HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
May 15, 2013
Kenneth Waltz, 1924–2013
Announcement
By Sean M. Lynn-Jones, Editor, International Security; Series Editor, Belfer Center Studies in International Security
Kenneth Waltz, who was arguably the most influential scholar of international relations of the past half-century, passed away on May 13, 2013. Waltz's influence is particularly evident in the pages of International Security, to which he was also a contributor. To commemorate his legacy, we are making two of his articles available online.
Summer 2013
"Nussaibah Younis: Foreign Policies of Weak States Matter"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
The invasion of Iraq prompted a deluge of work written on the country from a U.S. perspective, but Nussaibah Younis, a fellow with the Belfer Center's International Security Program, wants people to start considering Iraq as an actor in its own right. While at the Center, Younis is working on a project that seeks to understand internal Iraqi foreign policymaking dynamics since 2003.
Summer 2013
"Elbe Group Facilitates U.S.-Russia Communication, Security"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Kevin Ryan, Director, Defense and Intelligence Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
As U.S. and Soviet forces converged in Germany in the final days of WWII, both armies met at the River Elbe near Torgau. That meeting of comrades, united in the face of common threats, is the inspiration for the Belfer Center’s “Elbe Group,” whose purpose is to maintain an open and continuous channel of communication on sensitive issues of U.S.-Russian relations. In late March, the Elbe Group met in Jerusalem for its eighth meeting since its founding in 2010.
May 12, 2013
"JFK’s wisdom for graduates"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
In this season of commencement addresses, Future of Diplomacy Project Director Nicholas Burns reflects on what he believes to be the most important speech by an American president in a half a century: President John F. Kennedy's 1963 commencement address at American University. Burns praises that speech, delivered 50 years ago next month, "for its moral courage and strong sense of idealism and hope," and encourages us to hold to those values still today.
March/April 2013
"Our Pacific Predicament"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, American Interest, issue 4, volume 8
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"American interests rest on stability in the region to allow the continuing growth of trade and investment that benefits all countries. The U.S.-Japan alliance remains crucial to stability in East Asia, but so too are good relations in all three sides of the strategic triangle. One thing is clear: If, despite all we do, Sino-Japanese relations deteriorate toward literal conflict, the United States will be faced with some very tough choices."
March 13, 2013
"History Will Judge Bush on Iraq War"
Op-Ed, China Daily
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"Truman biographer David McCullough warns that about 50 years must pass before historians can really appraise a presidency. But one decade after Truman left office, the Marshall Plan and the NATO alliance were already seen as solid accomplishments. Bush lacks comparable successes to compensate for his mismanagement of Iraq."
March 7, 2013
"Chavez Death Creates Risk, Opportunity"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"By eliminating the automatic refugee status granted to Cubans if they somehow reach US soil, we would stop tempting them to take to the seas in rickety boats and inner tubes on which many lose their lives. We would also put the whole world on equal footing, determining which refugees are allowed to stay not by whether we like (or don't like) their country's leadership, but whether they have valid reasons to stay, including a fear of political reprisals. It is time we end a Cuba policy that has sowed ill will among our southern neighbors and non-Cuban immigrant populations in the United States."
March 4, 2013
"A New Great Power Relationship"
Op-Ed, China Daily
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"...[T]he United States has accepted the rise of Chinese power and invited Chinese participation as a responsible stakeholder in the international system. Power is not always a zero sum game. Given the global problems that both China and the United States will face, they have much more to gain from working together than in allowing overwrought fears to drive them apart, but it will take wise policy on both sides to assure this future."
February 20, 2013
"Wooing Russia — and its Influence"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"The administration is exploring ways to engage Russia as President Obama begins his second term. At the top of the list are the biggest U.S. headaches — Syria, Iran and North Korea. The White House thinks that, after a period of frosty relations, Putin is also looking to rebuild a cooperative relationship," writes David Ignatius of the Washington Post.
February 19, 2013
"Be Wary of Rising China, Says Lee Kuan Yew"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The Australian
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School, Robert D. Blackwill, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Ali Wyne, Associate, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Read an excerpt in The Australian from a new book on the founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, by Belfer Center Director Graham Allison and Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill, with Belfer Center Associate Ali Wyne. The book is titled: Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World.
