Article Alert

May 2007

ALERT, a monthly publication of the Information Resource Center at the American Center for Educational Exchange, offers abstracts of current articles in major areas of U.S. domestic or international affairs. Full-text articles are available to you upon request. To request articles, please contact the Information Resource Center by telephone , fax, e-mail ircacee@state.gov, or by mail. To request by mail, please circle the articles you wish to receive, include your name, address, and telephone number and return this list to us.  DISCLAIMER: articles and links to non-U.S. government Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

The Rule of Law

1. FROM AMERICA'S MAYOR TO AMERICA'S PRESIDENT? RUDY GIULIANI
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Economist, vol. 383, no. 8527, May 5, 2007, pp. 33-34

The Economist profiles former New York City mayor and Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani, as part of a series on the presidential contenders for 2008. Giuliani, who led New York through the trauma of September 11, is in his element in front of a crowd -- nevertheless, he must persuade Republican primary voters that he is conservative enough, given his pro-choice and pro-gay stance. Polls show that, should he gain the Republican nomination, Giuliani would handily beat Hillary Clinton, although Barack Obama would be more of a challenge. Although the mood of the electorate is moving against Republicans, voters said they would prefer the candidate who, after 9/11, became known as "America's mayor".

2. THE INVINCIBLE WILSONIAN MATRIX: UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS ONCE AGAIN
Gottfried, Paul
ORBIS, vol. 51, no. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 239-250

The author, professor of history at Elizabethtown College, argues that a conservative or realist approach has little appeal in the current debate over American foreign policy. In the twentieth century, according to George F. Kennan, the United States succumbed to "the evils of utopian enthusiasms." Nonetheless, he asserts that in recent years, this worldview has been associated most closely with the neoconservatives, but even the Clinton administration leaned in the same direction. Crusading moralism has been the recurrent theme of America's self-image as a global power. Whether or not neoconservatives and liberals today are really dedicated to the same democratic political culture as the one that Wilson idealized, a recognizable Wilsonian manner of conceptualizing international relations has come to dominate American politics, reflected in a shared rejection of any foreign policy that is not based on the temporal salvation of humanity. Gottfried asserts that many Wilsonians seem unable to imagine that one can be "moral" without trying to make everyone resemble one's self.

3. POLLING THE POPULACE
Walters, Jonathan
Governing, Vol. 20, No. 7, April 2007, pp. 66-68

Local officials are surveying their citizens to learn of preferences in services, priorities in new programs, and indicators of performance. Whether the survey is by mail or phone, or face-to-face in a focus group, the information gathered from these selected respondents is considered more reliable than that obtained from comments at public hearings or on web sites. Officials and administrators are using the information to make local government more responsive to citizen needs. One survey administrator commented that the information "helps frame the debate, and it helps you stay vigilant about doing the right thing and being responsive." The author cites the case of city officials in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, who made budget decisions that contradicted survey findings; the public turmoil that ensued led the mayor and several other officials to forgo reelection.

4. PRIMARY ELECTIONS AND CANDIDATE IDEOLOGY: OUT OF STEP WITH THE PRIMARY ELECTORATE?
Brady, David W.; Han, Hahrie; Pope, Jeremy C.
Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. 32, no. 1, February 2007, pp. 79-105

Brady, Han and Pope, academics from Stanford University, Wellesley College and Brigham Young University respectively, examine the dilemma of U.S. presidential candidates when faced with the more ideologically extreme primary voters, to whom they must appeal to succeed, without alienating the broader constituency that elects the president. Using a new dataset of House primary and general election outcomes, the authors argue that because low turnout in primary elections empowers "a small group of ideologically extreme voters to have greater impact," candidates tend to position themselves closer to the primary electorate. Challengers who defeat incumbents in the primaries are often more ideologically extreme than the incumbents. There is evidence that this "primary-election effect" may account for greater polarization in Congress over the past few decades.

5. ROBERT'S RULES
Rosen, Jeffrey
Atlantic Monthly, vol. 299, no. 1, January/February 2007, pp. 104-113

In a lengthy interview, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts offers his views on what makes a successful chief justice. Roberts believes that the "temperament of a chief justice can be as important as judicial philosophy in determining success or failure." His ideal is John Marshall, chief justice from 1801-1835, who "gave everyone the benefit of the doubt; he approached everyone as a friend ... it was just in his nature to get along with people ... I think that had to play an important role in his ability to bring the Court together, to change the whole way decisions were arrived at, to really create the notion that we are a Court -- not simply an assemblage of individual justices." Roberts believes that "a chief justice's authority is really quite limited ... and the dynamic among all the justices is going to affect whether he can accomplish much or not." Chief justices assign cases to the different associate justices, and Roberts intends to use this power to strive for consensus as much as possible. "It's not my greatest power; it's my only power. Say someone is committed to broad consensus, and somebody else is just dead set on 'My way or the highway.' Well, you assign that [case] to the consensus-minded person, and it gives you a much better chance, out of the box, of getting some kind of consensus.

6. TWO PARTIES, TWO TYPES OF NOMINEES, TWO PATHS TO WINNING A PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION, 1972-2004
Berggren, D. Jason
Presidential Studies Quarterly, Volume 37, No. 2, June 2007, pp. 203-227

The author, instructor at Florida International University, examines U.S. presidential primary poll data over the last three decades to determine patterns in how candidates are selected by the Republicans and Democrats. Previous scholars did not include party affiliation in their analysis, probably concluding that frontrunners usually win their party's nomination. Berggren demonstrates this is not true. After reforms to the nomination process were completed in the early 1970s, almost all presidential nominees for the Democratic party from 1972-2004 have been unknown candidates who have entered the race late and only had single-digit support in the polls at the start (former Vice President Al Gore was the exception.) Early front-runners for the Democratic nomination have faltered, and the eventual party candidate can be predicted by looking at the results of the Iowa caucus, the New Hampshire primary and the first southern primary. In contrast, the first poll taken a year before the Iowa Caucus has been 100 percent accurate in selecting the Republican party presidential nominee, usually a well-known party elder. Berggren argues that differing cultures of the two parties consistently lead to these outcomes, and these styles are reflected in each party's nomination rules. Most state Republican parties use a winner-take-all method for allocating convention delegates, while the Democrats allocate delegates proportionately among those running. Under this scenario, Democrats are more likely to have a choice to make during the primary process with Republicans ratifying an established choice. Berggren concludes that future studies of the nomination process must take into consideration the differences between Democrat and Republican styles.

Economics and Trade

7. BEYOND MICROFINANCE: GETTING CAPITAL TO SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRICES TO FUEL FASTER DEVELOPMENT
De Ferranti, David; Ody, Anthony
Brookings Institution Policy Brief, No. 159, March 2007

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's), typically employing between 10 and 250 workers, can be crucial engines of development, contend the authors. In most OECD countries, they generate two-thirds of private-sector employment and are seedbeds of economic innovation. But in much of the developing world, SME's are under-represented, mostly due to stifling regulatory climates and lack of access to capital. They are ignored both by big commercial banks and "microfinance" lenders that concentrate on poor micro-enterprises. But new options for SMEs are developing, due to improved banking services in the poorest countries and creative application of venture capital. Governments of developing countries can strengthen this tendency by removing artificial regulatory obstacles and promoting greater competition within the financial sector.

8. BURNING THE FURNITURE
Heinberg, Richard
MuseLetter, No. 179, March 2007

Faced with the prospect of growing demand for shrinking oil and gas supplies, many countries are banking on coal to make up a growing share of the energy mix. Heinberg, a journalist and educator, writes that a recent study on global coal reserves published by the Germany-based Energy Watch Group, which reports to the German Parliament, has far-reaching implications -- recoverable coal reserves are much smaller than is commonly thought, and that a peak in global coal production is possible as soon as 15 years from now. The report's authors note that data on global coal reserves is badly outdated or unreliable; countries that have taken the effort to update their estimates have experienced, in many cases, downward revisions on the order of 50-90 percent. China, the world's largest coal producer, reports 55 years of coal reserves left at current rates of consumption -- but their reserves estimates are 15 years old, China's coal consumption is increasing rapidly, and a move toward coal-to-liquid-fuels production means that China's coal production may peak in 5-15 years. In the U.S., the world's second-largest producer, total volumes may increase for 10-15 years, but in terms of energy content, U.S. coal production peaked in 1998. Heinberg writes that the current global energy predicament, far from being limited to a potential shortfall of liquid transportation fuels, is growing into a "broad-spectrum energy crisis" impacting all aspects of modern life. He concludes that "nations that are currently dependent on coal -- China and the U.S. especially -- would be wise to begin reducing consumption now, not only in the interests of climate protection, but also to reduce societal vulnerability arising from dependence on a resource that will soon begin to become more scarce and expensive."

9. THE END OF NATIONAL CURRENCY
Steil, Benn
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 3, May-June 2007, pp. 83-96

Steil, director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, relates how President Nixon in 1971 effectively ended the link to gold not only for the U.S. dollar but also for all national currencies. Since then all currencies have become fiat money, with no intrinsic value. Most people in most countries seek to get rid of their own national currencies because they fear default by their own governments. Instead they hold U.S. dollars or euros, in which they maintain faith. Countries such as Ecuador that have abandoned their national currencies entirely and adopted the U.S. dollar instead have seen lower interest rates and thus stable economic expansion and low inflation. Countries such as Argentina that try to maintain a fixed dollar exchange rate without the dollars to do so have seen continued economic crisis and stagnation. Daily capital flows between two of the 12 largest economies in the world, California and New York State, take place with negligible cost, practically without thought, in a single currency. The developing economies of the world should take the lesson by abandoning their costly national currencies and instead adopting the U.S. dollar, the Euro, or some Pan-Asian currency.

10. THE ETHICAL MIND: A CONVERSATION WITH PSYCHOLOGIST HOWARD GARDNER
Fryer, Bronwyn
Harvard Business Review, vol. 85, no. 3, March 2007, pp. 51-56

It is more difficult for businesspeople than other professionals to adhere to moral standards because business, unlike medicine, law, or engineering, is not strictly speaking a profession with its own gradually established and peer-enforced rules, says Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner in an interview with Brownwyn Fryer from Harvard Business Review. Gardner advices young people who start their own businesses or go into the corporate world to periodically "inoculate" themselves by studying both positive and negative cases of other people's behavior under stress, developing a network of trusted "counselors," taking time to think of their larger goals and values, and be ready to pay the price. "If you are not prepared to resign or be fired for what you believe in, then you are not a worker, let alone a professional. You are a slave," Gardner tells future business leaders.

11. HOW BIOFUELS COULD STARVE THE POOR
Runge, C. Ford; Senauer, Benjamin
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 3, May-June 2007, pp. 41-54

The rush to biofuels by advanced economies could lead to more hunger in low-income countries, according to the authors, both at the University of Minnesota. The combination of high oil prices and subsidies to U.S. agribusiness companies has resulted in diversion of a growing percentage of the U.S. corn crop into biofuel production. That has raised the price not only of corn, but also of wheat and rice, which are more in demand as substitutes for corn, and of seemingly unrelated crops that U.S. farmers are planting less as they plant more corn. Brazil, Europe, and Southeast Asian countries are also diverting more land to biofuel crops. If oil prices remain high and if government policies do not change, global prices for corn are likely to rise 20 percent by 2010 and more than 40 percent by 2020, with similar increases for wheat and oilseeds. "In the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where cassava is a staple, its price is expected to increase by 33 percent by 2010 and 135 percent by 2020," the authors say. Poor people in low-income countries that import both fuel and food may find that the necessities of life may become unaffordable. For many landless laborers and rural subsistence farmers, large increases in staple food prices will mean malnutrition and hunger.

12. IN PURSUIT OF SECURITY AND PROSPERITY: TECHNOLOGY CONTROLS FOR A NEW ERA
Foulon, Mark; Padilla, Christopher
Washington Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 83-90

Globalization has broken down the neat divisions between national security policy and economic policies, according to Foulon, acting undersecretary of commerce for industry and security and Padilla, assistant secretary of commerce for export administration. As a result, policies once regarded as mainly security-related like nonproliferation, defense sales, and border protection now have important implications for economic policy. Now, the authors say, traditional economic issues like foreign direct investment, tax, and visa policy, increasingly have security implications. Nowhere is this more evident than in the area of technology collaboration between U.S. companies in the areas of technology trade, research and development, and overseas manufacturing. In this new dynamic U.S. policymakers must "strike the right balance of controls, incentives, and market-based policies to allow the United States to reap the benefits of technology collaboration while minimizing its potential threats to national and economic security," the authors contend.

13. MAKING OTHER ARRANGEMENTS: A WAKE-UP CALL TO A CITIZENRY IN THE SHADOW OF OIL SCARCITY
Kunstler, James Howard
Orion, January/February 2007

Kunstler, a journalist, author and provocative public speaker, notes that America is "sleepwalking into a permanent energy crisis". The entire U.S. economic infrastructure was built when petroleum was cheap and plentiful -- Kunstler argues that American suburbia, with its "far-flung housing subdivisions, commercial highway strips, big-box stores, and all the other furnishings and accessories of extreme car dependence ... represents the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world, and will function poorly, if at all, in an oil-scarce future." Most of the efforts currently underway to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil revolve around keeping the existing infrastructure running, Kunstler writes, but "we are not going to run Wal-Mart, Walt Disney World, Monsanto, and the Interstate Highway System on any combination of solar or wind energy, hydrogen, ethanol, tar sands, oil shale, methane hydrates, nuclear power, [or] thermal depolymerization ... we will desperately use many of these things in many ways, but we are likely to be disappointed in what they can actually do for us." He argues that Americans "have to make other arrangements for the basic activities of everyday life", including rehabilitation of the nationwide passenger rail network, electrifying local mass transit, localizing food production and manufacturing, changing commuting and work patterns, moving back to small towns, and rethinking the health-care and educational systems.

Global Issues

14. THE CONCILIATOR
Macfarquhar, Larissa
New Yorker, May 7, 2007, pp. 46-57

Peppered throughout this profile on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama are words such as "leisurely," "soothing," "tranquil," "relaxed." He is calm by temperament -- "the first thing almost everybody almost everybody who knows Obama says about him is how extremely comfortable he is with himself," writes MacFarquhar; "he can seem like an actor playing a politician, too implausibly effortless to be doing it for real." MacFarquhar draws on Obama's own books to tell the story of his parents and grandparents. Their history of restless wandering and disappointment seem to have led Obama to find his own center within himself, and to choose to plant his own roots, in Chicago, Illinois. As a politician, Obama is known as a conciliator, whose "drive to compromise goes beyond the call of political expediency -- it's instinctive, almost a tic." His views of history and traditions make him "deeply conservative." His sense of quiet is part of his campaign style: "Obama at town-hall meetings appears engaged but not fervently so, as if there were several other things that he would be equally happy doing that day."

15. ENDING POVERTY IN AMERICA
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American Prospect, vol. 18, no. 5, May 2007, pp A1-A31

This special report was produced with the support of the Demos Foundation. The authors find that many on both sides of the political spectrum agree about what is needed to end poverty, but are disheartened to find that, despite agreement and successful pilot programs, nothing is moving forward because of budget concerns. The articles in this series each deal with a specific aspect of the larger problem. The titles include: Understanding the Challenge; Race and Poverty; The Big Debates; Poverty and Education; Poverty, Work, and Reward; Solutions. Writers include Prospect and Demos fellows and staff, academics, and current and former NGO leaders.

16. GONE
Whitty, Julia
Mother Jones, vol. 32, no. 3, May/June 2007

By the end of this century, it is widely believed by biologists that up to half of all species on Earth may be extinct, due to global warming and fragmentation and loss of habitat. According to the most conservative estimates, species extinctions are occurring at 100 times the natural rate, but Harvard biologist Edward Wilson believes that the true rate is probably 1000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. From what is known, five extinction events have occurred on Earth in the past 450 million years; we are currently living through the sixth extinction period, that began during the Stone Age as man migrated out of Africa and began permanently altering the landscape with agriculture and animal husbandry. The author notes that many of the stories about newly-discovered species are the result of researchers frantically trying to identify as many life-forms as possible before they disappear. Many scientists believe that mass extinction poses an even greater threat to human existence than global warming.

17. THE HEALTH OF NATIONS
Klein, Ezra
American Prospect, vol. 18, no. 5, May 2007, pp. 17-21

The author, a contributor with the American Prospect, notes that many countries provide better health care at lower cost than does the U.S. -- the only industrialized nation to have so many uninsured and underinsured citizens. Klein looks beyond the political and market forces that contribute to the U.S. health-care funding status quo, and examines models from other countries that the author believes provide better coverage at better economy. The author also highlights the positive record of the Veterans Health Administration, pointing out that the VA system is separate from the military hospitals, such as Walter Reed, that have received negative publicity recently.

18. OBSTRUCTED VIEW
Ricchiardi, Sherry
American Journalism Review, vol. 29, no. 2, April/May 2007, pp. 26-33

From the news media's perspective, the Iraq war is different from previous conflicts -- journalists themselves frequently are the targets of the enemy, writes Ricchiardi. For the fourth consecutive year, Iraq ranked as the world's deadliest spot for journalists in 2006, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Since the invasion, 133 journalists and media support workers have been killed; 83 percent were locals, many with ties to Western media outlets. CPJ reports that for the first time, murder has overtaken crossfire as the leading cause of deaths. Ricchiardi writes that escalating threats to foreigners and astronomical security costs have led media companies to scale back their staffs. As a result, she says, the numbers of correspondents in Iraq has dropped and coverage of what may be the most important story in the world today has been seriously compromised. "Though journalists struggle mightily to cut through the fog and spin," Ricchiardi writes, "Americans are left without a complete account of a prolonged, bloody war that is devouring billions of taxpayers' dollars. Correspondents are hamstrung when it comes to independently verifying information from military press briefings or rhetoric from the Pentagon."

19. POP-UP CITIES
Mcgray, Douglas
Wired, May 2007, pp. 160//185

The London-based design and architectural firm Arup has landed one of the world's biggest and most challenging construction projects -- the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation wants Arup to build a city from scratch on an island in the Yangtze River outside of Shanghai. Envisioned as a city of about 500,000, Arup is drawing a plan that will make the city, Dongtan, be entirely sustainable and environmentally conscious. "Dongtan was a rare chance to demonstrate that growth could happen a different way," said Alejandro Gutierrez, an urban designer with Arup. The plan calls for Dongtan to be powered by local, renewable energy, with super-efficient buildings in dense, walkable neighborhoods where carbon dioxide emitting vehicles will be banned. The plan is a radical departure from China's strategy where environmental concerns have been a far lesser priority than industrial expansion. The government revealed last year the environmental damage costs the economy $200 billion a year.

20. THE WORLD GOES TO TOWN: A SPECIAL REPORT ON CITIES
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Economist, vol. 383, no. 8527, May 5, 2007, 18 pp.

Sometime in the next few months, the proportion of the world's population living in cities will pass the fifty-percent mark, if it has not done so already. The Economist notes that the development of cities is synonymous with human development -- over the centuries, cities have been notable for their religious role, as the hub of empires, as centers of government and politics, education, commerce and manufacturing. This special series delves into the history of cities, and the economic and social forces that are drawing unprecedented numbers of people to cities around the world today, creating growing infrastructure and environmental challenges.

Regional Security

21. AFRICA'S NEW HEGEMON: FROM CAPE TO CAIRO VIA BEIJING
Kirchick, James
Weekly Standard, Vol. 12, No. 24, March 5, 2007, pp 14-16
The author notes that China is actively wooing African countries in order to secure sources of oil for its ever-expanding economy. Kirchick writes that oil is the latest motivation behind China's interest in Africa -- in the 1960s, Beijing made ideological contacts with African Marxist movements and governments, among them Robert Mugabe's African National Union in Zimbabwe. That has changed over the years, Kirchick said, to selling Chinese weaponry to whomever in Africa would buy it, including Zimbabwe and Sudan, the latter using it to prolong the slaughter in Darfur. But now, Kirchick says, "Oil, simply put, drives Chinese policy in Africa." Angola is now China's third-leading oil supplier (behind Iran and Saudi Arabia). China also buys 60 percent of Sudan's oil output. Whereas the United States and most western governments stress democracy, human rights, and the like, China "demands no such assurances from its partners."

22. AFTER CHINA'S TEST: TIME FOR A LIMITED BAN ON ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONS
Forden, Geoffrey
Arms Control Today, vol. 37, no. 3, April 2007, pp. 19-23

On January 11, a Chinese anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon destroyed one of the PRC's obsolete Feng Yun-1C weather satellites in a direct strike, creating more than 1,000 pieces of debris of sufficient size to be tracked from the ground. Debris from the test has been identified at altitudes as high as 3,600 kilometers which the author says is four times higher than the position of the original target. He says the international community has expressed its grave concern regarding this debris, which poses an increased risk to both manned space flights and commercial assets in space. "The real danger lies less in the military realm," Forden says, "than in the long-term risk to civilian communications, weather forecasting and pure scientific research conducted by all space-faring nations." He points to the evolving Code of Conduct for Space-Faring Nations, which contains a pledge that nations would endorse, agreeing to abstain from generating space debris. The author says this would help protect global economic interests in outer space "by instituting an international taboo against creating dangerous space junk." He suggests that the timing is right to conclude a treaty banning the most dangerous ASAT systems.

23. THE AMERICAN WAY OF GOING TO WAR: MEXICO (1846) TO IRAQ (2003)
Cumings, Bruce
ORBIS, vol. 51, no. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 195-215

The author, professor of history at the University of Chicago, asserts that, prior to the Iraq War, there had been a long series of American wars in which U.S. leaders often maneuvered the other side into "firing the first shot." This strategy of "passive defense" amounts to an American way of going to war, and it dates back at least to the U.S.-Mexican War. The United States thus retained moral and legal legitimacy, but Cumings argues that the Iraq War represents a fundamental departure from this path. He believes that it might be the worst crisis since Vietnam, but that it was just the latest entry in the U.S. playbook for how to go to war. The Iraq War not only contradicts longstanding practices in American foreign policy, but it has the potential to create far greater international disorder than the Vietnam War. He believes that it may make future presidents more heedful of John Quincy Adams' prophetic words: "go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy."

24. DETERRING A NUCLEAR 9/11
Talmadge, Caitlin
Washington Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 21-34

In discussing the sobering prospect of whether the U.S. can deter a nuclear terrorist threat, the author reviews some aspects of deterrence theory, and cites the concerns of many analysts that deterrence by punishment is irrelevant to dealing with terrorists since they "lack a return address at which to direct retaliation." Talmadge points out that it is virtually impossible for terrorists to create their own nuclear material -- plutonium production requires sophisticated, expensive reactors, as well as reprocessing facilities, and enriching uranium requires relatively large buildings and advanced technologies. Thus, both paths to nuclear material require considerable resources, making it "extremely implausible that a terrorist group would be able to construct a thermonuclear (hydrogen) or boosted implosion (tritium and deuterium) bomb on its own without state assistance." The key is nuclear forensics, which would allow the tracing, or attribution, of materials to their source, thus providing a "return address." Talmadge argues that if the U.S. develops a credible nuclear attribution capability, countries that wish to protect themselves are less likely to provide assistance to terrorists.

25. INSPIRATION AND THE ORIGINS OF GLOBAL WAVES OF TERRORISM
Sedgwick, Mark
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol. 30, no. 2, 2007, pp. 97-112

Determining the causes of terrorism have vexed policymakers for the past 40 years almost as much as determining what terrorism is. For most scholars, the pursuit of causality has dominated their careers and has proven equally unsatisfying. Professor Sedgwick has expanded on the initial work of David Rapoport's theory of the Four Waves of Modern Terrorism, which defines terrorism's four historical periods as global waves supported, in part, by significant events such as World Wars I and II. He argues that the single most important cause of terrorism is found in how future terrorists come to the conclusion that a terrorist strategy stands a good chance of succeeding. The decision to act depends on the capability of a strategy, which to an extent helps explain why terrorist movements at least since the 19th century have almost always failed. Too Sedgwick also examines the impact played by global events and concludes that extraordinary events have no direct impact on terrorism, as such, but have an enormous indirect ideological impact giving rise to the mindset that terrorism is the only available course of action. While Sedgwick contributes to the understanding of motivations and of historical periods, he skirts the evolving theory that terrorism ultimately is about the acquisition of power regardless of the cost in human suffering.

26. A MORE HUMBLE U.S., A BETTER EUROPE FOR MUSLIMS
Mccain, John
New Perspectives Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 4, Fall 2006, pp. 11-13

Senator John McCain expounds on his views on democracy, Muslims, terrorism, and the safety of America. Although no other major terror attack has occurred in the U.S., since 9/11, the safety and security of America is not predictable and the future looks grim. McCain believes that we must pay more attention to the political and social climate in other countries and be more humble to avoid anti-Americanism and volatile situations that could easily erupt into Islamic extremism.

27. NGOs: A 'NEW CLASS' IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Jarvik, Laurence
ORBIS, vol. 51, no. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 217-238

The author, a writer and conservative critic, asserts that nongovernmental organizations have attempted to take control of civil society in many developing countries, displacing traditional governing institutions. This serves the interests of organized crime and extremist groups, who benefit from weak central government, and hinders the West's ability to mobilize allies to participate in the war on terror. NGO leaders who are hostile to the nation-state itself seek to transform a voluntary system of participation in international organizations by sovereign member-states via a "power shift" to an alliance of multinational corporations and NGOs. He argues that since they do not possess the traditional sources of legitimacy enjoyed by nation-states, they seek to impose their will by financial or other means, i.e., "sanctions" or "humanitarian intervention." Jarvik asserts that a new class of NGOs has emerged that is essentially opposed to the diplomatic, legal, and military measures required for dealing with conflict.

28. RUSSIA AND THE WEST: TAKING THE LONGER VIEW
Mankoff, Jeffrey
Washington Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 123-135

The author, with the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, notes that recent events, from the Kremlin's support for separatist rebels in Georgia to the suspicious death of Aleksandr Litvinenko, have reinforced the idea the Vladimir Putin's Russia is abandoning the West and "setting itself up as a serious rival to the agenda of spreading freedom and democracy around the globe." Mankoff argues that recent Russian behavior "has been quite consistent with the strategy pursued by the Kremlin for the past decade, whose fundamental component is not challenging Western influence but proving that Moscow still matters internationally." Putin, whom Mankoff describes as "about as pro-Western a leader as Russia can be expected to have," is promoting Russia's role as a great power rather than being anti-Western or anti-U.S. "A Russia that is sure of itself and of its standing in the world is likely to make a more stable, predictable partner for the West, even if it will not always agree with decisions made in Washington or Brussels."

29. THE UNTHINKABLE: CAN THE UNITED STATES BE MADE SAFE FROM NUCLEAR TERRORISM?
Coll, Steven
New Yorker, vol. 83, no. 3, March 12, 2007, pp. 48-57

Coll tackles the subject of how to make the U.S. safer from nuclear terrorism using advanced detection and surveillance technologies. In an effort to create a layered defense, he says the U.S. government has disbursed 1,500 radiation detectors to key ports around the world and border crossings as well some as to some airports and truck stops, and on some Coast Guard ships and trains. Additional radiation sensing detectors are being distributed monthly. The author quotes a Pentagon report saying that it would take between 100,000 and 400,000 detectors to provide greater protection in the U.S. and overseas, which could cost more than $10 billion. The Bush administration is also spending $400 million annually on radiation-detector research. This comes against the backdrop of al-Qaeda efforts to recruit nuclear scientists and explosive experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency's compilation of data showing that there has been more than three dozen black market smuggling incidents involving radioactive isotopes that could be used to produce a radiological nuclear dispersal device, otherwise known as a "dirty bomb." Officials are talking about comprehensive global nuclear detection architecture as a solution to looming threats. He warns about potential weak points in Russia, where international organized crime networks still thrive, as well as in smaller nations to its south. Pakistan poses a problem, he says, as may India, which has large amounts of fissile material as well as violent terrorists.

30. WHAT NEXT FOR NATO?
Michta, Andrew
ORBIS, vol. 51, no. 1, Winter 2007, pp. 141-153

NATO's mission in Afghanistan is no less than a test case for the future of the alliance. Its future relevance will depend on its ability to develop and maintain broad agreement on its overall missions, but Afghanistan shows a widening gulf between the United States and Europe in the willingness to equitably share priorities and risk in the name of accomplishing the alliance's security missions. The author argues that today, Europe appears to be trapped in the strategic "pause" of the 1990s and does not share the U.S. view on the magnitude of the threat posed by international terrorism. Iraq laid bare the historical rift between the United States on one side and France and Germany on the other, in addition to highlighting the contrast between the more skeptical "old Europe" and "new Europe" more eager to support U.S. objectives. While NATO's role in Iraq is marginal, the clock of NATO's future continues ticking in an increasingly uphill battle in Afghanistan.

U.S. Society and Values

31. AMERICA'S DESIGN FOR TOLERANCE
Clausen, Christopher
Wilson Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1, Winter 2007, 26-32

The Founding Fathers' principles of religious tolerance and separation of church and state have been repeatedly put to the test in the two centuries since they were enunciated, notes the author. However, they have served the country well; even during periods of anti-Catholic or anti-Semitic sentiment, religious conflicts in multi-faith America have been mild compared with other parts of the world. These ideals are being tested anew today, notes Clausen, in the often-acrimonious public debate over prayer in public schools, same-sex marriages, abortion and stem-cell research. "The complicated attitudes of believing Americans toward other religions and the state ... often annoy their secular compatriots and bewilder foreigners," notes Clausen; however, "even among the most devout, few of us would wish to see a state religion." This mixture of religious piety with deference toward the opinions of others, along with the fragmented nature of religion in America, has served to moderate extremist religious elements that would be less constrained in other societies.

32. THE CASE FOR TEACHING THE BIBLE
Van Biema, David
Time Magazine, April 2, 2007, pp. 40-46

The subtitle: "Should the Holy Book be on the public school menu? Yes. It's the bedrock of Western culture. And it's constitutional - as long as we teach but don't preach it" summarizes the topics of the article, which recounts the growing interest in school districts throughout the United States in adding the bible to school curricula. Uneasy support comes from those interested in ensuring more people know this important document that provides so much historical, literary, philosophical, cultural and ethical elements to Western society, as well as from those who want people exposed to the document for religious reasons. The article also discusses the concerns of opponents, who cite the separation of church and state, and fear that bible teaching will be either too religious or not religious enough (or religious but in the "wrong" ways). The article presents classroom lesson examples.

33. CASUALTY OF WAR
Bell, David A.
New Republic, Vol. 236, No. 15, May 7, 2007, pp. 44-52

The author urges more government and private funding to promote the study of military history at the university level. While robust History Book Club sales and popular History Channel broadcasts show that military history is very popular with the public, many leading universities have nonetheless abandoned the subject. Many major universities, such as Harvard or Johns Hopkins, have a single military historian among its history faculty. Bell attributes this development to a broad shift away from narrative history toward a social science model grounded in a liberal, Enlightenment-era thinking that dismisses war as primitive, irrational, and alien to modern civilization. Also many historians -- as a group politically well to the Left of the general public -- condemn military history as inherently "conservative." Even so, a broader, more rigorous intellectual knowledge of war is now a matter of civic interest.

34. DIVERSITY IN THE UNITED STATES AND ABROAD: WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN AMERICAN STUDIES IS TRANSNATIONAL?
Elliott, Emory
American Quarterly, vol. 59, no. 1, March 2007, pp. 1-25

The author, professor of English at the University of California, Riverside, believes that throughout American history, writers, artists, journalists, teachers, and public intellectuals have employed both explicit and subtle methods to critique the gaps between the expressed ideals of the United States and the lived realities, and so too have many American studies scholars used their research to examine and analyze from where we have come, where we are now, and to where we may be headed. Elliott believes that living in the richest and most powerful country in the world places upon us an enormous responsibility to employ every advantage we may have -- in research and library resources, academic influence, technological expertise, programmatic opportunities, travel support, networking and governmental contacts -- in working closely with scholars from every country to form alliances, advance knowledge, and accomplish goals together so far unimagined.

35. IS AMERICA READY FOR A BLACK PRESIDENT?
Sharpton, Al; Swain, Carol
Ebony, vol. 62, no. 3, January 2007, pp. 140-141

Two prominent individuals present differing, but not opposing, opinions on whether American voters would elect a black person to be president. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a long-time activist and a 2004 presidential candidate, says the same grass-roots energy that drove the civil rights struggle will be needed to elect the first black president. "It won't happen from the top party structure downward," he writes. Americans' comfort with the dominant black television presence -- evident in the success of Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey -- and with blacks in politics and business, signals that the time is nigh for a black president. Swain, a professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, also says America could elect a black president, but argues it won't be an activist from the civil rights movement, but rather a person like Barack Obama or Gen. Colin Powell, both of whom embody the hope of immigrants for the American Dream. Swain believes America will elect a black male president long before it elects a woman. "At play are our Judeo-Christian and now Muslim traditions that have limited the roles of women," she writes.

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