News + Media
News ReleaseJune 9, 2008Advance screening of Discovery Channel's Koppel on Discovery: The People's Republic of CapitalismIn the wake of the catastrophic earthquake in China's Sichuan province and on the eve of the Olympics this August in Beijing, Discovery Channel Managing Editor Ted Koppel presents Koppel on Discovery: The People's Republic of Capitalism, a sweeping four-part series that examines modern China. |
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AuditJune 1, 2008Who leads Russia?Elizabeth Wood, MITEver since Dmitri Medvedev’s nomination to succeed Vladimir Putin as president of Russia, followed by his election and now his inauguration, Kremlin watchers, both Russian and Western, have been discussing the so-called “Putin-Medvedev tandem” and asking who will really lead Russia. Is the duumvirate stable? Will it degenerate into squabbling among the Kremlin clans behind the scenes? |
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AuditMay 1, 2008Insights into two American empiresAlice Amsden, MITIn Escape from Empire: The Developing World ’s Journey through Heaven and Hell (MIT Press, 2007), Alice Amsden tartly takes on much of the conventional wisdom about the global economy. In this interview, she briefly touches on a few of the book’s provocative themes. |
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AuditMay 1, 2008Pakistan’s governance imperativeAfter the kind of year that no country ever wants, with its government in crisis, repression replacing even the most remote notion of good government, political assassination, and terror standing in the wings, Pakistan elected a new parliament in February. Led initially by a coalition of three parties previously deemed outcasts by President Pervez Musharraf, its cabinet of familiar political faces quickly agreed in principle, and at least in public, on a compelling and daunting political agenda. |
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AuditMay 1, 2008Much ado about nothing: the Israeli-Palestinian peace processAnat Biletzki, MITTwo myths have been with us for a while now; one is of lasting permanence, the other has gained traction more recently. The first is that the way to get out of the Israeli-Palestinian imbroglio is by engaging in a “peace process,” and the second is that the result of that peace process is pretty much well-known. . |
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Analysis + OpinionApril 24, 2008The divestment trapJohn TirmanBoston GlobeThe bill on Beacon Hill would remove all state pension funds from investments in Iran's energy industry as a means of punishing Iran for bad behavior. |
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In the NewsApril 9, 2008Leaderless Jihad: radicalization in the westMarc Sageman, an expert on al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations, discusses how people end up on the path to political violence in a post-9/11 world. His talk builds upon his best-selling book, "Understanding Terror Networks" and is based upon his recent publication, "Leaderless Jihad." Sageman is an independent researcher on terrorism and the founder of Sageman Consulting, LLC. He holds various academic positions at the George Washington University, the University of Maryland and national think tanks, like the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Homeland Security Policy Institute. |
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Analysis + OpinionApril 3, 2008Don't 'pull an Iraq' in AfghanistanBenjamin H. FriedmanChristian Science MonitorMassive state-building efforts are not a good use of tax dollars. |
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AuditApril 1, 2008Wilson’s radical vision for global governanceEzra Manela, Harvard UniversityIn recent years, Woodrow Wilson has returned to feature prominently in the public discourse on the role of the United States in the world. For students of U.S. foreign relations, this is hardly a surprising development. Wilson was responsible for articulating a vision of the U.S. role in the world—usually described as “liberal internationalism”—that has remained, despite well-known flaws and scores of critics over the years, dominant in shaping American rhetoric and self-image, if not always policies, vis-à-vis the rest of the world. |
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AuditApril 1, 2008Good and bad news on global developmentDani Rodrik, Harvard UniversityI start with some good news, because there is, I think, a lot of good news in the world of development. Then I want to present what I think is essentially a paradox. The paradox, to put it very crudely, is that while economic development is working, development policy is not. |