Policy Currents | The newsletter for policy people
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** July 22, 2025
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Taiwan's Resilience to an Attack by China
Taiwan faces an existential threat. Is the island prepared for a blockade, missile strikes, or even an invasion by China? A new RAND study considers this critical question through the lens of Taiwan's civilian resistance.
The authors define civilian resilience as "civil society's ability to anticipate, prepare for, mitigate, and survive an act of war and rebuild following the end of the hostilities." They find that Taiwan already has many helpful building blocks in place, including a rich history of volunteerism, ample experience with disaster response, and a modern health care system.
But despite this strong foundation, Taiwan must take further action to prepare for the impacts that war could have on civilian life. There are also ways the United States and the international community could further support Taiwan's efforts.
While bolstering Taiwan will be a "large and long-term endeavor that cannot be accomplished quickly," the authors write, "many important steps could be taken in short order and might prove consequential in the event of a conflict."
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How Libraries Can Support Mental Health
RAND has been studying Libraries for Health (L4H), a pilot program that placed mental health supports in ten rural libraries in central Texas. While there were barriers to executing the program, L4H is linked to several positive outcomes. For instance, staff at participating libraries said that L4H helped attract more patrons. They also reported feeling more confident in supporting patrons' mental health. Beyond the L4H evaluation, RAND researchers developed a toolkit to help librarians across the country support mental health.
Toolkit: [link removed]
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Golden Dome: Applying Lessons from the Past
Missile defense was a contentious topic in the 1980s, when President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). According to RAND's William Courtney, there are lessons from the SDI era that might be helpful as the White House seeks to advance its plans for another long-range missile defense initiative, the Golden Dome. These lessons include cultivating support from U.S. allies, aiming for bipartisan support, and relying on evidence-based analysis.
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** RAND Recommends
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- RAND experts describe how tele-palliative care offers support for patients who might otherwise go without and has surprising advantages over traditional, in-person care.
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** Events
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A Discussion on Recent Trends Among the Unsheltered in Los Angeles
Wednesday July 30, 2025 (Online)
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Policy Lab: Restoring U.S. and Allied Military Power and Influence
Thursday July 31, 2025 (Online)
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** Policy Minded, RAND's Flagship Podcast
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On Policy Minded, we pick the brains of the world's top policy experts. In each episode, RAND researchers join us for conversations that go beyond the headlines--bringing you insights you can't find anywhere else.
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