At Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for Exxon-Mobil chief Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State, Sen. Tim Kaine (D, Va.) introduced into the record a 2008 report prepared by Sen. Lugar’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff: “The Petroleum and Poverty Paradox: Assessing U.S. and International Community Efforts to Fight the Resource Curse.”  The 125-page report was the launch pad for the drafting and eventual passage of the Cardin-Lugar amendment aimed at fighting corruption in mineral-rich developing countries.... Read More

Bipartisanship in politics may sound like a good thing, but does it really make a difference in today’s polarized Congress?... Read More

The government this week issued its second annual report on the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (USEITI).  This report is a direct outgrowth of anti-corruption work begun by Sen. Lugar when he was in the Senate, and a board member of The Lugar Center sits on the committee that oversees USEITI. You can find a copy of the report here.  USEITI is part of a larger effort to promote transparency and fight corruption in developing countries, which dovetails with The Lugar Center’s project to increase the effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid.... Read More

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan led an off-the-record round table discussion with 15 ambassadors to the United States Wednesday in the second meeting of the Lugar Diplomacy Series.... Read More

Voters in the nation’s most partisan Congressional districts—the deep reds and the dark blues—can nonetheless elect bipartisan representatives who are willing to reach across the aisle to try to get things done in Washington.... Read More

The Lugar Center launched its new Lugar Diplomacy Series Monday with a roundtable discussion among 15 foreign ambassadors led by retired Gen. David Petraeus and former Sen. Richard Lugar.... Read More

The first Green Revolution, led by the work of Norm Borlaug and M.S. Swaminathan, is credited with saving millions of lives through its concentration on raising crop productivity through scientific advances around improved inputs and farming techniques. However, it brought us only so far. According to the FAO, today 795 million people suffer from chronic hunger. Our global food and agriculture systems will continue to be under enormous pressures that can only be ameliorated by greater investments in science. To feed a world population of nearly 10 billion by 2050 will require not just greater productivity, but smarter productivity that recognizes the environmental challenges of climate change, the demands of a more urbanized global population, stresses on water resources, and changing dietary preferences.... Read More

For many Americans, July of 2016 meant a hot summer - in weather and politics - with both parties hosting their presidential nominating conventions, and the nation seemingly as divided as ever politically. 

However, there was outstanding news of bipartisan action in both the House and Senate on legislation that commits the United States to leadership in the area of global food security.... Read More

The notion that women in Congress are more bipartisan got another boost last week when Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced she was working on a bipartisan compromise bill to stop terrorists from buying guns. This came after it was widely expected that the two Republican and two Democratic gun bills up for a vote this week, following the terrorist-linked mass murders in Orlando, would be defeated, just as they had been in December.... Read More

One of The Lugar Center’s core policy areas is global food security. We seek to elevate the issue so that the American public understands its value for the United States, whether explained in terms of an humanitarian ethic, national security imperative, or commercial interest. In fact, food security affects all three.... Read More