Issue briefs and reports

The question for US policymakers is not whether to compete, but how.

As the Freedom and Prosperity Indexes show political freedom declining worldwide for the twelfth straight year, new data analysis shows its importance for lasting prosperity: Though authoritarians promise economic rewards, democratizing countries gain an 8.8 percent GDP per capita boost over twenty years than their autocratic peers. With democracy on the ropes, what else can the Indexes tell us?

Japan is in a geopolitically challenging neighborhood and is witnessing the basic tenets of its foreign policy—from alignment with the United States to fostering a rules-based environment—come under unprecedented stress.