Global Matters

Today’s interdependent global economy and geopolitical landscape connect America’s interests more than ever to the actions and interests of others. To ensure students understand this interconnected world and are globally literate, they need a global affairs education.

What is global literacy and what comprises a global affairs education? 

Global Literacy is composed of three pillars:

• Knowledge: a basic understanding of the issues, forces, and actors that shape today’s world
• Skills: the ability to think critically and to communicate, collaborate, discuss, and evaluate options to address and take advantage of global challenges and opportunities
• Perspective: an appreciation that individual and national identity, experience, and interests shape differing viewpoints and priorities

Global Affairs

The study of issues, forces, and actors that shape today's world, such as:

• Contemporary global issues
• The relationship between domestic and foreign policy
• Forms of government
• International institutions and global governance
• Nationalism, sovereignty & self-determination
• Conflict and security
• Geopolitical, political, economic, historical, and social trends across the world
• The approaches and tools of foreign policy

The Impact of CFR Education

Building global literacy depends on the availability of high-quality global affairs resources.

This recognition propelled CFR Education to create expert-informed, accurate, and accessible learning resources that build global literacy and encourage responsible civic engagement by:

• Strengthening democracy and national security by curbing dis/misinformation and polarization
• Linking the global to the local and the local to the global
• Equipping students with the knowledge and skills required to compete in a global workforce
• Informing students so that they can advocate for effective policies and vote for public officials who support those policies
• Reducing inequality by exposing citizens in lesser-served communities to essential knowledge about the world and the skills to act on that knowledge