Citizens for Global Solutions

One of the curious ironies of our time is that, although many politicians spout heated nationalist rhetoric, rail against foreign nations, and belittle international cooperation, this approach to international affairs is not at all what most people want. The climate of aggressive nationalism is clear enough.

In his award-winning book about World War I, the historian Paul Fussell began The Great War and Modern Memory with the words: “Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected.” He was all too correct. During four years of bloodshed, 1914 to 1918, at least 8.5 million combatants were killed, many more were wounded, and close to 10 million non-combatants perished.

Amidst yet another year of startling declines for democracies everywhere, Hungary has seemingly defied the odds. Despite being the poster boy of the far-right populist threat to European democracies, recent elections ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party from 16 years of power, effectively shifting the tide on one of the starkest democratic erosions in the European Union.

If the objective of the U.S. war upon Iran is to ensure that that country does not develop nuclear weapons, that goal was attained more than a decade ago through a far different approach than the one now being followed by the Trump administration. Iran, as a signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1970, had agreed to forgo the development of nuclear weapons.

Citizens for Global Solutions invites members to our 2026 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Over three days, we’ll come together for advocacy, strategic planning, and community building in support of democratic global governance. Register Now → The meeting brings together board members, chapter leaders, youth program participants, partners, and advocates from across our network.

The U.S. military attack upon Iran is but the latest indication that the system of international law―which provides guidelines for the behavior of nations in world affairs―is crumbling. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, after thousands of years of violent international conflict, efforts to establish global norms for nations in connection with war, diplomacy, economic relations, and human rights accelerated.

When: Friday, March 13th, 2026 Time: 10:30am – 12:00 pm EDT Where: Zoom Webinar | Cost: FREE and open to the public An intergenerational online panel that examines the intersectionality of gender, class, and social policy around inadequate housing, discriminatory laws, and systemic inequities around health for women.

Although the United Nations was created in 1945 with the goal of ending war and solving other global problems, in many cases, the international organization has been unable to fulfill its mission. Since that time, wars have been fought, unscrupulous national leaders have done whatever they can get away with, and numerous global problems remain unresolved.

In 2011, the New START Treaty, which had been signed by the United States and Russia the previous year, came into effect. The Treaty aimed to restrict the number of nuclear warheads the two nations could deploy. It also provided for a verification system to ensure that both sides were complying with the Treaty rules by providing for on-site inspections of their respective nuclear sites. This month, the Treaty expired.

There is a widening gap today between global possibilities and global realities. The global realities are quite grim. Despite some advances in countering worldwide poverty, it remains at a startlingly high level. According to the World Bank, half of humanity lives on less than $6.85 per day per person, with over 700 million people living on less than $2.15 per day. Moreover, economic inequality is vast and increasing.