from national governments.

This Chicago Council on Global Affairs blog by Madeleine Nicholson checks in to see if the world is on track to achieve the lofty Sustainable Development Goals.

In this blog post from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Jacqueline Hughes discusses the sustainability of food systems.

A Council working paper shows the climate benefits of shared mobility, but urban leaders must implement policies that make it safer and more accessible.

A global survey shows the public perceives COVID-19 as the world's greatest health threat and nearly two-thirds of respondents believe the vaccine should be compulsory.

With vaccination efforts under way, some hope that the end of the pandemic is in sight, while others feel uneasy due to distribution issues and immense pressures on the health care system.

Agriculture has great potential for carbon offsets, but implementation will be complicated.

Americans and Russians agree on few matters as each believe the other is influencing their domestic affairs.

Federal investment in space technology is crucial to help farmers fight climate change—this generation's moonshot.

Survey data shows Sanders supporters are concerned about global overreach and that it comes at the expense of the economy and general quality of life.

Craig Kafura and Karl Friedhoff analyze findings of a recent poll examining American public opinion on US relations with Japan.

The extreme climatic events that are brought on by climate change, such as floods and droughts, open new entry points for the spread of invasive species.

Recent survey data shows that most Americans generally oppose selling weapons, but are divided on their opinion of the US' relationship with Riyadh.

Changes in the public's opinion within the last year will offer some insight into the stability of the relationship between the United States and China.

This report examines how immigrants have helped offset native-born population loss and revitalized an aging workforce in 40-plus Midwestern metro areas between 2000 and 2015.

Food insecurity plays a critical and complex role in Myanmar's current political turmoil, and has played a similar role in uprisings of the past.

Businesses in the center of the value chain are crucial to the food system, and these intermediary links are under threat from the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the global infection rate increasing for the first time since April, some countries are pumping the brakes on ambitious recovery plans.

Cities must step up when nation-states ignore the devastating impacts and economic costs of climate change, sea level rise, and environmental degradation.

Updates on public opinion on the COVID-19 pandemic from the US, Japan, South Korea, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Germany, and Mexico.

This Chicago Council on Global Affairs blog explores what foreign policy experts think about the denuclearization of North Korea.

The WHO has officially declared the spread of COVID-19 a global pandemic. How is the public reacting around the world?

Russia’s war in Ukraine has sparked a domestic push toward alternative energy sources.

This Chicago Council on Global Affairs survey indicates Americans view Japan as a close and trusted ally.

A ceasefire between Ethiopian government forces and Tigrayan rebels brings optimism after years of fighting.

The 2022 protests in China have led President Xi Jinping to lift COVID lockdowns. Students held white paper protests to ask for freedom and democracy.

By combatting erosion and flooding along Lake Michigan’s shore, local governments have an opportunity to make their beaches more equitable.

Although the vaccine has brought hope to many people, a new and more transmissible strain discovered in the United Kingdom has caused unease around the world.

Erin Sweeney provides guest commentary on food, agriculture, and forestry in Southeast Asia.

Survey data shows thirty-year lows for American views of Russia.

As the new administration deemphasizes global engagement, sister cities such as Chicago and Mexico City show walls can't destroy the bridges cities have built.