ECONOMICS OF NATIONAL SECURITY
AP Photo
August 11, 2009
"A Runaway Deficit May Soon Test Obama’s Luck"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky. And that pretty much sums up the 44th president of the US as he takes a well-earned summer break after just over six months in the world’s biggest and toughest job.
AP Photo
June 20, 2009
"The Return of Economic Nationalism"
Op-Ed, The Providence Journal
By Eric Kaufmann, Former Research Fellow, Initiative on Religion in International Affairs/International Security Program
"...[E]conomic nationalists sacrifice material consumption for the national pride that comes with being a creditor nation that owns foreign assets. On this logic, the U.S. trade imbalance cannot be rectified by the marketplace alone....This sticks in the throat of those who prize national self-sufficiency and the moral fiber that comes from saving more than one spends....Traces of economic nationalism survive in America. It is no accident that the most successful U.S. vehicles are trucks, powerful symbols of rural and working-class masculine patriotism. That GM and Chrysler are being bailed out is partly because their products have been immortalized in song and film as national icons."
Photo by Martha Stewart
Summer 2009
"Economic Experts Suggest Causes, Next Steps for Economy"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sasha Talcott, Director of Communications and Outreach
Global leaders are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Though Lawrence Summers, on leave from Harvard Kennedy School and the Belfer Center to serve as director of the National Economic Council, predicted that the sense of "freefall" may end in the next several months, a recovery is likely to still be some distance away. Belfer Center experts offer their thoughts on where the situation is headed, and what policymakers should do now.
AP Photo
May 1, 2009
"U.S.-China Relations: Key Next Steps"
News
By Beth Maclin, Communications Assistant
With the United States and China expected to be the two dominant powers in the twenty-first century, it is essential that they actively manage their relationship to avoid military conflict, a group of distinguished Chinese and American scholars said at a major conference in Washington, D.C. The scholars—from Harvard Kennedy School, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and elsewhere—have worked together for more than two years to create a blueprint for a new relationship between the two countries.
AP Photo
April 13, 2009
"Which Globalization Will Survive?"
Op-Ed, The Korea Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"The world economy will shrink this year for the first time since 1945, and some economists worry that the current crisis could spell the beginning of the end of globalization....Globalization has several dimensions, and, though economists all too often portray it and the world economy as being one and the same, other forms of globalization also have significant effects — not all of them benign — on our daily lives."
AP Photo
Spring 2009
"Obama Taps into Belfer Center Community for Key Policy Posts"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
The Belfer Center is both proud and humbled that a number of its members have been asked to serve in the Obama Administration. The group's experience and expertise span many of the international challenges confronting the nation today.
Belfer Center
Spring 2009
"Spotlight: Niall Ferguson"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sasha Talcott, Director of Communications and Outreach
Niall Ferguson is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and a member of the Belfer Center Board of Directors.
AP Photo
March 4, 2009
"Adults Acting Like Children"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
"Throwing large amounts of money into Palestinian reconstruction while reinforcing a political context that only perpetuates Israel's regular destruction of Palestinian institutions is wasteful folly at best, and complicity in criminality at worst."
January 2009
Defense Management Challenges for the Next American President
Journal Article, Orbis, issue 1, volume 53
By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project (on leave), Harvard & Stanford Universities
PDP Co-Director Dr. Ashton B. Carter explores the daunting list of national security challenges facing the next American president.
AP Photo
December 28, 2008
"Obama's Down Payment"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor (on leave)
"Investments in an array of areas -- including energy, education, infrastructure and health care -- offer the potential of extraordinarily high social returns while allowing our country to address some long-standing national challenges and put our economy on a solid footing for years to come."
