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ANALYSIS

FEATURED BLOG POST

Robert Stavins: Any Hope for Meaningful U.S. Climate Policy? A Somewhat Positive View

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UPCOMING EVENT

February 11: Justice Denied: Amnesty, Pardons, and Prosecutions in Post-apartheid South Africa

A presentation by Yvonne Malan.

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January 2010

"The São Paulo Proposal for an Improved International Climate Agreement"

By Erik Haites

An effective international climate agreement poses formidable challenges. Existing agreements, naturally, have some good features. Further improvements are being discussed in the current negotiations. But the cost and uncertainty associated with regular renegotiation of commitments is not being addressed. The São Paulo Proposal suggests mechanisms that would avoid the need for regular renegotiation of commitments and suggests other ways to make international climate agreements more effective.

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January 29, 2010

"How Visiting America Changed British Minds"

The Scotsman

By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program

"Where the inquiry can be the most fruitful, though, is in asking the former prime minister about how he managed to approve a war with such derisory postwar planning. Not even Mr Blair could assert that the years following the Iraq war went well. Many civilians were killed needlessly."

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January 29, 2010

"Restoring Trust in Corporate Governance"

BusinessWeek

By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

"It is profoundly in the self-interest of private sector leadership energetically to implement these six "must do's" in order to answer powerfully the legitimate criticisms of board and senior executive decision-making in recent years."

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January 31, 2010

"How to Reform Our Financial System"

New York Times

By Paul Volcker, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

"What we do need is protection against the outliers. There are a limited number of investment banks (or perhaps insurance companies or other firms) the failure of which would be so disturbing as to raise concern about a broader market disruption. In such cases, authority by a relevant supervisory agency to limit their capital and leverage would be important, as the president has proposed."

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January 25, 2010

"America's Growth in the Decade Ahead"

Project Syndicate

By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University

"Although the strength of the US economy in 2010 is still uncertain, it is important to look ahead to its likely performance in the coming decade. Adding up all the key components of GDP, annual economic growth is likely to be about 1.9%, or roughly the same as the average rate over the past ten years."

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Winter 2010

"Alternative Nuclear Futures"

Daedalus, issue 1, volume 139

By Steven E. Miller, Director, International Security Program; Editor-in-Chief, International Security; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Scott Sagan, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1981-1982

"Our crystal ball is not clear enough to predict with confidence whether the global nuclear future will be characterized by peace and prosperity or by conflict and destruction. But we do believe that the choices made in the coming few years will be crucial in determining whether the world can have more nuclear power without more nuclear weapons dangers in the future."

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January 2010

"Pakistan's Nuclear Posture: Implications for South Asian Stability"

By Vipin Narang, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

"...[E]xtremist elements in Pakistan have a clear incentive to precipitate a crisis between India and Pakistan, so that Pakistan's nuclear assets become more exposed and vulnerable to theft. Terrorist organizations in the region with nuclear ambitions, such as al-Qaida, may find no easier route to obtaining fissile material or a fully functional nuclear weapon than to attack India, thereby triggering a crisis between India and Pakistan and forcing Pakistan to ready and disperse nuclear assets—with few, if any, negative controls—and then attempting to steal the nuclear material when it is being moved or in the field, where it is less secure than in peacetime locations."