EUROPE
December 11, 2012
High-Risk, High-Reward: Will Obama Seek a Free-Trade Pact With Europe?
Op-Ed, The Atlantic
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Just after the New Year, President Obama will have to decide whether to take a dramatic, high-stakes gamble on a very unsexy topic: a U.S.-EU free trade agreement. It will be one of the key high-risk, high-reward choices of his second term, writes Ben Heineman.
NEAMS/DOE Photo
2012
"Expert Judgments about RD&D and the Future of Nuclear Energy"
Journal Article, Environmental Science and Technology, issue 12, volume 46
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
Probabilistic estimates of the cost and performance of future nuclear energy systems under different scenarios of government research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) spending were obtained from 30 U.S. and 30 European nuclear technology experts. The majority expected that such RD&D would have only a modest effect on cost, but would improve performance in other areas, such as safety, waste management, and uranium resource utilization. The U.S. and E.U. experts were in relative agreement regarding how government RD&D funds should be allocated, placing particular focus on very high temperature reactors, sodium-cooled fast reactors, fuels and materials, and fuel cycle technologies.
December 5, 2012
"A free-trade agreement with Europe?"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
At a recent meeting of German business and foreign-policy leaders, one participant summed up an anxiety that’s almost palpable here: “Europeans have a sense of being left alone. You Americans don’t understand how much we need you.”
Winter 2012-2013
"On Tap at Belfer Center: Oil and Water"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
Leonardo Maugeri writes that oil production capacity is surging in the United States and several other countries at such a fast pace that global oil output capacity is likely to grow by nearly 20 percent by 2020—possibly prompting a plunge or even a collapse in oil prices.
December 1, 2012
Europe at a Crossroads
Event Report
In a public address on Europe’s imminent choices, former EU Commissioner and Fisher Family Fellow Anna Diamantopoulou offered an analysis of the origins of Europe’s crisis and sketched her vision of the new narrative necessary to ensure European cohesion.
November 30, 2012
"Turning Points"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
We yearn for turning points, writes Niall Ferguson. "Just as economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions, so journalists have surely reported nine out of the last five revolutions. Every election is hailed as epoch-making. Every president is expected to have a new foreign policy 'doctrine.' A minor redesign of a cellular phone is hailed by the devotees of the Apple cult as a 'paradigm shift.'"
AP Photo
December 2012
"Missions-oriented RD&D Institutions in Energy Between 2000 and 2010: A Comparative Analysis of China, the United Kingdom, and the United States"
Journal Article, Research Policy, issue 10, volume 41
By Laura Diaz Anadon, Associate Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
By analyzing the institutions that have been created to stimulate energy technology innovation in the United States, the United Kingdom, and China—three countries with very different sizes, political systems and cultures, natural resources, and histories of involvement in the energy sector—this article highlights how variations in national objectives and industrial and political environments have translated into variations in policy.
November 23, 2012
Syrian Rebels at Cross Purposes
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
The Syrian opposition took a big step forward this month by forming a broad political coalition that includes local activists who started the revolution. But the opposition’s military command is still a mess, and until it’s fixed, jihadist extremists will keep getting more powerful.
November 20, 2012
"Don't Waste Draghi"
Op-Ed
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi's Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) gives the populists' opponents a new weapon: support while structural reform takes hold. As he implied on Thursday, purchases are rewards for the countries implementing good reforms. Conversely, the ECB can stop OMT if it judges national policies to be "deserving" of punitive rates. Draghi should not hesitate to use this power to preserve credibility: while monetary policy operates within democracy, it is not itself be democratic.
AP Photo
November 19, 2012
"Syria: Would Putin Pull a 'Pristina'?"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Might Putin, if Bashar's regime became more threatened, be tempted to pull another Pristina? — the moment in 1999 when Russian troops, in support of their Serbian allies, sent a column in to occupy Pristina airport, in Kosovo. The Supreme Allied Commander (SACEUR), Wesley Clark, was in favor of blocking the runway against Russian reinforcements, but the leading British military officer in place there, Michael Jackson, countermanded Clarke, and a potentially dangerous East-West confrontation was avoided."
