CHINA'S ECONOMY
Spring 2011
"Recent Events Call Attention to Nye’s New Book: The Future of Power"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
Joseph Nye, a Harvard distinguished service professor and member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, offers an insightful analysis of the changing nature and use of power in his new book, The Future of Power. In the book, he describes two types of power shifts occurring in this century—power transition and power diffusion.
AP Photo
March 8, 2011
"Zakaria's World"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Foreign Policy
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"...China can draw on a talent pool of 1.3 billion people, but the United States not only draws on a talent pool of 7 billion, but can recombine them in a diverse culture that enhances creativity in a way that ethnic Han nationalism cannot."
Spring 2011
"Graceful Decline? The Surprising Success of Great Power Retrenchment"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 4, volume 35
By Paul MacDonald, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2008 and Joseph M. Parent
There is broad scholarly consensus that the relative power of the United States is declining and that this decline will have negative consequences for international politics. This pessimism is justified by the belief that great powers have few options to deal with acute relative decline. Retrenchment is seen as a hazardous policy that demoralizes allies and encourages external predation. Faced with shrinking means, great powers are thought to have few options to stave off decline short of preventive war. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, however, retrenchment is not a relatively rare and ineffective policy instrument. A comparison of eighteen cases of acute relative decline since 1870 demonstrates that great powers frequently engage in retrenchment and that retrenchment is often effective. In addition, we find that prevailing explanations overstate the importance of democracies, bureaucracies, and interest groups in inhibiting retrenchment. In fact, the rate of decline can account for both the extent and form of retrenchment, even over short periods. These arguments have important implications for power transition theories and the rise of China.
AP Photo
February 14, 2011
"The Misleading Metaphor of Decline"
Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"...American power is based on alliances rather than colonies, and it is associated with an ideology that is flexible and to which America can return even after it has overextended itself. Looking to the future, Anne-Marie Slaughter of Princeton argues that America's culture of openness and innovation will keep it central in an information age when networks supplement, if not fully replace, hierarchical power."
AP Photo
February 2011
"Integrated Energy Strategy for the Sustainable Development of China"
Journal Article, Energy, issue 2, volume 36
By Linwei Ma, Pei Liu, Feng Fu, Former Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group (ETIP), 2011–2012; Former Research Fellow, ETIP, 2010–2011, Zheng Li and Weidou Ni
The authors of this article propose, summarize, and present strategic ideas as policy implications for China's decision-makers. In conclusion, they determine that China should enhance strategic planning and regulation from a life cycle viewpoint of the whole society, prioritize energy saving, continuously improve incumbent energy, and rationally develop alternative energy.
February 1, 2011
The Future of Power
Book
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
The influential policy thinker who coined the term "soft power" examines the changing nature of power since the Cold War, the new ways in which it is exercised, and how those changes impact America's role in the world.
January 31, 2011
"Joseph S. Nye's THE FUTURE OF POWER"
Press Release
In Joseph S. Nye's THE FUTURE OF POWER, he offers a rigorous analysis of the international fault lines of the twenty-first century, discussing issues such as nuclear proliferation, radical Islam, and the return of Asia. He shows how U.S. power and influence can best be deployed to help resolve critical global issues.
AP Photo
2010/2011
"Advancing Carbon Capture and Sequestration in China: A Global Learning Laboratory"
Journal Article, China Environment Series, issue 11
By Craig A. Hart and Hengwei Liu, Former Associate, and Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2008-2010
China's dependency on coal fuels the country's phenomenal economic growth but at a major cost to the country's air and water quality, ultimately threatening human health and the country's continued economic growth. The Chinese government's efforts to put China onto a cleaner, low carbon development path have been substantial; however China's pollution and greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow. In an attempt to develop its own advanced coal generation technologies to improve the country's air quality and energy efficiency, the Chinese government is investing heavily in gasification and other technologies that can be employed in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) applications. This investment has turned China into a global laboratory for CCS pilot projects, attracting foreign governments, multilateral institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and business partners.
AP Photo
January 18, 2011
"China's Hubris Colours US Relations"
Op-Ed, BBC News
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
When Barack Obama became US president, one of his top foreign policy priorities was to improve relations with China. Yet on the eve of President Hu Jintao's state visit to Washington, US-China relations are worse, rather than better.
AP Photo
January 12, 2011
"Asia in the Balance"
Op-Ed, The Korea Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
India is thus unlikely to develop the power resources to become an equal to China in the next decade or two. And, while the two countries signed agreements in 1993 and 1996 that promised a peaceful settlement of the border dispute that led them to war in l962, it is worth noting that, just prior to India's nuclear tests in March l998, India's defense minister described China as India's "potential enemy number one." More recently, in 2009, the border issue flared again....Rather than becoming an ally, India is more likely to become one of the Asian countries that will tend to balance China's strategic rise.
