INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE
AP Photo
September 14, 2009
"American Power in 21st Century"
Op-Ed, The Korea Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
The problem for American power in the 21st century is that there are more and more things outside the control of even the most powerful state. Although the U.S. does well on military measures, there is much going on that those measures fail to capture.
AP Photo
Fall 2009
"The Paradox of Iran's Nuclear Consensus"
Journal Article, World Policy Journal, issue 3, volume 26
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"...[S]ituated in what it sees as a hostile neighborhood, it is hardly surprising that the Iranian government views an independent nuclear fuel cycle as interchangeable with deterrence, rather than as a bid for building a nuclear arsenal. While building a nuclear arsenal would be a costly endeavor, risking international isolation and assuring Iran's 'pariah status,' acquiring civilian nuclear capability would afford Iran the security and psychological edge it has long sought, and at a lower cost."
AP Photo
Summer 2009
"Planning the Peace and Enforcing the Surrender: Deterrence in the Allied Occupations of Germany and Japan"
Journal Article, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, issue 1, volume 40
By Melissa Willard-Foster, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Much is known about the efforts of the United States to democratize, reconstruct, and deliver humanitarian aid to Germany and Japan after their defeat in WorldWar II. Much less is known about the willingness of the United States to use coercive tactics to deter and counter resistance to its military occupation of the two countries. Many of the scholars and politicians who consider the occupations of Germany and Japan to be models for success, largely because of their peaceful outcomes, often overlook the initial period of occupation, in which latent violence figured prominently. An understanding of this early period, however, is crucial to assessing the determinants of peace.
September 9, 2009
Work to Do on West-Middle East Relations
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
HAMBURG, Germany -- I had the pleasure in Hamburg this week of sharing a panel discussion with two impressive people -- Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, and former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer. The gathering, sponsored by the Korber Foundation to discuss "The Future of the Middle East,",confirmed that we have much work to do on the issue of when, and whether, powerful Western countries have the responsibility and/or the right to intervene in the internal affairs of Third World countries.
September 5, 2009
"Afghan Security for Afghanistan"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Eric Rosenbach, Executive Director for Research, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Sabrina Roshan
"...[B]olstering the Afghan security forces will not only restore trust in coalition forces, but also build Afghans' confidence in the future of the country."
September 4, 2009
"Pan-European Security: Considering Russia"
Op-Ed, International Relations and Security Network
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The US and the EU should respond to Russia's call for a substantive discussion of Moscow's proposal for a new pan-European security treaty before the current system generates another failure on the scale of the wars in the former Yugoslavia or in South Ossetia, Simon Saradzhyan argues in ISN Security Watch.
September 2, 2009
"Meghan O’Sullivan Named Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School"
Press Release
A former top Bush Administration official is joining the faculty at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Meghan O'Sullivan, who served as special assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004-07, has been named the Evron and Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs, as announced by Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Dean David T. Ellwood. O'Sullivan is affiliated with Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
AP Photo
August 31, 2009
"Keeping Up with the Indians"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Paul Staniland, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Intrastate Conflict Program, 2008–2009
"Neither Americans nor Indians always understand how threatening their military strength can look to weaker countries. This dynamic is clearly at play in the case of Pakistan — Indians feel that they are self-evidently not a threat, while Americans are often baffled that Pakistani security elites care so much about India, which to the U.S. looks like a positive force for stability and democracy. At the end of the day, however, the world does not look the same from Rawalpindi and Islamabad as it does from Washington, and the U.S. needs to remember these differing goals, incentives, and fears as it pursues its vital interests in the region."
AP Photo
August 17, 2009
"The Cruelty of Britain's Extradition Policy"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"[T]o stay as close to America as possible, Britain signed a new extradition treaty with the US which gave more protection to Americans than to Brits. Passing into law as the Extradition Act 2003, it made it easier for America to extradite British suspects than it was for Britain to extradite American ones. As things stand today, if Britain accuses an American of plotting a terrorist attack against London, the US government will only allow him on a plane to face justice if Britain shows that it has enough evidence to mount a good case against him. But if America accuses a Brit of plotting an identical attack against New York, Britain must put him on a plane to the States without so much as asking America to show that it has a good case at all. It is a lopsided legally-sanctioned double standard, and previous ministers have admitted as much."
AP Photo
August 14, 2009
"ID Cards — A Government Mandated Facebook?"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"The quantity of arguments for ID cards looks like an attempt to hide a lack of quality. The government has been hard-pressed to explain how ID cards will make us safer. It is true that they will make it easier for, say, customs officials to ascertain that you are who you say you are. But that can already be done for everyone who has a passport. It is true that biometric chips might make the process more accurate. But that argues for biometric passports, as another recanting ex-home secretary, David Blunkett, has pointed out. If you want to make identification more accurate by introducing a biometric chip, that does not entail spending £3 billion in a recession on an entirely new biometric ID card scheme."
