GOVERNANCE
May 6, 2008
"The Mystery of Political Charisma"
Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal
By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
"Followers are more likely to attribute charisma to leaders when they feel a strong need for change, often in the context of a personal, organizational or social crisis. For example, the British public did not see Winston Churchill as a charismatic leader in 1939, but a year later, his vision, confidence and communications skills made him charismatic in the eyes of the British people, given the anxieties they felt after the fall of France to the Nazis and the Dunkirk evacuation. Yet by 1945, when the public turned from winning the war to building the welfare state, Churchill was voted out of office. His charisma did not predict his defeat. The change in voters' needs was a better predictor....Barack Obama's charisma is in the eyes of his followers. Voters should be aware that charisma tells them something about a candidate, but even more about themselves, the mood of the country, and their desire for change."
May 6, 2008
"U.S. Worry Grows over Pakistan's Tribal Peace Deal"
Media Feature
By Xenia Dormandy, Director of the Belfer Center's Project on India and the Subcontinent
Jackie Northam of NPR interviews Xenia Dormandy, Director of the Project on India and the Subcontinent, regarding the new Pakistani government's negotiations with militants tied to al Qaeda.
thisismysansar4
May 6, 2008
"South Asia, A New Center of Democracy?"
Op-Ed, The Providence Journal
By Xenia Dormandy, Director of the Belfer Center's Project on India and the Subcontinent
Thus far this year we’ve seen elections in Pakistan, Bhutan, and Nepal. Elections have been promised in Bangladesh and the Maldives later this year, and scheduled in India and Afghanistan for next year. Yet, barring India, we rarely think of these nations as democracies. Could this then be the next wave?
AP Photo
May 5, 2008
Preventing Terrorist Attacks: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom
Policy Memo
By Erik J. Dahl, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Why do terrorist attacks frequently succeed, even though later investigations almost always show that warnings had been available but were either misunderstood or ignored? Conventional wisdom, as seen in the 9/11 Commission Report, holds that disasters such as the 9/11 attacks have been caused by failures of analytical imagination, a lack of long-term strategic intelligence on the threat, and organizational limitations that prevent the U.S. intelligence community from being able to “connect the dots” of the existing intelligence.
Image Credit: Martha Stewart
April 28, 2008
PDP Co-Director Carter Participates in Harvard Oil Shockwave Simulation
Press Release
PDP Co-Director Carter participates in a high-profile crisis simulation examining the economic and security implications of America’s dependency on oil.
AP Photo
April 21, 2008
"The US Democracy Gap in the Arab World"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
One of the paradoxes of the complex relationship between the Arab World and the United States relates to the rhetoric and reality of democratic values. The George W. Bush administration has made democracy promotion a central pillar of its foreign policy in the Middle East at the level of rhetoric, but in practice it pays little heed to behaving democratically in its interaction with the Arab people.
AP Photo
April 15, 2008
"Good Leaders Must Avoid 'Emperor's Trap'"
Op-Ed, New Straits Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
"Good leaders must manage their inner circle of advisers to ensure an accurate flow of information and influence. They must avoid the "emperor's trap" of hearing only about the beauty of their new clothes. Ironically, George W. Bush, the first president with an MBA, was weaker on this dimension than his father, who knew how to manage an able group of advisers."
AP Photo
April 15, 2008
Actions Now for the Day After: Findings of the Preventive Defense Day After Project
Testimony
By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, Harvard & Stanford Universities
PDP Co-Director Ashton B. Carter testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
April 15, 2008
PDP Co-Director Carter testifies before Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Press Release
PDP Co-Director Dr. Ashton B. Carter testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at its hearing on "Nuclear Terrorism: Confronting the Challenges of the Day After."
AP Photo
April 15, 2008
"Two Arab Worlds Drift Further Apart"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
As oil prices and income to some Arab producers continue to rise, we can witness sharper polarization between the wealthy energy-producing, small population states of the Gulf, on the one hand, and the more populous, energy-importing Arab countries all around it in the Levant region, the Nile Valley, and further west into North Africa. Any person who travels to such places as Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Amman, Cairo, Casablanca and Beirut moves between two very different worlds that are united by investment and labor flows but are being pushed further apart in most other spheres of life.
