BOOKS
November 2009
The Great American Mission: Modernization and the Construction of an American World Order
By David Ekbladh, Research Fellow, International Security Program
The Great American Mission traces how America's global modernization efforts during the twentieth century were a means to remake the world in its own image. David Ekbladh shows that the emerging concept of modernization combined existing development ideas from the Depression. He describes how ambitious New Deal programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority became symbols of American liberalism's ability to marshal the social sciences, state planning, civil society, and technology to produce extensive social and economic change. For proponents, it became a valuable weapon to check the influence of menacing ideologies such as Fascism and Communism.
October 2008
China into Africa: Trade, Aid, and Influence
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
“Two myths have been concocted by the West on Africa: that the Western impact on Africa has been benign while China’s record in Africa has only been negative. The truth in both areas is more complex. This volume, China into Africa, brings out the complexity of the China story in Africa and illustrates why more balanced assessments are needed on Africa’s relations with the world”
--Kishore Mahbubani
Dean, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore
March 2008
Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa
By Robert Paarlberg, Former Research Fellow, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 2007-2008
Heading upcountry in Africa to visit small farms is absolutely exhilarating given the dramatic beauty of big skies, red soil, and arid vistas, but eventually the two-lane tarmac narrows to rutted dirt, and the journey must continue on foot. The farmers you eventually meet are mostly women, hardworking but visibly poor. They have no improved seeds, no chemical fertilizers, no irrigation, and with their meager crops they earn less than a dollar a day. Many are malnourished.
Nearly two-thirds of Africans are employed in agriculture, yet on a per-capita basis they produce roughly 20 percent less than they did in 1970. Although modern agricultural science was the key to reducing rural poverty in Asia, modern farm science—including biotechnology—has recently been kept out of Africa.
2008
War, Peace and Hegemony in a Globalized World:The Changing Balance of Power in the Twenty-First Century
This book focuses on how the US could adapt its foreign policy initiatives to fit in with the growing aspirations of a multipolar world for a more balanced international order.
August 25, 2007
Worst of the Worst: Dealing with Repressive and Rogue Nations
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
"This volume makes an unparalleled contribution to the growing and vital field of measurement and human rights. [The book] offers a useful categorization and assessment of repressive and 'rogue' states, allowing us to measure the extenet of repressive state behavior more accurately. His [Rotberg] work should embolden external critiques and facilitate more transparent and accountable foreign policy."
--Sarah Sewall, Director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University
May, 2007
Integrating Science and Technology into Development Policies: An International Perspective
February 2007
Dealing with Dictators: Dilemmas of U.S. Diplomacy and Intelligence Analysis, 1945-1990
By Ernest R. May, Former Faculty Affiliate, International Security Program and Philip D. Zelikow, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Faculty Affiliate, International Security Program
The United States continues to proclaim its support for democracy and its opposition to tyranny, but American presidents often have supported dictators who have allied themselves with the United States. This book illustrates the chronic dilemmas inherent in U.S. dealings with dictators under conditions of uncertainty and moral ambiguity.
December 2006
The Gene Revolution: GM Crops and Unequal Development
By Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Former Research Fellow, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 2005-2006
This is the first book to bridge the gap between the "naysayers" and "cheerleaders", and to provide a penetrating examination of the realities, complexities, benefits and pitfalls of GM adoption in developing countries that are desperately fighting poverty while trying to stay afloat in the hyper-competitive global economy.
November, 2005
Battling Terrorism in the Horn of Africa
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Although Afghanistan and Iraq are at the epicenter of America's war on terror, terrorist groups are active in other parts of the world as well. One of the most dangerous is the greater Horn of Africa region--Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Sudan, along with Yem, their volatile neighbor.
April 7, 2005
Globalization, Security, and the Nation State: Paradigms in Transition
By Ersel Aydinli, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2004-2005
