Global Governance Update

April 14, 2026

A national flag is placed on the ruins of a building destroyed during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign on March 9, 2026, in Tehran, Iran, on March 12, 2026. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty)

At the start of April, CFR President Froman analyzed U.S. objectives and next steps as the Iran war entered its second month. Read the article

Check out additional CFR resources on topics in global governance:

What Are the Global Options for Defending Iranians’ Rights? by David J. Scheffer
Africa’s Silence on the Iran War Speaks Volumes by Ebenezer Obadare
Trump, Iran, and Diego Garcia: Inside the Fight Over a Remote Military Base by Mariel Ferragamo and Nathan Schoonover
Europe Has Leverage in the Iran War. It Should Use It. by Liana Fix and Leo Bader
The Iran War Is Reshaping Asia’s Energy Security Strategies by Joshua Kurlantzick and Annabel Richter
Everything but Territory: Europe’s Response to Trump’s Greenland Threats by Liana Fix and Benjamin Harris
Securing Ukraine’s Future in Europe: Ukraine’s Defense Industrial Base—an Anchor for Economic Renewal and European Security by Heidi E. Crebo-Rediker
NATO Is Marking Its Seventy-Seventh Anniversary. Will It Be Its Last? by James M. Lindsay
Sudan’s War, Africa’s Complicity, by Michelle Gavin
How I Got My Career in Foreign Policy: David J. Scheffer, by Mariel Ferragamo

Coalitions of the Willing and the Strait of Hormuz

Michael Froman

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrive at the European Council summit on March 19, 2026, in Brussels. (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)

Froman analyzes the United States’ efforts to unblock a key choke point for the world’s energy supply. American allies differ in their willingness to become involved in the war in Iran. Read the article

Humanitarian Crises

The Iran War’s Hidden Front: Food, Water, and Fertilizer

Michael Werz

Palestinians sell bread on a street beneath a destroyed building in Gaza City’s Zawiya market on February 18, 2026. (Omar Al-Qattaa/Getty Images)

CFR Senior Fellow Werz explains how the war in Iran is upending the shipment of food supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, harming countries in the region and beyond. Read the article

The Iran War Is Breaking Global Humanitarian Aid Efforts

Sam Vigersky

The war in Iran has triggered severe global economic disruption, choking off disaster-relief supply chains and spiking oil prices—further exacerbating existing humanitarian crises. CFR International Affairs Fellow Vigersky looks deeper into those concerns. Read the analysis

Trump Needs a Humanitarian Plan for Iran and the Middle East—Before It’s Too Late

Sam Vigersky

The World Food Program offloads 12,500 metric tons of food aid at the Port of Beirut on September 3, 2020. (Haytham Al Achkar/Getty Images)

Vigersky argues that President Donald Trump’s failure to adopt a U.S. humanitarian agenda in response to the conflicts in the Middle East is not a capacity problem—it is a policy choice. The security implications for the region, as well as for United States and Europe, are growing with every hour of inaction. Read the expert take

Will the Next World Food Program Chief Answer to Trump?

Sam Vigersky

Cindy McCain’s tenure running the World Food Program will end prematurely. If past is prologue, the UN secretary-general will fill the vacancy with a U.S.-nominated candidate—empowering Trump to reshape the organization under his vision of humanitarian statecraft, writes Vigersky. Read the analysis

Women and the World

At Munich, Europe Found Its Voice, and It Belonged to Women

Linda Robinson

EU High Representative and Vice President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during the last day of the Munich Security Conference on February 15, 2026. (Liesa Johannssen/Reuters)

This year’s Munich Security Conference showed that the United States and Europe want to work together. Europe appears to be rallying around its own vision of a strong alliance, undergirded by the common values of democracy. Women leaders are playing central roles, crafting defense policy and calling for unity and accelerated action, explains CFR Senior Fellow for Women and Foreign Policy Robinson. Check out the article

Justice for Women and Girls: An Assessment of the 70th UN Commission on the Status of Women

Emma Ulvin and Noël James

The seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women approved steps to improve access to justice for women and girls despite U.S. opposition and amid funding cuts and a potential UN merger. CFR staff Ulvin and James cover those latest developments and more. Read the brief

Venezuela’s Democratic Transition Needs Women, Including Machado

Caroline Hubbard

Women have been on the front lines fighting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship, and other countries’ transitions show that women’s participation is vital for democracy to succeed. Former U.S. Agency for International Development Senior Gender Advisor Hubbard explains how in this CFR guest author contribution. Read the breakdown

Around the Globe

The Specter of Genocide Returns to Darfur

David J. Scheffer