INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
March 18, 2008
"America Must Learn the Hard Facts of Soft Power"
Op-Ed, The South China Morning Post
By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
"Soft power is not good per se, and it is not always better than hard power. Nobody likes to feel manipulated, even by soft power. But soft power allows followers more choice and leeway.
Hard power has not become irrelevant, but leaders must develop the contextual intelligence to combine hard and soft power resources into a "smart power" strategy. The next US president will need to learn that lesson."
February-March 2008
"Recovering American Leadership"
Journal Article, Survival, issue 1, volume 50
By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
"Leaders are those who help groups create and achieve shared goals. Traditionally, the leaders in international politics have been the most powerful states. However, while hard military power counts for more in the context of international politics than it does in democratic domestic politics, even in international relations conquest, or pure coercion, is not leadership, but mere dictation. Disproportionate power, sometimes called 'hegemony', has been associated with leadership, but appeals to values and ideology also matter, even for a hegemon...."
AP Photo
February 2008
"Communicating With Intent: The Department of Defense and Strategic Communication"
Paper
By Lindsey J. Borg, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program
The Department of Defense's (DoD's) development of strategic communication processes, a supporting organizational structure, and an institutional culture change began in earnest in 2006. The broad, operational view of communication presents many opportunities for the DoD; it also presents many areas demanding attention if the department is to realize its aim of positive strategic effects in the information and cognitive domains.
This paper examines the DoD's development of strategic communication, concentrating specifically on the implications, opportunities, and threats associated with the public information environment. The paper does not present a prescription for tactics to win near-term battles, but rather a review of current efforts to build strategic communication capacity and considerations that demand attention to advance this capability for long-term, strategic successes.
December 26, 2007
"Increasing Internet Capacity"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy
"In any other business model, growing to meet this demand would be easy. Rapid growth usually provides more money for investment. But the Internet business got started as a flat-fee business — we all pay one monthly fee regardless of how much bandwidth we use."
AP Photo
December 6, 2007
"Riding New Technological Waves"
Op-Ed, Business Daily, (Nairobi)
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
"The real test will be on the extent to which African leaders, entrepreneurs and development agencies can harness the power of emerging educational technologies and modernise the continent’s educational systems....Africa's early entry into content development will help to put the technologies to effective use. A delay will either render the technologies irrelevant or will condemn Africa to dependence on ill-adapted educational material."
November 8, 2007
"Africa's 'Text Generation' is Here"
Op-Ed, Business Daily
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
"Kenyans will elect a new president in December. But unlike in previous elections, the president will preside over a country dominated by the youth who have a new outlook on life....Performance standards will soon take centre stage and will start to directly challenge patronage as a management style....The "text generation" will be more interested in a functioning economy and less in ethnic politics that has dominated Kenya and most of post-colonial Africa."
October 23, 2007
"Africa in the Age of Rapid Technological Change"
Presentation
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
As part of International Relations Week at Harvard, Calestous Juma, director of the Belfer Center's Science, Technology, and Globalization Project, delivered the keynote address on Tuesday, Oct. 23, at the Center for Government and International Studies.
October 11, 2007
"Give African Universities Free Internet Access"
Op-Ed, Business Daily, (Nairobi)
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
"Africa (other than South Africa) is currently linked to the developed world by a single fiber-optic cable down the West Africa coast. It is the most digitally-isolated region on the globe."
AP Photo
October 4, 2007
"Reaping Benefits of Technology Revolution"
Op-Ed, Business Daily, (Nairobi)
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
"The market release of the iconic $100 laptop (XO) later this year promises to do for education what the cell phone did for telecommunications....Like the cellphone, new educational technologies such as the XO will demand greater flexibility in educational systems....Existing curricula are like landlines; fixed in place and dependent for their functioning on centralized bureaucracies."
September 27, 2007
"What African Enterprises Can Learn from Nokia"
Op-Ed, Business Daily, (Nairobi)
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
"...African countries can play a key role in the mobile broadband revolution and associated technologies. But they will only do so if they cultivate a culture of innovation and creativity. Their public and private enterprises, however, are the locus of such technological learning.
They must put them to good use otherwise they will continue to remain marginal players in the global economy."
