Article Alert

December 2007/January 2008

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. DOES MASS INCARCERATION MAKE US SAFER?
Western, Bruce
Nieman Watchdog, posted November 19, 2007

Our attempt to increase public safety by relying on imprisonment may be backfiring, according to Harvard sociologist Bruce Western. There are now 2.2 million Americans in prison or jail, and incarceration rates are highest among young black men. Many are imprisoned for nonviolent offenses. The growing reliance on incarceration by lawmakers and criminal justice agencies reflected changes in philosophy and politics through the 1980s and 1990s when policy makers abandoned the philosophy of rehabilitation, Western writes. "While our prisons and jails expanded to preserve public safety, they now risk undermining the civic consensus on which public safety is ultimately based," says Western. Incarceration weakens families, splits poor back communities from mainstream American life, and produces "a combustible mix of racial and class politics."

2. THE SUPREME COURT'S WRONG TURN -- AND HOW TO CORRECT IT
Kennedy, Edward
American Prospect, vol. 18, no. 12, December 2007, pp. 14-18

Kennedy, the senior Democratic senator from Massachusetts, argues that Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito, posing as moderates during their confirmation hearings, have shifted positions once they were seated on the U.S. Supreme Court. Now they are moving the Court to the right. The two judges, who advocated judicial "modesty," have been very aggressive in overturning doctrines and statutes, such as curtailing abortion rights. Whether or not it was possible to prevent confirmation of the president's Supreme Court nominees by a Republican-controlled Senate, the confirmation hearings should, at the very least, have informed the American public about the nominees' views on the pressing legal issues of our time. It is no exaggeration to say that the next Supreme Court appointee, which might be nominated by a Democratic president and sent to a Democratic-controlled Senate for confirmation, will have a decisive role in shaping the law on such vital issues as abortion, affirmative action, campaign finance, federalism, and countless other matters. For this reason, both the Democrats and the Republicans need to transcend party politics to work together for reform.

Economics and Trade

3. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
Heineman, Benjamin; Heimann, Fritz
National Interest, no. 92, November/December 2007, pp. 80-87

Heineman, Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and Heimann, cofounder of Transparency International, write that in recent years, there has been growing recognition that corruption has had an insidious impact on developing nations. To counter this, the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions was enacted in 1997 to commit its members to enact and to enforce national laws making foreign bribery by their corporations a crime. At the time, this was considered a major breakthrough, with the participation of 34 leading industrial countries on a wide range of initiatives. Although most of these countries have been unable to stop corruption within their own borders, most now have sophisticated criminal justice systems to prosecute domestic crime, including bribery. However, efforts to stop foreign bribery have had uneven success, even though the convention is drafted and monitored by the OECD Working Group on Bribery.

4. CHINA'S GROWING EXTERNAL DEPENDENCE
Cui, Li
Finance & Development, vol. 44, no. 3, September 2007, pp. 42-45

The Chinese economy is evolving away from being a giant assembly shop that imports components, assembles them and ships out low-tech finished goods, such as textiles and toys. Cui, a senior economist at the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, writes that China's evolution into an exporter of more sophisticated products, such as capital goods and components, has run parallel to the growth of a more complex domestic economy that is able to provide more content for its exports. This means that the Chinese economy is less insulated from external economic shocks than in past years when a decline in exports would be accompanied by a commensurate decline of imports. To keep its economy stable, Cui says China needs to rebalance growth away from potentially volatile exports toward a more sustainable path driven by domestic demand. Furthermore, as China's labor costs rise, lower-income countries in Southeast Asia may take China's place as the international assembly shop.

5. DISASTER CAPITALISM: THE NEW ECONOMY OF CATASTROPHE
Klein, Naomi
Harper's Magazine, vol. 315, no. 1889, October 2007, pp. 47-58

Iraq reconstruction, disaster response in post-tsunami Sri Lanka and Thailand and in post-Katrina New Orleans, and infrastructure failure such as the bridge collapse in Minneapolis are increasingly having a common theme, notes the author: governments are ceding responsibility to private interests for more and more projects that used to be in the public sphere. "It's tempting to imagine [that each new disaster] will serve as a wake-up call," writes Klein; however, in her view, disasters have become opportunities to engage in radical re-engineering, creating a "ruthlessly divided world" in which relief services are made available for those who can pay, and those who cannot are left to fend for themselves. The coastal fishing villages in Sri Lanka and Thailand that were devastated by the 2004 tsunami were never rebuilt, but have been replaced by high-end tourist resorts; in New Orleans, selected schools were split off from the public school system to become private charter schools. The growing private-sector disaster-response business has become self-perpetuating, as governments lose the ability to perform core functions without the help of contractors.

6. DOWN ON THE FARM
Grunwald, Michael
Time Magazine, November 12, 2007, pp. 28-36

The administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt started farm aid in response to the Dust Bowl and Depression of the 1930s, but the author notes that in Washington, "the emergency has never ended" -- the government gives more subsidies than ever to farmers, in the form of price supports, funding for restoration and clean-up projects, irrigation, and ethanol mandates. Grunwald notes that most of the funding goes to a small fraction of farms; while the subsidies help industrial-scale farms increase their expansion, it makes it more difficult for small-scale farmers to survive. Most of the cash goes to fund a small number of row-crop monocultures, such as corn, rice, cotton and soybeans. The continuation of the subsidies is testimony to the political clout agribusiness commands in Washington, where the latest attempts at agricultural reform were watered down.

7. PRIVATIZATION: A SUMMARY ASSESSMENT
Nellis, John
SAIS Review, vol. 27, no. 2, Summer-Fall 2007, pp. 3-29

The author, who has worked and written on international development issues for forty years, believes that privatization has provided substantial economic benefits to strapped governments. In the last 25 years many thousands of formerly state-owned firms have been privatized in transition economies, generating over USD 400 billion in sales proceeds, but a very large number of productive entities, including many of the larger and more valuable firms in energy, infrastructure, and finance, still remain in the hands of the state. In addition, thousands of firms have been privatized by methods in which no money was raised. A large number of studies praise privatization's positive impact at the level of the firm, as well as its positive macroeconomic and welfare contributions, but public opinion in the developing world is still unfriendly to privatization. However, in some countries that might be expected to suffer from the effects of privatization, such as in Argentina or in Mexico, the number of workers laid off was small in comparison to the entire workforce. As the percentage of respondents viewing privatization negatively rose from 55% in 2001 to 80% in 2003, it fell back to about 70% in the latest 2005 poll. When privatization goes well, it is close to invisible and taken for granted; when it goes wrong, few politicians want anything to do with it.

8. U.S. ELECTRICITY SUPPLY VULNERABILITIES
Tverberg, Gail
Oil Drum, posted December 6, 2007

The author, a professional actuary, writes that, due to a variety of simultaneous trends, the likelihood of widespread power outages in the U.S. within the next five to ten years is "uncomfortably high". Practically all of the baseload generation capacity that has been built in the last two decades is natural gas-fired; however, domestic U.S. natural-gas production is essentially flat, despite greatly increased drilling activity. Canadian gas production is soon expected to decline, and it is unlikely that sufficient amounts of imported liquefied natural gas can be obtained. The U.S. currently imports over 80 percent of its nuclear fuel. In 2006, a quarter of our total nuclear fuel needs were from dismantled Soviet nuclear weapons; our agreement for importing this material will end in 2013, and it is unlikely that it will be renewed. Due to the deregulation of the electric utility industry, the private sector has been less willing to build redundant systems to ensure reliable supplies. The electric grid is aging and in need of more maintenance, in the face of nonstop growth in demand for electric power.

9. WHAT WILL WE EAT AS THE OIL RUNS OUT?
Heinberg, Richard
MuseLetter, no. 188, December 2007

The author, an author and prominent educator on ecological issues, notes that our present-day mechanized, fossil-fuel-powered agricultural system is a culmination of two centuries of agricultural advances; however, a growing chorus of energy analysts are warning that global production of oil and natural gas is approaching its peak and could soon decline. This has profound implications for the way food is produced and distributed, says Heinberg, noting that the world human population has increased six-fold during this period. A growing world food crisis is brewing, being driven by environmental degradation and extreme weather events, as well as increased production of biofuels. Heinberg believes that the only long-term solution is to return to an agricultural system that is localized, less reliant on fossil fuels, and consisting of intensive, small-scale cultivation relying on crop rotation and composting; he points to the example of Cuba, which was able to avoid massive food shortages after oil shipments stopped after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. Heinberg cautions that this will necessitate the fundamental transformation of modern society, and will take decades.

Global Issues/Environment

10. A CHANGING CLIMATE: THE ROAD AHEAD FOR THE UNITED STATES
Stern, Todd; Antholis, William
Washington Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1, Winter 2007, pp. 175-188

When negotiators agreed to the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997, the U.S. Senate was already on record opposing the treaty and the American public and media were largely uninterested. Now, global warming has become a central focus of the international community, not only as an environmental issue but also as an economic and security concern. But direct and serious engagement by the next president of the U.S. will be required to make real progress in improving the situation. In order to build a consensus among Americans and credibility abroad, the new president must show clearly that U.S. policies are grounded in science and that they are workable. The authors write that there is no time to waste on fruitless discussions and negotiations. American diplomatic efforts in this campaign should be anchored in a core group of key countries, since eight countries are responsible for more than 70% of global emissions. The U.S. must also develop a partnership with China on this issue, since it will be impossible to contain global warming without China's concerted engagement. In this way, the U.S. can lead in the development of international agreements which include binding emissions targets with solid commitments from the more advanced developing countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, China, and India.

11. COVERING THE WORLD
Ricchiardi, Sherry
American Journalism Review, vol. 29, no. 6, December 2007/January 2008, pp. 32-39

The foreign correspondent assigned to a country for a prolonged period with expertise in the local language, culture, history and customs is now a vanishing breed, Ricchiardi writes. But as many U.S. news organizations have backed away from foreign news coverage, the Associated Press (AP) has made worldwide expansion part of its master plan for future growth. Although newspapers around the United States are focusing on local news, buying AP products if and when they see the need, AP is pinning its hopes on new markets opening beyond North America's borders. AP has recently doubled its reporting power in China, opened an office in Pyongyang, North Korea and will soon open a bureau in Saudi Arabia. "The AP family tree branches out to 243 bureaus in 97 countries, serving news outlets with a potential to reach 1 billion people each day," Ricchiardi writes. AP is investing millions of dollars to upgrade communications among the bureaus worldwide, with an emphasis on high-speed data links and faster portable satellite phones. More work is also being done to develop a more online-oriented international news product with emphasis on "convergence journalism" - a multiplatform approach to presenting information.

12. THE OTHER, OTHER WHITE MEAT
Paynter, Ben
Wired, vol. 15, no. 11, November 2007, pp. 235-241

The National Academy of Science conducted a study in 2002 finding that meat from cloned animals is safe to eat. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration came to the same finding in 2006, but has not issued affirmation that these products can enter the commercial food supply chain. In the meantime, the agency has also received almost 150,000 comments from the public opposing the sale of cloned meat and milk. Some American livestock producers invested heavily in clones of prize livestock early in the decade, anticipating commercialization of the products. Paynter profiles a few such producers who now face serious losses because the supermarkets are not open to their products. Paynter also describes his own taste test of cloned meat and milk products. While agriculture groups are still hoping for approval of the products by 2008, Paynter writes that public squeamishness about consuming cloned foods remains an obstacle.

13. THE SCIENCE OF DOING GOOD
Fink, Sheri
Scientific American, Vol. 297, No. 5, November 2007, pp. 98-106

The author, a medical doctor who has worked on humanitarian aid missions in several countries, explores the application of new technologies to such missions. She examines using computer databases, global satellite mapping, DNA-analysis, wireless communication and other techniques to better define the scope of disasters and organize relief efforts. Systematic survey methods document more fully refugee and civilian casualties of violent conflicts, while epidemiological surveys led to the practice of vaccinating children in refugee camps against measles, because the disease spreads rapidly and is often fatal among displaced people. Fast-evolving refugee crises challenge the effective use of these tools, while relief organizations continue to develop ways to assess the performance of their programs. The author notes that scientific tools and information from them will continue to improve aid missions, although addressing the needs of vulnerable populations before disasters strike should be the most important objective.

Regional Security

14. AMERICA'S STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITY WITH INDIA
Burns, R. Nicholas
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 6, November-December 2007

According to Burns, U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, the governments of the United States and India have only begun to catch up with the lead of the two countries' businesses in forming lasting alliances. Describing some diplomatic successes of the past few years, Burns lists several challenges remaining: strengthening military, intelligence, and law-enforcement cooperation to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, and nuclear proliferation; promoting India's agricultural production while narrowing differences over global trade; cooperating on innovations aimed at increasing energy efficiency and reducing harm to the environment; and promoting freedom and democracy worldwide. "The United States must adjust to a friendship with India that will feature a wider margin of disagreement than we are accustomed to -- but a friendship in which the extra effort will be made up for by rich long-term rewards," Burns said.

15. DEAD CENTER: THE DEMISE OF LIBERAL INTERNATIONALISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Kupchan, Charles; Trubowitz, Peter
International Security, Vol. 32, No. 2, Fall 2007 pp. 7-44

This article discusses whether the Bush administration's unilateralist approach to foreign policy is an aberration, or a sign of things to come. The authors argue that the liberal internationalist impulse of U.S. foreign policy that began in the 1940s is on the wane; liberal internationalism resulted from the threats of Nazism, Japanese imperialism, and Soviet expansion -- threats that made it desirable for Democrats and Republicans to find common ground in foreign affairs. However, they note, the collapse of the Soviet Union deprived the United States of its most formidable challenge -- terrorism notwithstanding -- and has reduced the incentive for American elites to cooperate with one another and to seek both force projection and international coalition-building. In addition, the United States has become more politically fragmented, with a more conservative Midwest and South and more liberal coastal areas. Thus, there is a danger that in the future U.S. foreign policy will alternate between extreme hawkishness or dovishness. In search of a reasonable center, the authors argue for moderate power projection through ad-hoc coalitions designed to address specific crises.

16. THE NATIONAL SECURITY ELECTION
Campbell, Curt; Chollet, Derek
Washington Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1, Winter 2007, pp. 191-199

The authors assert that "given the current state of world affairs, it is a wonder that anyone would want to be the next president of the United States." He or she will have to face concerns about nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, changing relations with Russia and China, conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, instability in Pakistan, allegations of torture by Americans, privacy concerns, and the deteriorating image of the U.S. abroad. Nonetheless, the number of qualified candidates for the job is inspiring and a bit surprising, they note; "perhaps more than any presidential contest since 1980 or even as far back as 1968, 2008 will be a national security election." The major contenders have already tried to outline distinct visions of national security issues; questions about national security and foreign policy have received a lot of attention in the debates. There is a strong bipartisan consensus on the need to maintain a strong military, a suspicion of ideological causes, and a greater appreciation for the role of international institutions. "Judging by the richness of the debate so far, it seems clear that the various contenders have a deep appreciation about the importance of national security issues. Just as importantly, this is a debate that the American people want to have."

17. THE NEW HISTORY OF WORLD WAR I AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY
Lieber, Keir
International Security, Vol. 32, No. 2, Fall 2007 pp. 155-191

World War I, the "Great War," is thought by many to have marked the end of traditional Western civilization and the beginning of modernism. It has often been described by historians as a tragic mistake, arising from misapprehensions and poor communication. The author, professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, asserts that the German leadership of the time didn't stumble into the war, but planned it rationally, knew it would last a long time, and assumed they would ultimately conquer Europe. A new trove of historical evidence, he writes, shows that Germans of the time were preoccupied with the goal of ruling Europe, and had decided a war was inevitable. In addition, they fully understood the nature of modern trench warfare, and knew that such a war would destroy European civilization for decades. In spite of doubts, Lieber notes, the German leadership went ahead and attacked Russia and France, covering up their responsibility with some political maneuvering while hoping England would remain neutral. Previous scholarship concluding Europe blindly blundered into World War I has influenced much international relations theory since, the author notes. A new interpretation of the war emphasizing the aggressive logic of the German general staff may lead to rethinking future causes of conflict.

18. NEW NUCLEAR REALITIES
Brown, Harold
Washington Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1, Winter 2007, pp. 7-22

The author, a CSIS counselor and trustee and former secretary of defense, argues that efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons may be counterproductive; U.S. policy should be directed at the international security issues that underlie nuclear proliferation. Various countries or groups have different motivations for obtaining nuclear weapons -- security, prestige, or the desire to inflict severe damage on enemies. It is more likely the perceived threat of U.S. conventional military capability, rather than the U.S. nuclear arsenal, that drives the desire for nuclear weapons. For decades, the Soviets and Americans suppressed proliferation; but while governments can largely be deterred by the threat of annihilation, transnational terrorists cannot. The current situation makes the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons a higher priority than ever. Brown writes that this includes preventing the acquisition of nuclear weapons by currently non-nuclear states, reducing existing nuclear capabilities, and safeguarding existing stockpiles from transfer or leakage -- "the strongest possible measures to inhibit acquisition of nuclear weapons by nonstate actors are surely justified."

19. THE RIGHT STUFF
Pillar, Paul R.
National Interest, no. 91, September/October 2007, pp. 53-59

The author, a former National Intelligence officer, points out that there has been much publicity about the often-criticized intelligence report on Iraqi unconventional weapons, but there were two other assessments that he initiated to help policymakers understand the aftermath of a war with Iraq. These reports indicated that 1) the greatest difficulty would be "building a stable and representative political system; 2) there would most likely be sectarian violence; 3) economic reconstruction would be difficult; 4) major outside assistance would be required to meet humanitarian needs, including a refugee problem; and 5) feeling threatened could revive Iraq's interest in WMD. The regional assessment concluded that a war would boost political Islam, including its extremist variants." The accuracy of these reports suggests that "comprehensive analysis should be applied before any other contemplated exercise of U.S. power, regardless of how frightening or condemnable the target of that exercise may be."

20. STABILITY AND CHANGE IN U.S. GRAND STRATEGY
Posen, Barry R.
ORBIS, vol. 51, no. 4, Fall 2007, pp. 561-571

The author, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, notes that, while globalization has made for economic growth and improved standards of living in many countries, it has also greatly increased economic inequality and made millions of people susceptible to appeals by extremist groups. Global communications links have also allowed transnational extremist groups to spread their message easily. Posen writes that while the collapse of the Soviet Union may have left the U.S. as the premier global military power, it has masked the limits of the U.S. military's ability to control zones of conflict. The unilateralist policies of the current administration, whom the author terms "national liberals", over the last seven years have precipitated a tug-of-war debate with the Democrat-leaning "liberal internationalists", who favor legitimacy, and with advocates of restraint, over how to project U.S. military power overseas. Posen notes that the conflict in Iraq has left proponents of primacy in both camps in some disrepute; he predicts that a strategy of restraint will prevail by default, and the U.S. Navy will be key in carrying it out.

21. WASHINGTON'S EASTERN SUNSET: THE DECLINE OF U.S. POWER IN NORTHEAST ASIA
Shaplen, Jason; Laney, James
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 6, November-December 2007

Shaplen, a former policy adviser at the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, and Laney, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, see danger emerging in Northeast Asia. "Three powerful, nationalist states [China, Japan, and South Korea] with a history of hostility between them are simultaneously awakening from a period of quiescence and jockeying for power," they write. The United States needs to change its policies in this transition -- it should help build a security regime among six Northeast Asian countries, create a bilateral security arrangement with China, and participate in multilateral Asian forums as vigorously as China does. The U.S. should also negotiate free-trade agreements throughout East Asia, Southeast Asia, even India. "If it does not move quickly, it will find its stature in Northeast Asia greatly diminished at precisely the time when the region takes its place at the center of the world stage," the authors write.

U.S. Society and Values

22. A SENSE OF ELSEWHERE
Gregorian, Vartan
American Libraries, vol. 38, no. 10, November 2007, pp. 46-48

The author, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, salutes the power of libraries as "launching pads for the imagination", the institution that is most representative of an open society. Libraries contain a nation's heritage and the tools for learning and understanding -- a place where immigrants learn English and bridge the distances between their "old" country and their new adopted land. In 2001, more than twenty organizations created by industrialist Andrew Carnegie celebrated the 100th anniversary of his philanthropic work. Perhaps his most lasting contribution was his endowment of libraries, an act that created over 1600 libraries in the U.S. and about 1000 in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Fiji. Today, American libraries have embraced technology and have inspired libraries around the world to follow suit. American libraries were the first to allow circulation of books and periodicals, and to promote the openness of library collections; it was these practices that were successful overseas. In many countries, the most accessible libraries are the Information Resource Centers (IRCs) maintained by the U.S. Department of State.

23. THE STUBBORN SCIENTIST
Schwarz, Frederic
American Legacy, Spring 2007, pp. 11-12

Percy Julian was the only black student at the time, when he entered DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1916, to study chemistry; the school had seen only a handful in its history. When a white student shook his hand on the first day, Julian said later, "my whole life was changed." But upon graduation as valedictorian, he was unable to find a postgraduate fellowship. No top school would touch him. Julian didn't give up -- he taught for two years at a black college and finally was granted a fellowship at Harvard, and later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. Julian eventually worked for the Glidden Company in Chicago, where he became one of America's best chemists. He was a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants, including testosterone, progesterone and cortisone. He was the first African-American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. When he bought a house in Oak Park, Illinois, it was subjected to an arson attack and a dynamite bombing. Today, Oak Park, where he started his own company, boasts a Percy Julian Middle School. "With a boundless supply of stubbornness and persistence, he was able throughout his career to rise above racism and show that he was better than the people holding him back," says Schwarz.

24. UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATING FANTASY LITERATURE
Kurtz, Patti
Choice, vol. 45, no. 4, December 2007, pp. 571-572, 574-580

The genre of fantasy literature is difficult to define. Traditionally, the majority of fantasy works have been literature, but since the 1950s, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of video games, music, and painting. It is difficult to define the precise 'beginning' of fantasy literature, as such stories have existed in spoken forms before the advent of printed literature. Homer's ODYSSEY satisfies the definition of fantasy, however the genre's more distinct beginnings were in the fairy tales of Europe. As a distinct type, fantasy literature became visible in the Victorian era, with the works of writers such as William Morris, Lord Dunsany, George MacDonald and Lewis Carroll, author of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, followed by L. Frank Baum's WIZARD OF OZ. Some assert that J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were seminal to the mass popularization of the fantasy genre, with works such as THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. The global phenomenon of J.K. Rowling's HARRY POTTER series is a testament to the popularity of fantasy literature and to the type of creative and talented writers it now attracts.

25. WHEN CELEBRITIES ATTACK!
Drezner, Daniel
National Interest, no. 92, November/December 2007, pp. 22-28

The phenomenon of celebrities appearing before Congressional committees to advocate for causes such as human rights or the environment is not a new one. Drezner, an associate professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, notes that celebrity culture has fundamentally changed; star entertainers are now taking an active interest in world politics, and are able to raise issues to the top of the global agenda. In the current media environment, there is an almost symbiotic relationship between celebrities and their causes. Earlier celebrities, such as Shirley Temple and Jane Fonda, were political activists. Temple, became U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. The magazine Vanity Fair let U2 singer Bono guest-edit a special issue on Africa, due to his numerous visits to that continent, including a well publicized one with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. Princess Diana was in the forefront of the campaign to ban the use of land mines; her death became a rallying point that led to Great Britain's ratification of the 1997 Ottawa Convention. However, not all celebrities are successful; some are quite misguided or have been stung by criticism, as the Dixie Chicks found out when they blasted President George W. Bush on stage at a 2004 London concert.

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