Article Alert - March 2011

The U.S. Embassy's Information Resource Center is pleased to offer you Article Alert, the monthly current awareness publication of the Information Resource Center, U.S. Embassy Public Affairs, Bangkok, Thailand. It offers abstracts of approximately 25 current articles and policy briefs from leading American journals and think tanks in six thematic areas with an emphasis on East Asian regional affairs. The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect U.S. government policies.

Full Text Availability: Hyperlinks to full texts are provided for U.S. government documents. Full hard copy texts of non-U.S. government documents are available upon request to IRC service subscribers only. To request full texts, please contact us at irc@state.gov, tel: 02-205-4640; or fax: 02-650-8918, citing the article number(s). Current and back issues of Article Alert are also available in our homepage.  

Spotlight: Media and Journalism

• "From the Fringe to the Mainstream"Paul Farhi. American Journalism Review, Winter 2010, 6 pages.

The author, a Washington Post reporter, discusses the journalistic ethics surrounding U.S. news coverage of conspiracy theories and sensational allegations by fringe political groups, as well as the role of the internet in popularizing views that may not have gained a widespread audience prior to the 21st century.

• "Students Scrutinizing Politicians"Molly Klinefelter. American Journalism Review, Winter 2010, 2 pages.

The author, an AJR editorial assistant, discusses AZ Fact Check, a joint venture of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University, and local news outlets, designed to get journalism students and reporters involved in fact checking statements by politicians.

Information Technology

• “Weaving a New Web”William Lehr, et al. Discover, March 2011, 6 pages.

How big can the information superhighway get before it starts to buckle while more and more people jump online every day?  Four network experts discuss the future of life online and Internet engineering as the system expands at a challenging pace.

• “You 3.0”Molly Tamarkin. Educause Review, November/December 2010, 10 pages.

How is technology evolving, and how is this changing the work of people, positions, and processes in higher education?  What does this mean for an individual—for you and your use of technology?  The author, an associate university librarian for information technology at Duke University, discusses the concept of technological evolution and its impact on people's skill development, career, and social relationships.

• “Digital Governance”Anton Wohlers. Choice, December 2010, 8 pages.

The author, a research director and professor at Cameron University, discusses the governance of the Internet and society, focusing on how the Internet affects the democratic process and the use of the Internet, generally by governments, to provide public services.

• “Accidental Activists: Using Facebook to Drive Change”Randi Zuckerberg. Journal of International Affairs, Fall/Winter2010, 4 pages.

In this exclusive interview, Zuckerberg, head of marketing, politics, current events and nonprofits for Facebook Inc., discusses the use of online social media for fundraising, and explains how Facebook can promote democratization.

U.S. Foreign Policy

• "The Whys and Hows for the United States and the International Community"Mark Lagon. A Markets and Democracy Brief, February 2011, 3 pages.

The author, an adjunct senior fellow for human rights, examines the history of democracy promotion in U.S. foreign policy and offers lessons for how the United States can best advance democracy today.

• “Think Again: American Decline”Gideon Rachman. Foreign Policy, January/February 2011, 5 pages.

The author, a chief foreign-affairs commentator for the Financial Times, discusses America’s leadership, focusing on the argument that the United States’ global power and prestige is steadily declining as of January 2011, and will continue to do so.

• “Hybrid Strategies: The American Experience”Colin Dueck. Orbis, January 2011, 23 pages.

The author, an associate professor in George Mason University’s Department of Public and International Affairs, has developed the concept of “hybrid” grand strategies—ones that vary by time and place, and combine the advantages (or disadvantages) of pure strategic archetypes such as containment, integration, regime change, bargaining, or non-intervention.  He argues that hybrid strategies have been ubiquitous in American history, varying more by emphasis and degree than by absolute contrast.

• “Diplomacy as Usual”Richard Dalton. World Today, January 2011, 2 pages.

The author, an associate fellow at the Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, examines the impact the classified document-leaking website WikiLeaks will have on international diplomacy.

The United States and Asia

• “Introduction: America's Bilateral Relations with Southeast Asia -- Constraints and Promise”Satu P. Limaye. Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International & Strategic Affairs, December 2010, 8 pages.

The author, Director of the East-West Center in Washington, gives an overview and draws out some key themes and assessments on the United States’ bilateral relations with several countries in Southeast Asia, specifically the mutual "re-engagement" or "revitalization" efforts.  Also discussed are specific factors in each relationship that constrain the trajectory of future bilateral relations.

• “The Absence of Non-Western IR Theory in Asia Reconsidered”Ching-Chang Chen. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, January 2011, 23 pages.

The author, an assistant professor at College of Asia Pacific Studies in Japan, examines an ongoing debate in International Relations (IR) as to why there is apparently no non-Western IR theory in Asia and what should be done to ‘mitigate’ that situation.

Global Economic Challenges

• "Production Networks and Trade Patterns in East Asia: Regionalization or Globalization?"Prema-chandra Athukorala. Asian Economic Papers, Winter/Spring 2011, 34 pages.

The author, a professor of economics at Crawford School of Economics and Government, examines the implications of global production sharing for economic integration in East Asia with emphasis on the behavior of trade flows in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.

• “Who Supports Global Economic Engagement? The Sources of Preferences in American Foreign Economic Policy”Helen V. Milner and Dustin H. Tingley. International Organization, Winter 2011, 32 pages.

Using international relations theories, the authors examine the impact of different pressures on U.S. foreign economic policy, particularly the foreign trade and aid, since the late 1970s, focusing on two questions: Which domestic groups have supported an internationalist policy in aid and trade? Are the groups that support international engagement through trade the same as those that support foreign economic aid?

• “Global Rebalancing: The Dangerous Obsession”Uri Dadush. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Policy Brief 90, February 2011, 8 pages.

The author, a senior associate and director of Carnegie International Economics Program, discusses why the obsession with rebalancing stokes currency tensions, and, ominously, contributes to mounting protectionist sentiment.  He also argues that it diverts attention from what is really needed—reforms at home.

Promoting Global Economic Growth

• “Creating Shared Value”Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer. Harvard Business Review, January/February 2011, 16 pages.

The concept of shared value focuses on the connections between societal and economic progress.  The authors explain how it could reshape capitalism and be the force behind the next global wave of innovation and productivity growth.

• “The Copyright Dilemma: Copyright Systems, Innovation and Economic Development”Walter G. Park. Journal of International Affairs, Fall/Winter2010, 16 pages.

The author, an associate professor of economics at American University, discusses the potential role of copyright laws in technological and economic development, and how copyright regimes affect education and scientific research through their impacts on the diffusion of knowledge embodied in copyrighted media.

U.S. Politics

• “The Still-Vital Center: Moderates, Democrats, and the Renewal of American Politics”William A. Galston and Elaine C. Kamarck, The Third Way, February 2011, 41 pages.

Despite the fact that three consecutive elections in 2006, 2008 and 2010 each resulted in shifts of political control, Americans are no happier with their representation in Congress.  The authors argue that political polarization—the loss of moderates from the political and policy process—is the root cause of the current crises in governance and politics. They discuss why a new moderate politics can solve the challenges.

• “Advantage: Obama”Ramesh Donaru. National Review, January 24, 2011, 2 pages.

The author, a senior editor for National Review, examines why Republicans will have a difficult time defeating U.S. President Barack Obama in the 2012 elections.

Environment and Climate Change

• “Climate Change and Evolutionary Adaptation” Ary A. Hoffmann and Carla M. Sgrò. Nature, February 24, 2011, 7 pages.

Evolutionary adaptation can be rapid and potentially help species counter stressful conditions or realize ecological opportunities arising from climate change.  The authors examine how evolutionary change within species can contribute to species adapting to global climate change and why it needs to be incorporated into management programs designed to minimize biodiversity loss.

• “What is a Tree Worth?” Jill Jonnes. The Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2011, 9 pages.

The author, a historian, discusses the research on urban forestry conducted in the 1990s in Chicago, Illinois by scientists Gregory McPherson and David Nowak, and the precise environmental impact of trees in the city, as is the subsequent implementation of their recommendations in other U.S. cities.

Innovative Ideas

• "Mind VS. Machine" Brian Christian. The Atlantic, March 2011, 11 pages.

Artificial intelligence has advanced to the point that computers can very nearly pass for human. What are they telling us about ourselves?  The author discusses the Loebner Prize and the Turing test, which compares artificial intelligence with human intelligence to determine which is more human.

Education

• “As the Web Goes Mobile, Colleges Fail to Keep Up”Josh Keller. The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 28, 2011, 6 pages.

The author, an editorial staff of The Chronicle of Higher Education, discusses the use of mobile communication systems by college students in the United States and its impact on higher education.

• “In Search of the Perfect Sentence”Janet Tarasovic. Writer, March 2011, 8 pages.

The author, a longtime high school teacher, examines the construction of sentences in literature, focusing on the importance of word choices.  Examples from passages written by sports writer Mike Sager and children's book author Cat Weatherill are examined to illustrate her points.

Library Trends

• “Ebook Update and Outlook: Considering Your Digital Collection Strategies”Dick Kaser. Computers in Libraries, December 2010, 5 pages.

The author, Vice President of Content at Information Today, Inc., acknowledges that ebooks have become an increasingly important element in a library.  He discusses libraries’ digital collection strategies and the challenges of ebooks and mobile reading devices adoption on library workflows.

• “What to Watch for in 2011”Daniel Chudnov. Computers in Libraries, January/February 2011, 3 pages.

The author, an information technology specialist at the Library of Congress' Office of Strategic Initiatives, discusses the popularity of electronic book readers (e-readers) and examines how libraries could offer new technologies and reliable resources in a time of much tighter budgets.