POLICY BRIEFS
June 2011
"Research, Development, and Demonstration for the Future of Nuclear Energy"
By Laura Diaz Anadon, Associate Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Valentina Bosetti, Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom, Michela Catenacci and Audrey Lee, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2009–2011
Dramatic growth in nuclear energy would be required for nuclear power to provide a significant part of the carbon-free energy the world is likely to need in the 21st century, or a major part in meeting other energy challenges. This would require increased support from governments, utilities, and publics around the world. Achieving that support is likely to require improved economics and major progress toward resolving issues of nuclear safety, proliferation-resistance, and nuclear waste management. This is likely to require both research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of improved technologies and new policy approaches.
U.S. Dept. of Energy
June 2011
"Recommendations for Limiting Transfers of Enrichment and Reprocessing Technologies"
By Fred McGoldrick, Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
For several years, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has been unable to reach a consensus on the adoption of revised guidelines for its members. The most contentious issue is how to strengthen restraints on the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (E&R) technologies in a manner that would be acceptable to all NSG members, and credible to the major exporting states and the nuclear industry. This issue will be back on the agenda this month when the NSG meets in plenary session.
AP Photo
May 2011
"Resurrecting Retrenchment: The Grand Strategic Consequences of U.S. Decline"
By Paul MacDonald, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2008 and Joseph M. Parent
"Husbanding resources is simply sensible. In the competitive game of power politics, states must unsentimentally realign means with ends or be punished for their profligacy. Attempts to maintain policies advanced when U.S. relative power was greater are outdated, unfounded, and imprudent. Retrenchment policies—greater burden sharing with allies, less military spending, and less involvement in militarized disputes—hold the most promise for arresting and reversing decline."
AP Photo
May 2011
"A Bleak Future for the European Project"
By Sebastian Rosato, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2005–2006
"...[A]bsent an overwhelming threat, the Europeans have had little reason to maintain their economic union. This is not to argue that the demise of the Soviet Union has given them a reason to dismantle the EU—only that it has removed their incentive to preserve it. Consequently, the EU has started to fray as member states have put national interests ahead of those of the union."
May, 2011
"Improving Small Farmer Access to High-Value Markets through Aggregation in Morocco"
By Daria Michelle Kaboli and Linda Yun Zou
Morocco, one of the fastest growing countries in Africa, enjoys a diversified economy with growing manufacturing and service sectors. However, like many similar emerging markets, it faces the challenge of integrating a large number of smallholder farmers into an increasingly sophisticated economy. This policy brief outlines opportunities for Morocco to improve the economic outcomes of smallholder farmers by expanding production of high-value agricultural products. The paper identifies challenges small farmers face in producing high-value products, proposes aggregation as a policy recommendation for improving participation in these markets, evaluates the benefits and limitations of this choice, and provides implementation recommendations to mitigate unintended negative consequences of aggregation.
AP Photo
February 2011
"The Foreign Fighter Phenomenon: Islam and Transnational Militancy"
By Thomas Hegghammer, Former Associate, Initiative on Religion in International Affairs/International Security Program, 2009–2010; Former Research Fellow, Initiative on Religion in International Affairs/International Security Program, 2008–2009
"...[F]oreign fighter mobilizations empower transnational terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, because war volunteering is the principal stepping-stone for individual involvement in more extreme forms of militancy. For example, when Muslims in the West radicalize, they usually do not plot attacks in their home countries right away, but travel to a war zone such as Iraq or Afghanistan first. A majority of al-Qaida operatives began their militant careers as war volunteers, and most transnational jihadi groups today are by-products of foreign fighter mobilizations."
AP Photo
February 2011
"The Future of U.S. Nuclear Policy: The Case for No First Use"
"NFU would provide the United States with important political benefits in its efforts to lead the nonproliferation regime and encourage greater international support for nonproliferation initiatives. Many nonnuclear member states of the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) often base their lack of support for U.S.-led multilateral nonproliferation initiatives on the grounds that the United States has not done enough to fulfill its obligation to Article 6 of the NPT, which commits the declared nuclear states to disarmament."
AP Photo
February 2011
"AB 32 and Climate Change: The National Context of State Policies for a Global Commons Problem"
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
"...[B]ottom-up linkage of state and regional cap-and-trade systems could be an important part, or perhaps even the core, of future of U.S. climate policy, at least until there is meaningful action at the federal level. In the meantime, it is at least conceivable—and perhaps likely—that linkage of state-level cap-and-trade systems will become the (interim) de facto national climate policy architecture."
AP Photo
January 2011
"Africa Can Feed Itself in a Generation"
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
African agriculture is at a crossroads. Persistent food shortages are now being compounded by new threats arising from climate change. But Africa also has three major opportunities that can help transform its agriculture to be a force for economic growth. First, advances in science, technology, and engineering worldwide offer Africa new tools needed to promote sustainable agriculture. Second, efforts to create regional markets will provide new incentives for agricultural production and trade. Third, a new generation of African leaders is helping the continent focus on long-term economic transformation.
January 15, 2011
Impact of a U.S. Veto of Settlement Resolution at UN
Dubai Initiative Research Fellow Diana Buttu joins a panel of experts to discuss the impact of the US veto of the UN settlement resolution.
The expected U.S. veto of the resolution on settlements currently being discussed in the UN Security Council will likely bring U.S. foreign policy in the region under further scrutiny. The Institute of Middle East Understanding (IMEU) offers an in-depth on-the-record conversation with the following experts to help make sense of the U.S. role in the region's rapidly shifting landscape.
