OP-EDS
January 30, 2013
"Development: Learning from Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew"
Technology+Policy | Innovation@Work
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"The question of whether nations can learn from history nag policymakers around the world. Part of the problem is that history is handed down through a variety of interpretations that do not reflect reality. But contemporary history, if genuine presented, can offer policy makers with lessons they can learn from....Singapore's lessons for other developing countries have yet to be fully appreciated. This is partly because much of the discussion has tended to focus on rhetorical arguments about relationships between governance and economic growth."
January 16, 2013
"Obama Must Write the Rule Book for Drones"
Boston Globe
By Evelyn Krache Morris, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"Obama may be comfortable with Brennan's philosophy of targeted assassinations, and he may be equally confident in the proposed new CIA chief's ability to control the initiatives of underlings. However, these are flimsy foundations on which to base policy decisions, particularly ones concerning a weapon as controversial as drones. Cutting Congress and the public out of the process of determining how, when, and where these weapons should be used is counterproductive and shortsighted."
(UN Photo)
December 20, 2012
"Peacemakers 2012"
Boston Globe
By Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
"As the holidays approach, 2012 hasn't provided much hope for the seasonal wish of 'Peace on Earth,' Not when the headlines reveal the savagery of the Syrian and Congolese civil wars, Hamas-Israel rocket barrages, insurrection in Mali, fighting in Afghanistan, violence in Egypt, and the heartbreaking nightmare of the death of innocent young children in Newtown, Conn," writes Nicholas Burns, director of the Belfer Center's Future of Diplomacy Project. "But, if we look at this year more closely, it is possible to find people, thousands of them, who may not have the power of a state at their disposal but are pushing the cause of peace step by difficult step in every corner of the world."
December 12, 2012
"Moving Beyond Race in Malaysian Electoral Politics"
The Straits Times
By Derwin Pereira, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"The coming general election in Malaysia will be a watershed no matter who wins. It will demonstrate how ethnicity and economics interact today, four decades after they threatened to tear the country apart," writes Derwin Pereira for Malaysia's The Straits Times.
December 3, 2012
"Seoul, Tokyo Should Look to the Future"
The Korea Herald
By Sang-ho Song and Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
In addition to the festering territorial row over Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, historical issues such as Japan's wartime sexual enslavement have overshadowed the prospect of the two countries' cooperation on security and other issues. Diplomatic tension is expected to escalate further as security hawk Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party is likely to return to Japan's premiership following the parliamentary elections slated for Dec. 16.
AP Images
June 7, 2012
"US makes Asia a priority"
Boston Globe
By Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
In the context of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s current trip to Asia, Professor Burns discusses the Obama administration's “rebalancing” of our global policy toward a priority emphasis on the vast Asia-Pacific region.
AP Photo
December 21, 2011
"A War to End All Misbegotten Wars"
The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Hopefully, the Iraq experience will put an end to the succession of misbegotten wars of the U.S., the most recent one before that being the manifestly more tragic Vietnam War (1963–1975), with 58,000 American soldiers killed, a war that was claimed to be an anti-Communist struggle rather than what it was: the extension of an anti-colonial war."
AP Photo
November 2011
"The Myth of American Exceptionalism"
Foreign Policy
By Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program
"Although the United States possesses certain unique qualities — from high levels of religiosity to a political culture that privileges individual freedom — the conduct of U.S. foreign policy has been determined primarily by its relative power and by the inherently competitive nature of international politics. By focusing on their supposedly exceptional qualities, Americans blind themselves to the ways that they are a lot like everyone else."
AP Photo
August 4, 2011
"The Right Way to Trim"
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
March 7, 2011
"All That Glitters: An American in Vietnam"
The Huffington Post
By Dorothy Shore Zinberg, Belfer Center For Science and International Affairs
"Poverty and unemployment are significant even though, like the Chinese, the Vietnamese have managed to cut abject poverty significantly. Wages remain shockingly low. Censorship is rife and Facebook is banned. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (U.S.) before the 2011 Communist Party Congress meetings, Internet cafes and blogs were closely watched; dozens of activists and bloggers were arrested for "spreading propaganda against the state." The government dismantled websites, and a number of journalists remain in jail."
