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
AP Photo
December 8, 2011
"Obama's Pacific Pivot"
Op-Ed, The Korea Herald
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"...[T]he November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, held in Obama's home state of Hawaii, promoted a new set of trade talks called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Both events reinforce Obama's message to the Asia-Pacific region that the U.S. intends to remain an engaged power."
AP Photo
November 21, 2011
"A Pivot That Is Long Overdue"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
The planned Marine rotation reinforces Obama's message to the region that the United States intends to remain a Pacific power. One of the great power shifts of the 21st century is the recovery of Asia, but instead of keeping our eye on that ball, the U.S. wasted the first decade of this century mired in two land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now Obama has announced that American foreign policy will "pivot" toward East Asia.
AP Photo
October 7, 2011
"The Decline and Fall of America's Decline and Fall"
Op-Ed, CNN.com
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"...even if China suffers no major domestic political setback, many current projections are based simply on GDP growth. They ignore U.S. military and soft-power advantages, as well as China's geopolitical disadvantages. As Japan, India, and others try to balance Chinese power, they welcome an American presence. It is as if Mexico and Canada sought a Chinese alliance to balance the U.S. in North America."
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."
