Joseph S. Nye
Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Contact:
Telephone: (617) 495-1123
Fax: (617)-496-3337
Email: Joseph_Nye@harvard.edu
September 9, 2011
"The Biggest Danger is Over Reacting"
Op-Ed, WGBH Online
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"Why don't we do what we do best at the Kennedy School, hold a community forum?" So we basically pulled together a few faculty members who knew something about the field, though obviously nobody knew about what was really happening. And we held a public forum, which was jammed; members of the audience asking questions and participating. And I think that had something of a therapeutic effect. It allowed the community to pull together and to try to make collective sense of something which otherwise was horrific and senseless.
AP Photo
Spring 2011
"The Future of Power"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, issue 3, volume LXIV
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Jack L. Goldsmith
"The conventional wisdom among those who looked at the Middle East used to be that you had a choice either of supporting the autocrat or being stuck with the religious extremists. The extraordinary diffusion of information created in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries reveals a strong middle that we weren't fully aware of. What is more, new technologies allow this new middle to coordinate in ways unseen before Twitter, Facebook, and so forth, and this could lead to a very different politics of the Middle East. This introduces a new complexity to our government's dealings with the region."
AP Photo
August 8, 2011
"Can China Afford to Downgrade the U.S.?"
Op-Ed, Reuters
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"The real test will be whether China moves away from the dollar in any significant manner. While it makes modest adjustments to its reserve holdings, there are few good alternatives to the dollar. And while it calls for an international basket of currencies to replace the dollar, there are few takers. Of course, China might move toward opening its currency and credit markets in an effort to make the yuan a reserve currency, but the authoritarian political system is unwilling and unprepared to move to that degree of economic freedom."
AP Photo
August 4, 2011
"Democracy's Drama in Terrorism's Theater"
Op-Ed, CNN.com
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"Terrorists hope to create a climate of fear and insecurity that will provoke liberal democracies to harm themselves by undercutting their quality in terms of their own values. Preventing new terrorist attacks while understanding and avoiding the mistakes of the past will be essential if we are to preserve and support liberal democracy both at home and abroad."
AP Photo
August 4, 2011
"The Right Way to Trim"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"At the height of the cold war, President Dwight D. Eisenhower decided against direct military intervention on the side of the French in Vietnam in 1954 because he was convinced that it was more important to preserve the strength of the American economy. Today, such a strategy would avoid involvement of ground forces in major wars in Asia or in other poor countries."
AP Photo
July 20, 2011
"Another Overhyped Challenge to U.S. Power"
Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"In political terms, China, India and Russia are competitors for power in Asia. Russia worries about China's proximity and influence in Siberia, and India is worried about Chinese encroachment into the Indian Ocean as well as their Himalayan border disputes. As a challenge to the United States, BRICS is unlikely to become a serious alliance or even a political organization of like-minded states."
AP Photo
July 4, 2011
"Should China Be 'Contained'?"
Op-Ed, CNN.com
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"Such fears appear exaggerated, particularly when one considers that Asia is not one entity. It has its own internal balance of power. Japan, India, Vietnam, and other countries do not want to be dominated by China, and thus welcome a U.S. presence in the region."
AP Photo
June 9, 2011
"Syria Can Prove that Sanctions Do Work"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"As the death toll in Syria approached 1,000, President Barack Obama finally announced sanctions against the regime. His move stopped Americans doing business with President Bashar al-Assad, along with certain relatives and officials, and froze their US assets. Cynics scoffed, repeating the conventional wisdom that sanctions don't work. In fact they can make a big difference and, with Syrian violence worsening, the time is right for more."
AP Photo
June 6, 2011
"Has Economic Power Replaced Military Might?"
Op-Ed, CNN.com
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"Markets and economic power rest upon political frameworks, which in turn depend not only upon norms, institutions, and relationships, but also upon the management of coercive power. A well-ordered modern state is one that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, and that allows domestic markets to operate. Internationally, where order is more tenuous, residual concerns about the coercive use of force, even if a low probability, can have important effects — including a stabilizing effect."
Summer 2011
"What Role Should the U.S. Play in Middle East?"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School, Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School, Ashraf Hegazy, Former Executive Director, The Dubai Initiative, Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program
The Belfer Center's Graham Allison, Nicholas Burns, Ashraf Hegazy, Joseph S. Nye, and Stephen Walt consider the U.S.'s shifting foreign policy in the Middle East.
