Joseph S. Nye

AP Photo

October 13, 2009

"U.S., Russia Must Lead on Arms Control"

Op-Ed, Politico

By General Brent Scowcroft, Editorial Board Member, Quarterly Journal: International Security, Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School and Strobe Talbott

"The Nobel Peace Prize Committee cited Obama's dedication to arms control and nonproliferation when announcing last Friday his selection as this year's laureate. If he creates a positive, mutually reinforcing dynamic in the way he presents and sequences the two treaties [NPT and CTBT], it will give momentum and coherence to follow-on negotiations and the agreements that they produce."

AP Photo

October 13, 2009

"Obama's Nuclear Agenda"

Op-Ed, Daily News Egypt

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

"So long as the world remains a dangerous place with several nuclear weapons states, Obama must reassure its allies about the credibility of American guarantees of extended deterrence. Otherwise, reductions that create anxieties in other countries could lead them to develop their own weapons and thus increase the number of nuclear weapons states."

AP Photo

September 14, 2009

"American Power in 21st Century"

Op-Ed, The Korea Times

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

The problem for American power in the 21st century is that there are more and more things outside the control of even the most powerful state. Although the U.S. does well on military measures, there is much going on that those measures fail to capture.

AP Photo

August 12, 2009

"Making of Great Communicators"

Op-Ed, The Korea Times

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

As president, Obama continues to communicate effectively, but an American president has a problem of dual audiences. Sometimes rhetoric that fares well at home — such as Bush's second inaugural address — sounds hypocritical to foreign ears. In contrast, Obama's inaugural address was well received both at home and abroad....[B]ut effective leadership is also communicated by actions and policies. At this stage, it is too early to determine whether Obama's policies will reinforce or undercut the effects of his words.

As we await the results, it helps to remember the complexity of the relation between effective leadership and communications.

AP Photo

July 14, 2009

"Will US-Japan Alliance Survive?"

Op-Ed, The Korea Times

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

"...[T]he U.S.-Japan alliance will have to face a new set of transnational challenges to our vital interests, such as pandemics, terrorism, and human outflows from failed states. Chief among these challenges is the threat posed by global warming, with China having surpassed the U.S. as the leading producer of carbon-dioxide emissions (though not in per capita terms)."

AP Photo

July 6, 2009

"On Robert McNamara"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

"...I assign the Errol Morris film The Fog of War to my students in a course about leadership and ethics in foreign policy. What the film shows is a man who belatedly realized his frailties and decided to warn a younger generation not to repeat his mistakes. Many former policy makers spend their time after office trying to cast their actions in the best possible light for history. Bob was a rare exception in exposing his mistakes...."

AP Photo

June 25, 2009

"Joseph Nye's Testimony from Hearings on 'Japan's Changing Role'"

Testimony

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

Joseph S. Nye testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment on "Japan's Changing Role" on June 25, 2009.

AP Photo

June 12, 2009

"How Do You Teach and Learn Successful Leadership in a Democracy?"

Op-Ed, Daily Star

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

"[W]hatever the failures of particular British legislators, the issues go further than merely allowing voters to "throw the rascals out." There is also a question of how successful leadership is taught and learned in a democracy. A successful democracy requires leadership to be widespread throughout government and civil society. Citizens who express concern about leadership need to learn not only how to judge it, but how to practice it themselves."

AP Photo

June 2, 2009

"Nature and Nurture in Leadership"

Op-Ed, Harvard Crimson

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

"Societies that rest on heroic leaders are not able to develop the civil society and broad social capital that are necessary for leading in today's networked world. Modern leadership turns out to be less about who you are, or how you were born than about what you have learned and what you do as part of a group. Nature and nurture intertwine, but nurture is much more important in the modern world than the heroic paradigm gives it credit for. Rather than think of your fellow graduates in terms of a particular type of heroic individual—male or female—look instead for indications that they (and you) have developed the judgment to broaden your bandwidth and cope with the wide range of new situations you are bound to encounter. That contextual intelligence will be the key to effective leadership."

AP Photo

May 13, 2009

"Taking Democracy to the People"

Op-Ed, Globe and Mail

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

"Equally important to the foreign-policy methods used to support democracy abroad are the ways in which it is practised in the United States. When Americans try to impose democracy, they tarnish it. When they live up to their own best traditions, they can stimulate emulation and create the soft power of attraction. This is what Ronald Reagan called the 'shining city on the hill.'"