The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, founded in 1922 as The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, is a leading independent, nonpartisan

Nonpartisan

In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....

 organization committed to influencing the discourse on global issues through contributions to opinion and policy formation, leadership dialogue, and public learning.

The Chicago Council brings the world to Chicago by hosting public programs and private events featuring world leaders and experts with diverse views on a wide range of global topics. Through task forces, conferences, studies, and leadership dialogue, the Council brings Chicago’s ideas and opinions to the world.

Activities

The Council seeks to provide its members, policymakers, and the general public with a forum for the consideration of international issues and their bearing on American public policy. The Council organizes more than 150 meetings each year, including lectures, seminars, conferences, and a travel program. The Council hosts policymakers and foreign experts from around the world, offering participants the opportunity to ask questions, voice their opinions, and engage in candid discussions.

The Council also produces publications, including an internationally renowned biennial public opinion survey, and reports generated by task forces convened to study a specific issue. Recent task force topics have included:

• "Engaging China and India: An Economic Agenda for Japan and the United States"
• "Modernizing America's Farm and Food Policy: Vision for a New Direction"
• "A Shared Future: The Economic Engagement of Greater Chicago and Its Mexican Community"
• Global Cities Index: Foreign Policy
  Foreign Policy
  Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel.Originally, the magazine was a quarterly...
  
   magazine, global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney
  A.T. Kearney
  A.T. Kearney is a global management consulting firm, focusing on strategic and operational CEO-agenda concerns. It was founded in 1926, and its head office is in Chicago, Illinois...
  
   and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs published the inaugural Global Cities Index in October 2008. The index is a comprehensive ranking of the ways in which cities are integrating with the rest of the world. Specifically, the Global Cities Index ranks cities’ metro areas according to 24 metrics across five dimensions - business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement[7]

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States...

 was listed as a director on the Chicago Council website until her husband started gaining more attention during the 2008 Democratic nomination

Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008

The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...

 race.

History

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs was founded as the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations on February 20, 1922. At its inception, the Council included 23 members with the purpose of opposing what they viewed as U.S. isolationism

Isolationism

Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by...

 during the first World War.

External links

• Chicago Council on Global Affairs Official Site
• 2006 Public Opinion Survey