WESTERN EUROPE
AP Photo
June 18, 2009
"Foreign Students are an Opportunity, Not a Threat"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"...[W]e should resist the temptation to react to the fear of terrorism by turning inwards, reducing ties to foreign countries, and denying more students entry. Reducing the number of foreign student Visas would be counterproductive. The US tried it after September 11th, but has now reversed its approach, realising the harm it is doing. To do the same would be to be cowed into becoming a more closed society. We must remain open, outward-looking and vibrant. It is precisely many of these foreign students who will help their countries to reduce terrorism over the long run."
AP Photo
June 15, 2009
"The Media Must Take Some Responsibility"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"The first responsibility is to tell the whole truth. In this scandal, too many commentators have seemed to think that the public interest is best served by their all jumping onto the same bandwagon to tell us the same story: politicians are the bad guys. They are wrong. The public interest is best served by their actually doing what they are paid to do — to report fairly who did what. And that involves admitting that not only did a few MPs make honest mistakes, but that some have come out of these revelations with their reputations actually improved, by claiming little or nothing."
AP Image
June 14, 2009
"Preventing another collapse"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Sir John Gieve, Former Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
"There are four key areas in which the change has to go beyond the incremental: discipline on the biggest firms, using capital requirements to dampen the economic cycle, international cooperation, and institutional change."
AP Photo
June 12, 2009
"How Do You Teach and Learn Successful Leadership in a Democracy?"
Op-Ed, Daily Star
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"[W]hatever the failures of particular British legislators, the issues go further than merely allowing voters to "throw the rascals out." There is also a question of how successful leadership is taught and learned in a democracy. A successful democracy requires leadership to be widespread throughout government and civil society. Citizens who express concern about leadership need to learn not only how to judge it, but how to practice it themselves."
AP Photo
June 4, 2009
"We Need a Debate on Europe"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"...[M]ore of us want to leave than ever before. More than half want the UK to leave the EU but keep trading links, according to a recent BBC survey. More authoritative polling from the Economist still shows that over the last fourteen years, the number of us wanting to loosen the UK's ties to the EU has also risen to over 50 per cent. In the BBC's survey, a full 84 per cent agreed that Britain should vote before transferring any more power to the EU....nobody born after 1957 has ever been able to vote on it. Even those who voted to stay in in 1975 did not realise just how many regulations we would subsequently have to follow, and how much they would cost British business."
Summer 2009
"Paula Dobriansky and John Gieve Named Senior Fellows"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Beth Maclin, Communications Assistant
Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs under President George W. Bush, and Sir John Gieve, former deputy governor of the Bank of England, have joined the Belfer Center as senior fellows.
AP Photo
May 13, 2009
"Here's an Easy Way to Save Taxpayer £100m — Dump Half Our MPs"
Op-Ed, The Scotsman
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"If parliament were a business, solutions would be clear. We would cut the numbers employed, bring more talented people in, and give them the resources to get on with doing a better job. The same solution is right for parliament. This means reducing MPs' numbers to improve their aggregate quality. Does anyone really believe we need more than 323, half the current number?...The next task is to bring more talented people into politics. We need to attract MPs who have more life experience and have had a job in the real world. Halving the number of places available would ensure parties picked the best candidates, and a political version of market forces would see the most qualified and competent MPs remain...."
AP Photo
May 11, 2009
"Central banks need to avoid fighting the last war"
Op-Ed, Financial Times (London)
By Sir John Gieve, Former Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
No one favours bringing the full range of fiscal, monetary and regulatory functions back together under political control. I don't know of any major economy that manages with fewer than three institutions, and most have more. So we need a structure that gives each body a clear remit, but recognises their interdependence and ensures effective co-operation.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
April 2009
"The Viennese Connection: Engelbert Broda, Alan Nunn May and Atomic Espionage"
Journal Article, Intelligence and National Security, issue 2, volume 24
By Andrew Brown, Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Recently declassified materials have revealed the existence of a previously unknown network of Austrian communists in pre-war England. The group of young well-educated Viennese used unsuspecting social contacts and marriages of convenience to establish itself. Analysis of this network reveals some previously overlooked similarities between the 'Cambridge' spies Kim Philby and Alan Nunn May, as well as the emergence of a new nuclear spy, Engelbert Broda. Their wartime espionage as individuals took place at a time when non-communist British scientists were promoting the international sharing of atomic knowledge through unofficial channels. The newly released files reflect a characteristic preference of the British secret services for intelligence gathering rather than intervention and illustrate how vital leads follow from apparently trivial observations.
AP Photo
April 2009
"Nasty, Brutish and Long"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Prospect, issue 157
By Monica Duffy Toft, Associate Professor of Public Policy
It’s a busy time for civil wars. The Sri Lankan army has pushed far into Tamil territory, seeking a decisive victory. The killings in Northern Ireland show how spoilers try to gain advantage over rivals in any political process. Then there is the threat that recently pacified civil wars, such as those in Iraq and Sudan, will come back, while the global recession may push new ones forward.
