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U.S.-Iranian Tango

September 4, 2008

Chuck Freilich on the importance of the U.S. engagement with Iran on nuclear issues.

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August 27, 2008

"The Incredible Development of the Gulf States"

Agence Global

By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star

The unfathomable wealth and development of the Gulf "statelets" has barely been studied. No serious plans have been devised to create in them institutions of civil society -- nor is there planned assistance for their poorer Arab neighbors.

AP Photo

August 24, 2008

"Soft Power and Beijing Olympics"

Real Clear World

By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations

"The enrollment of foreign students in China has tripled from 36,000 to 110,000 over the past decade, and the number of foreign tourists has also increased dramatically to 17 million per year even before the Olympics. In addition, China has created some 200 Confucius Institutes around the world to teach its language and culture, and while the Voice of America was cutting its Chinese broadcasts from 19 to 14 hours a day, China Radio International was increasing its broadcasts in English to 24 hours a day.

But just as China’s economic and military power does not yet match that of the United States', China’s soft power still has a long way to go...."

AP Photo

August 27, 2008

"Après Musharraf, Patience"

Interntional Herald Tribune

By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program/Project on India and the Subcontinent

"...The notion that somehow developing countries, and especially Muslim-majority states, cannot adjust to democratic model is a flawed assessment. The track record of democratic governments in Pakistan is indeed mixed, but it is also true that democracy takes time to develop....Western governments, primarily the United States and Britain, have shown far more patience with dictators than with elected leaders. Periods of military rule in Pakistan — 1958–69; 1977–88; 1999–2008 — lasted an average of 10 years, while democratic phases lasted an average of less than three years and were often declared to be unstable, corrupt and weak. Foreign aid also declined during the democratic periods...."

AP Photo

August 27, 2008

"Political Conventions are Just as Fun on TV"

Newsday

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

"...[T]here's only one thing I'm missing by not being in Denver, and that's the ability to walk around outside and say to the Hillary/McCain supporters, "What are you thinking!?"

I've been bombarded by their e-mails for months now and frankly, I'm mystified. When you're a loyal member of an American political party, as they claim to be, you sign up to be inside a big tent, where compromise is the name of the game. When parties have real divisions, they're usually over big, ideological issues. It's hard to see where all this venom is coming from...."

AP Photo

August 24, 2008

The Global Consensus on Trade is Unraveling

Financial Times

By Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor

Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot professor at Harvard Kennedy School and member of the board of the Belfer Center, says U.S. international economic policy is receiving less attention than it should this presidential election year.  The success of the next administration, he says, “could depend on its ability to engage with a wider range of global economic stakeholders, on a broader agenda, at a time when disagreements are increasing not just about means but also about ultimate ends.” The next administration "faces the prospect of having to make the most consequential international economic policy choices in a generation at a time when the confidence of governments in free markets is being increasingly questioned," Summers says.

August 13, 2008

"Climate of Security"

The Korea Times

By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations

"...Climate change will put stress on weak governments in poor countries and may lead to an increase in the number of failed states and become an indirect source of international conflict. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon argued in 2007 that the Darfur conflict 'began as an ecological crisis, arising in part from climate change.'

Such direct and indirect effects from human activity, while not malevolent in intention like terrorism, argue for a broadening of our concept of security and the adoption of new policies...."