Article Alert

April/May 2008

ALERT, a monthly publication of the Information Resource Center at Public Affairs Section of American Consulate General Shenyang, offers abstracts of current articles in major areas of U.S. domestic or international affairs. Full-text articles are available to you upon request. To request articles, please contact the Information Resource Center by telephone , fax, e-mail xiaob@state.gov, or by mail. To request mail, please circle the articles you wish to receive, include your name, address, and telephone number and return this list to us.  DISCLAIMER: articles and links to non-U.S. government Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

The Rule of Law

1. AFTER GUANTANAMO: THE CASE AGAINST PREVENTIVE DETENTION
Roth, Kenneth
Foreign Affairs, vol. 87, no. 3, May/June 2008, pp. 9-16

The author, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch and a former Federal prosecutor, argues that the U.S. criminal justice system has the necessary tools needed to try and convict the most dangerous terrorists currently interned at Guantanamo Bay, itself a dangerously counterproductive form of "preventive detention", which British experience with the IRA shows can alienate would-be supporters and spur recruiting efforts. Existing conspiracy laws can cover terrorist acts, says the author, and procedures to introduce secret evidence in trials can be adapted. By treating the terrorists as criminals they are, argues the author, the United States would go a long way toward diminishing their mystique, reaffirm the strength and fairness of American justice, and rally international support against terrorism.

2. CAN OUTSIDERS BRING DEMOCRACY TO POST-CONFLICT STATES?
Schmidt, John R.
ORBIS, vol. 52, no. 1, Winter 2008, pp. 107-122

Schmidt, the founding Deputy Coordinator for Security and Governance at the U.S. Department of State, argues most interventions by outside forces to promote democracy in post-conflict states since World War II have failed. The most successful were in societies such as Germany and Japan, featuring relatively high per-capita GNP and diversified economies; prospects for democracy tend to diminish as per-capita GNP decreases. The effects of conflict make democracy promotion considerably more difficult, particularly when poorer societies are plagued by weak institutions, corruption, religious extremism and ethnic or religious animosities. He states that even if outsiders are able to control violence and actively promote democracy, success will depend on the underlying political culture and willingness of key political actors to play by democratic rules once the outsiders have gone. Schmidt ponders that outsiders need to develop the best possible understanding of their prospects for success before committing to intervention.

3. DELEGATE CHEAT SHEET
Prevost, Alicia; Thurber, James
Politics, vol. 29, no. 3, March 2008, pp. 38-41

The authors, both with the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, offer a primer on the role and selection of delegates in the presidential primaries. The Democratic and Republican parties determine the number of delegates based on a given state's population and its past support for the party's presidential nominee. So-called "pledged" delegates are those who have indicated their support for a particular presidential candidate. Generally, delegates are awarded proportionately, based on statewide election results, but are "winner-take-all", in the case of some Republican statewide contests. The so-called "superdelegates" are more accurately called unpledged delegates, as they are not required to pledge support to a candidate until their vote at the party convention; almost all unpledged delegates are picked by virtue of an elected office they already hold.

4. DOMESTIC POLITICS
Munro, Neil
National Journal, vol. 40, no. 14, April 5, 2008

In 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act, which greatly changed how federal and state authorities handle domestic violence cases. Since then, lawmakers have approved more than $5.5 billion on programs for battered women's shelters, rape crisis centers, police training and domestic violence research. But now, as new controversial research indicates that as much half of domestic violence incidents involved reciprocal violence, "the question of how to respond to family violence has become controversial, as ideology and research collide." Munro looks at research that indicates that more cases of domestic violence are initiated by women, and how there is an ongoing debate in the criminal-justice system about the best way to handle these types of domestic violence cases. Munro interviews scholars and practitioners to get a more in-depth understanding of how there is no one-size-fits all way of handling domestic violence cases.

5. THE FIRST 21ST-CENTURY CAMPAIGN
Brownstein, Ronald
National Journal, vol. 40, no. 16, April 19, 2008

Brownstein examines the many reasons why he believes that the Democratic battle for the presidential nomination will be remembered as "the first true 21st-century campaign." He believes that the pairing of intense anti-Bush emotions on the part of Democrats combined with major advances in information technology are responsible for creating this new style of campaigning. Brownstein says "this transformation may be changing the model of what it takes to succeed in presidential politics." No longer is television the most important medium, rather it is the ability to leverage the Internet to inspire supporters to fundraise and organize on a candidate's behalf. The Democratic candidates' capacity to raise money, ability to communicate with supporters at a low cost and capacity of supporters to communicate with like-minded people independently of the campaign has demonstrated the strengths of this new style of campaigning. Brownstein's article provides numerous examples of both Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's successful campaign techniques.

6. NEW MEDIA AS THE MESSAGE
Simendinger, Alexis
National Journal, vol.40, no. 16, April 19, 2008, pp. 40-44

National Journal staff writer Simendinger describes the Obama campaign's deft use of mainstream media to attract potential voters to its "offline" campaign network. Using text messaging and e-mail signals to young voters that Obama understands who they are and they should trust him, says political communications expert Kathleen Hall Jamison. The author quotes Arizona State University Professor Matthew Hindman, who adds that "Hillary Clinton would have been the nominee but for the Internet, and she would have secured the nomination -- as her campaign expected -- by Super Tuesday." Other experts wonder if the medium is as important as the message. All agree that the Internet, social networking and other new technologies for organizing potential voters will become even more important in future elections as young people rely less on mainstream media for news and political information.

7. THE VERDICT ON JURIES
Hans, Valerie; Vidmar, Neil
Judicature, vol. 91, no. 5, March-April 2008, pp. 226-230

After surveying nearly 50 years of research studies, Hans and Vidmar, law professors at Cornell and Duke universities respectively, conclude that judges agree with jury verdicts in most cases. Juries carefully weigh evidence and deliberate in substantive discussions about the finer points of the cases. Juries are more diverse, minorities are represented more fully on juries than within the judiciary. Judges who run for re-election might also be predisposed to look favorably at litigants who were campaign contributors. The authors recommend clearer written jury instructions, allowing jurors to ask witnesses questions and other changes to trials. Citizen participation in legal decision-making has positive carryover effects. After serving on a jury, jurors are more likely to vote than the rest of the population. Former Soviet republics and other countries are introducing or reintroducing the jury into their legal systems.

Economics and Trade

8. A GLOBALISM FOR OUR TIME
Mills, Nicolaus
American Prospect, vol. 18, no. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 35-37

The 1947 Harvard commencement address of U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall introduced the world to the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan is still praised today for the role it played in helping Europe recover from World War II and the call it made for both greater U.S. involvement in international affairs as well as recognition of the limits of American power. Marshall linked national security to humanitarian aid and economic redevelopment, with America acting in concert with the European nations seeking help. There are lessons from the Marshall Plan that are relevant to our American policies today.

9. LAW AND TRANSNATIONAL CORRUPTION: THE NEED FOR LINCOLN'S LAW ABROAD
Carrington, Paul
Law and Contemporary Problems, vol. 70, no. 4, Autumn 2007, pp. 109-138

The author, a professor of law at Duke University, believes that the endemic corruption of weak governments in poor nations is a major impediment to the development of world trade. The World Bank reports that bribes totaling a trillion dollars were paid in 2002 while the larger share of that amount was undoubtedly paid by firms that extract and export natural resources for sale in the developed world. Bribery is endemic in many oil-producing developing nations, in which oil revenues have been appropriated by a small group of government officials. Now these same institutions have been invited to enact legislation or to ratify a treaty establishing the means for effective private enforcement of international laws forbidding corrupt practices. Such legislation is rooted in recognition of the frailties of government, and the limits of what can be asked of government lawyers in a fragmented social order. When developing nations are forced to rely on their public prosecutors to impose criminal punishment, corrupt practices can flourish. This reality is now widely acknowledged, but the responses of developed nations have not been adequate to address it.

10. THE MICROMAGIC OF MICROCREDIT
Boudreaux, Karol; Cowen, Tyler
Wilson Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 1, Winter 2008, pp. 27-31

Is microcredit the solution to poverty in the world? No, say the authors, both with George Mason University. Although microcredit is undeniably making people's lives better around the world, it is not pulling them out of poverty. "It is hard to find entrepreneurs who start with these tiny loans and graduate to run commercial empires," they write. Many lenders refuse to extend microcredit to start-ups. "The more modest truth is that microcredit may help some people, perhaps earning $2 a day, to earn something like $2.50 a day," the authors say. Not a dramatic improvement, but definitely a step forward to a poor person in many third-world countries. An important advantage to microcredit is that unlike many charitable services, microcredit is capable of paying for itself. "The future of microcredit lies in the commercial sector, not in unsustainable aid programs," the authors say.

11. PUTTING YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS: HOW EXPENSIVE IS FOOD, REALLY?
Astyk, Sharon
Grist, posted April 14, 2008

The author, a farmer and writer on food, energy and sustainability issues, notes that skyrocketing food prices are creating widespread hardship, with many low-wage households spending half their income on food. In earlier agrarian societies, it was commonplace to spend a lot of money on food; low food prices of the past half century is an anomaly, generated by large-scale agriculture requiring massive energy and fertilizer inputs. However, Astyk notes that we cannot regard food prices in isolation from society as a whole; while food prices may have been low, the cost of housing has skyrocketed, and people must work long hours to pay for all the dependencies created by the modern industrial economy. Large-scale urbanization has meant that the price of land has become divorced from the value of what it can produce. Low food prices has meant low compensation for farmers -- only a small number of massive agribusinesses are able to survive. The rise in food prices that has resulted from increased energy costs will eventually require a return to localized agriculture, which will benefit farmers, and will mean that land and house prices will have to return to a level at which they are tied to the value of the soil beneath them.

12. SOVEREIGN DEBT RESTRUCTURING, ODIOUS DEBT, AND THE POLITICS OF DEBT RELIEF
Rasmussen, Robert K.
Law and Contemporary Problems, vol. 70, no. 4, Autumn 2007, pp. 249-261

The author, professor of law at the University of Southern California, believes that odious debt is more of a literature than a doctrine. Going back to at least the 1920s, one can find arguments that countries should not have to pay back debts that are labeled "odious." The central tenet is that citizens of a country should not have to pay debts incurred by a prior "odious" regime when those funds did not benefit them, especially when the lender knew of this fact when it made the loan. The doctrine traditionally has an "ex-post" flavor to it. The question is whether the acts of the past are such that we should relieve a country of what would otherwise be a current obligation; the guiding intuition is moral rather than economic. The problems of debt overhang and corrupt regimes can be tackled either simultaneously or separately, notes the author; regardless of the strategy that one adopts, one cannot ask for too much from the system. Debt relief in this context is as much a matter of statecraft as it is of financial theory. Rasmussen believes that modest relief as a matter of right coupled with more generous relief as a matter of self-interest may lead to more overall debt relief than would otherwise be available.

13. WHAT WENT WRONG
--
Economist, vol. 386, no. 8572, March 22, 2008, pp. 79-88

In this special report, the Economist examines how close Wall Street came to a systemic collapse, and how the financial system will change as a result. They note that the origins of this crisis are in the 1980s, when the financial services industry began a pattern of growth that may only now have come to an end. Financial services' share of total corporate profits grew from ten percent in the early 1980s to forty percent last year -- but account for only fifteen percent of corporate America's gross value and only five percent of private-sector jobs. After the "dotcom" crash in 2001, America's GDP growth has been the lowest in half a century; yet, even as the ground beneath it fell away, the financial services industry has "defied gravity" by using debt, securitization and proprietary trading to boost fees and profits, made possible by cheap money and low consumer-price inflation.

Global Issues

14. COUNTRY STUDIES: INTERNET AND DATABASE RESOURCES
Geck, Caroline
Choice, vol. 45, no. 8, April 2008, pp. 1275-1284,1286-1291

Country studies are an important part of many library collections, as interest in foreign countries continues to grow. Such studies address diverse information needs and originate from sources ranging from government agencies to think tanks to the commercial sector. Many English-speaking countries besides the U.S. furnish country information, and their web sites offer U.S. citizens different country perspectives. One of the leaders continues to be the Library of Congress, with its digitalized collections and Web resource directories. Another is the U.S. Department of State, with its Background Notes and other publications directed at potential visitors to foreign countries and to diplomats taking up residence. Many international organizations have collaborated in compiling statistics, while other good resources are offered by think tank, policy institutes, and academic and commercial organizations. Educational institutions have developed Internet portals to socioeconomic and development data sets, along with tools for comparison. Finally, there are Web 2.0 resources, with video-sharing resources (e.g. YouTube) and wikis like Executive Planet.com.

15. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Rector, Kevin
American Journalism Review, vol. 30, no. 2, April/May 2008, p. 16

As established new organizations cut back on international reporting, a new Web Site, Global News Enterprises, aims to cover the world. Set to be launched in early 2009, it will be the first U.S.-based Web site dedicated entirely to foreign news. Global News will rely on dozens of reporters in almost 70 countries to provide in-depth enterprise stories on issues affecting a globalizing world. Global news is the brainchild of Philip Balboni, founder and former president of New England Cable News, the U.S.'s largest regional television news network.

16. GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH: CHANGING NORMS, CONSTANT RIGHTS
Gostin, Lawrence; Gable, Lance
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, vol. 9, no. 1, Winter/Spring 2008, pp. 83-92

Gostin, associate dean at Georgetown University Law School, and Gable, law professor at Wayne State University, write that, "of all the vulnerable groups that face stigmatization in our society, persons with mental disabilities are perhaps the most disadvantaged." They note that NGOs around the world continue to discover appalling conditions in institutions for persons with mental disabilities, and community mental health services are often underfunded and punitive. Widespread recognition of this mistreatment has not prevented it from continuing to occur. Human-rights violations affecting persons with mental disabilities will only be reduced by legislation and mental-health policies consistent with human-rights norms; they urge all countries to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

17. THINKING LOCALLY BEFORE ACTING GLOBALLY: THE RISE OF SELECTIVEPROVINCIALISM
Messitte, Zach
World Literature Today, vol. 82, no. 2, March/April 2008, pp. 34-39

Messitte, Professor of Geopolitics at the University of Oklahoma, assesses a variety of contradictory trends in the world today - such as globalism vs. provincialism, democracy vs. autocracy, "McWorld vs. Jihad." He draws from a wide range of sources -- including writings of public opinion makers, polls from Pew, and US government officials. He asserts that some of the concepts of globalism are supported by majorities around the world, but there are "real concerns about a growing borderless world where capital, labor, and ideas flow freely and are unfettered." Messitte's students are positive about the future, concluding that, in 20 years, they hope for "great leaps forward in transportation and science, an overall improvement in their quality of daily life, and freedom and democracy in more parts of the world."

Regional Security

18. THE AGE OF NONPOLARITY: WHAT WILL FOLLOW U.S. DOMINANCE?
Haass, Richard N.
Foreign Affairs, vol. 87, no. 3, May/June 2008, pp. 44-56

The age of hegemony is over, says Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. The defining characteristic of today's international system is not unipolarity or multipolarity, but rather "nonpolarity" -- dozens of state and non-state actors possessing various types of power. Traditional military and economic powerhouses are joined by regionally strong states, global and regional international organizations, multinational corporations, global media outlets, and transnational actors both beneficial (such as charitable foundations and religious institutions) and dangerous (terrorists and drug cartels). "America no longer has the luxury of a 'with-us-or-against-us' foreign policy," says the author, arguing that multilateralism will be key to future U.S. success as it addresses its energy consumption, continues to build strong international security partnerships against terrorism and nuclear proliferation, confronts poverty and disease, and strengths the global economy in the name of promoting stability.

19. CHINA'S ENERGY-DRIVEN 'SOFT POWER'
Yoshihara, Toshi; Holmes, James R.
ORBIS, vol. 52, no. 1, Winter 2008, pp. 123-137

Yoshihara and Holmes, associate professors at the U.S. Naval War College, assert that energy security has prompted China to turn its strategic gaze to the seas for the first time in six centuries. For now, Taiwan remains Beijing's uppermost priority, but there are signs that the Chinese leadership is already contemplating the "day after" in the Taiwan Strait to resolve them to their satisfaction. The authors believe in n the meantime, China is attempting to shape the diplomatic environment in vital regions such as Southeast and South Asia using "soft power." By invoking the voyages of Zhen He, the Ming Dynasty's "eunuch admiral," the authors say Beijing sends the message that it is a trustworthy guarantor of Asian maritime security.

20. DEAR MR. PRESIDENT
Hitchens, Christopher
World Affairs, vol. 170, no. 3, Winter 2008, pp. 9-14

Perennial gadfly Christopher Hitchens takes aim at the White House, urging a "Nixon-in-China" movement toward improving relations with Iran. Many Iranians have relatives abroad, are connected to the outside world despite government censorship, are frustrated with their government, and are open to improving relations. The author proposes building upon U.S. aid to Iran following the 2003 Bam earthquake to a public offer to help seismically vulnerable Iran secure key infrastructure, something its own regime ignores. The U.S. has eliminated external threats in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now should encourage Iranians to bring about things they already want - better governance and improved relations with the outside world.

21. DISARMAMENT REDUX
Scoblic, J. Peter
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 64, no. 1, March/April 2008, pp. 35-39

Scoblic, executive editor of The New Republic, writes that the subject of nuclear disarmament has only recently again become a subject of polite conversation in Washington, due in part to recent Wall Street Journal by former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former Senator Sam Nunn. With decades of foreign policy experience among them, Scoblic says these "eminences grises" garner respect from both sides of the political aisle. His article effectively tracks the ebb and flow of U.S. political interest in the subject and points to recent legislation introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein calling for a nuclear policy review by the president and a nuclear posture review by the Defense Department. He quotes a recent University of Maryland survey indicating that 73 percent of Americans support the verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons, while noting that such opinion does not generally translate into mainstream of political action. Introducing a dose of realism, the author says that "the deeper one cuts into nuclear arsenals, the harder it becomes to cut any more."

22. FROM REVOLUTION TO REFORM: A BRIEF HISTORY OF U.S. INTELLIGENCE
Tidd, John
SAIS Review, vol. 28, no. 1, Winter/Spring 2008, pp. 5-24

The author, lecturer at the School of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Arizona, notes that a network of large, permanent intelligence-gathering organizations has been a feature of U.S. government only since World War II. During the Revolutionary War and into the first half of the nineteenth century, intelligence activity was very limited; Tidd charts the uneven growth of U.S. intelligence organizations from the Civil War until World War I. It was the Second World War, followed by the Cold War, that saw an explosive growth in intelligence-gathering. This is one of a series of articles in SPIES, an issue of the SAIS Review devoted to the role of intelligence in U.S. policymaking and the unprecedented challenges the U.S. intelligence community is facing today.

23. THE IRAQIZATION OF AFRICA? LOOKING AT AFRICOM FROM A SOUTH
AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE
Esterhuyse, Abel
Strategic Studies Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 1, Spring 2008, pp. 111-130

The author, a lecturer at the South African Military Academy, says the decision to create a new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) reflects increased U.S. national security interests on the continent. It is uniquely structured to include military and civilian leaders so that both will influence U.S. policy coordination in Africa in a positive way. AFRICOM becomes fully operational in the fall of 2008 and will focus mainly on humanitarian aid and countering terrorism, but also emphasize public health, economic development, security-sector reform, and infrastructure rehabilitation. "The promise that the creation of AFRICOM will result in informed, consistent, coherent, and sustained engagement by the United States in Africa," Esterhuyse says, "is something that ought to be welcomed throughout the continent." He says the command, now headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, provides the first real test for sustained U.S. involvement in Africa. The new command will raise Africa's strategic profile and African militaries will benefit from the transfer of expertise, resources and post-conflict reconstruction. It will also establish a career path in the U.S. military for dedicated African specialists.

24. LOST OVER IRAN
Umansky, Eric
Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 2008, pp. 26-30

The author, contributing editor to CJR, writes that the National Intelligence Estimate of December 2007 that concluded that Iran had frozen its nuclear weaponization program back in 2003 came as a shock to the U.S. media, which had asked few questions about administration claims that Iran was not far away from building nuclear weapons. The U.S. received more help from the Iranians than anyone else in its campaign to root out al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. Soon after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iran made an offer that "put nearly everything on the table", writes the author, from support for Hezbollah to the nuclear-energy program. The overtures received very little publicity, as Iranian officials did not want to be seen publicly making peace offerings to Washington. Umansky believes that "there does appear to have been an opportunity for equilibrium that, with little notice in the media, was passed up not by Iran but by the Bush administration."

25. MUSLIM EXCEPTIONALISM? MEASURING THE "DEMOCRACY GAP"
Goldsmith, Arthur A.
Middle East Policy Journal, vol. 14, no. 3, Fall 2007, pp. 86-96

Democratization of the Muslim Middle East is a foreign policy goal of the Bush administration; democracy is lacking in many Islamic countries, though the root cause is unclear. The author, professor at the University of Massachusetts, uses a couple of measures, including the Freedom House Index, to refute claims that democracy and Islam are irreconcilable. Dr. Goldsmith concludes that every country is unique and generalizations about a particular society and its incompatibility with democracy should never be made.

26. REAL LEADERS DO SOFT POWER: LEARNING THE LESSONS OF IRAQ
Steinberg, James B.
Washington Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 2, Spring 2008, pp. 155-164

The author, dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and deputy national security adviser from 1996 to 2001, presents a call for the U.S. to "return to the strategies of leadership that brought it unprecedented power and security in the first place." Recent foreign relations strategy has failed because it misjudged the nature of the enemy and of the threat; it failed to understand the central importance of allied support, and it undermined the position of the U.S. in the world by "calling into question the legitimacy of U.S. leadership." In spite of these criticisms, "there is much to be said for the aspirations of the Bush policy" -- Americans need to focus on the danger of terrorists with nuclear weapons; we would be safer if more governments were open and accountable, with respect for the rule of law. Additionally, international organizations need reform to face the challenges of globalization. It is important that the U.S. not overcompensate for these past mistakes by forsaking its leadership role. It must stop "playing into al Qaida's narrative" by using terms such as "Islamic fascism", be more willing to take into account the views of others, and "take seriously the need to reform international organizations rather than disparage or ignore them."

27. U.S. BASES AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
Cooley, Alexander
ORBIS, vol. 52, no. 1, Winter 2008, pp. 65-90

Cooley, assistant professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University, asserts that under the Pentagon's current Global Defense Posture Review (GDPR), the U.S. is reducing its forces at several major Cold War bases and is establishing a global network of smaller, more flexible facilities in new areas such as Central Asia, the Black Sea and Africa. Drawing upon recent experience in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the author cautions that these new U.S. overseas bases, despite their lighter footprint and regardless of the prevailing security situation, risk becoming enmeshed in the local struggles and political agendas of elites within these host countries. Periods of turbulent political transition and regime instability may encourage host country politicians to challenge the legitimacy and terms of the U.S. basing presence for their own political purposes. These are important lessons for U.S. planners who are simultaneously promoting democratization while they negotiate basing and military access agreements in politically volatile countries.

28. US POLICY TOWARDS NORTH AFRICA: THREE OVERARCHING THEMES
Hemmer, Christopher
Middle East Policy Journal, vol. 14, no. 4, Winter 2007, pp. 55-66

For decades the U.S. has lacked a coherent regional policy for North Africa, a trend that is beginning to change as ties with Libya and Algeria begin to improve. The author, professor at the Air War College, encourages policymakers to build a mature, more nuanced approach to the region, by offering a recent review of country-specific policy successes in the region. Continued support on common concerns such as terrorism will depend on willingness to help countries confront regional challenges and avoiding a tendency toward "with us or against us" diplomacy, supporting opposition within countries in the name of promoting democracy, even if they are not necessarily pro-American.

29. A WORLD FREE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS: AN INTERVIEW WITH NUCLEAR THREATINITIATIVE CO-CHAIRMAN NUNN
Kimball, Daryl; Pomper, Miles
Arms Control Today, vol. 38, no. 2, March 2008, pp. 6-12

Former Senator Sam Nunn discusses a range of topical issues relating to strategic and tactical nuclear weapons as well as U.S.-Russian and Russian-NATO relations in a wide-ranging interview with the magazine's editors. He says one of the stumbling blocks for nuclear weapons states to reduce their stockpiles even further is a psychological dependency on them. If those weapons are made less important and relevant, then associated reductions will be easier to achieve, he says. Nunn also emphasize how important it is to work with Russia on missile defense. He also advocates extending the missile launch times for the United States and Russia and warns of the danger to both countries of having their command-and-control systems penetrated by hackers -- either individuals or rogue organizations or governments.

U.S. Society and Values

30. BORN AGAIN
Mead, Walter Russell
Atlantic Monthly, March 2008, pp. 21//24

The evangelical Christian movement in the U.S. is showing signs of maturing, notes Mead. It is gaining more social and political influence, but as it broadens, it is becoming more pluralistic and less strident, and "less likely to be held hostage by a single issue or a single party". The megachurches that are flourishing in the Midwest and Sun Belt are reaching audiences that are better educated, more urban and sophisticated than the rural Southern fundamentalists of an earlier era. Mead notes that the true story of the evangelical movement today is its "shift from insurgent to insider, with all of the moderating effects that transition implies."

31. COLLEGE FOR ALL?
Carnevale, Anthony
Change, vol. 40, no. 1, January/February 2008, pp. 23-29

The American belief in "college for all" stems from our egalitarian nature, and is rooted in parents' desire in upward mobility for their children. The author notes that a post-secondary education does make a significant difference in salary of a worker; between 1979 and 1999, the earnings differential between a high-school diploma and a college degree rose from 43% to 73%. The lower the education level of the worker, the lower is the proportion of jobs available to those job seekers. Carnevale writes that the popularity of post-secondary education in America is that it "has become our workforce-development system, in part because it has taken on a strong occupational and professional profile." College in America is increasingly moving away from a purely liberal arts education, and is more focused in giving graduates specific skills that can be used in their future careers. Yet, Carnevale notes, "a liberal-arts degree topped off with a graduate or professional degree still brings the highest returns, especially when both degrees come from the most-selective postsecondary institutions." The challenge for the United States now is that, in the face of the increasing expense of post-secondary institutions, the "college for all" promise develops into reality.

32. CULTURE OF SUCCESS: INSIDE AN INEQUALITY RIDDLE
Lindsey, Brink
New Republic, March 12, 2008, pp. 30-31

The main reason high percentages of African-Americans and Hispanics don't go to college is not because they can't afford it or can't do the work, but because the cultural backgrounds from which they come discourage it, says Lindsey, vice president for research at the Cato Institute. Lindsey writes: "It's a bedrock fact of social psychology: Humans have a powerful and universal tendency to form self-policing social groups. With groups that are marginal to begin with, the tendency to enforce group solidarity can express itself through stigmatizing anything that looks like mainstream success." Culture is acting as a brake on upward mobility, he says. What counts most to a child's success is the parents' inclination to nurture their child's development and the influence of peer groups. More needs to be done, Lindsey says, to help adapt and meet to the challenges.

33. HOW TO START A NONPROFIT: A DIGITAL RESOURCE
Jones, Jeff
Searcher, vol. 16, no. 4, April 2008, pp. 20-25
Starting and managing a nonprofit [NGO] is a rewarding, but complex undertaking, notes Jones, a law librarian and writer. He outlines, in broad terms, the necessary steps it takes to tackle the process and suggests key online resources that help pave the way. Among other material, the long-established New York City-based Foundation Center produces a concise 12-step startup guide with links to relevant outside organizations. Noting that both state and federal laws must be followed in creating a nonprofit, Jones cites to representative government agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, and state associations that can be helpful. The websites of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits [MCN] and the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations are noted for offering streaming video, identifying alternatives to starting a nonprofit, and suggesting standards of conduct to help govern and manage nonprofits. The trade press and organizations that delve into the specifics of running a nonprofit or provide statistical analysis are also described.

34. INSIGHTS GAINED INTO ARTS AND SMARTS
Viadero, Debra
Education Week, vol. 27, no. 27, March 12, 2008, pp. 1, 10-11

Since the 1990s, a popular, but unproven theory has circulated that the arts, and music in particular, could make children smarter. Now, recently released findings have lent credibility to this claim. After three years of studies by university neurologists and cognitive psychologists, a tentative conclusion can be made that training in the arts might improve general thinking skills of children and adults. The report, released in March, does not provide any definitive answers to the "arts-makes-you-smarter" question, but lays to rest the notion that students are either right- or left-brained learners. As one of the researchers involved in the studies says, "the work done here suggests a much closer connection between the cognitive processes that give rise to the arts and the cognitive processes that give rise to the sciences." Arts advocates applaud the report's overall findings as supporting their efforts to maintain arts education in schools where the emphasis, most recently, has been on raising test scores in mathematics, reading, and science. Dana Gioia, poet and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, concurs and points out that "the purpose of education is to realize the full human potential of every child."

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Home Page: http://shenyang.usembassy-china.org.cn/