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Article Alert

Article Alert - May 2011

Information Resource Center

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: Democracy Promtion

  • “Thailand in 2010: Rupture and Attempts at Reconciliation”Catharin Dalpino. Asian Survey. January/February 2011, 8 pages.

Dalpino, the Joan M. Warburg Professor of International Relations at Simmons College, examines the social and political conditions in Thailand last year, focusing on vigorous demonstrations mounted by anti-government protesters.

  • “Barack Obama's Democracy Promotion at Midterm” Nicolas Bouchet. The International Journal of Human Rights, May 2011, 17 pages.

The author, a doctoral researcher in U.S. democracy promotion at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, analyses the Obama administration's approach to the promotion of democracy and human rights at three levels: ideas, strategy and policy.

The United States and Asia

  • “The United States and Asia in 2010: Uncertain Relations”François Godement. Asian Survey, January/February 2011, 13 pages.

The author, a professor at Sciences Po's Asia Center, examines the United States and its foreign relations with a number of Asian countries in 2010 and a power shift toward Asia.

  • “Power and Paradox: Asian Geopolitics and Sino-American Relations in the 21st Century”Michael Evans. Orbis, Winter 2011, 29 pages.

The author, a fellow at the Australian Defence College, examines the pattern of Asian geopolitics, focusing on the rise of China as an intellectual prism, the interacting forces of geopolitics and military modernization, and the future of Sino-American relations in Asia.

U.S. Foreign Policy and World Affairs

  • "Hard Power and Soft Power: The Utility of Military Force as an Instrument of Policy in the 21st Century"Colin S. Gray. Strategic Studies Institute, April 2011, 73 pages.

The author, a professor of International Politics and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading, England, examines the concept of hard and soft power, focusing on the utility of military force in the 21st century and the relevance of military power as an instrument of policy -- most especially in relation to soft power -- as a substitute or complement.

  • “Strengthening U.S. Statecraft through Public Diplomacy”Katherine Brown and Tom Glaisyer. The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Winter 2011, 13 pages.

The authors, both are doctoral candidates in communications at Columbia University, discuss public diplomacy strategy as a core part of 21st century U.S. statecrafts in seeking to effectively reach an amorphous global public.

The authors examine the relationship between acute relative decline and the responses of great powers, comparing eighteen cases since 1870.

  • “The Myth of Sport as a Peace-Promoting Political Force”John Hoberman. SAIS Review, Winter-Spring 2011, 13 pages.

The author, a Germanic Studies at the University of Texas, examines the political history and behaviors of the two largest international sports organizations -- the International Olympic Committee and the Fédération de Football Association -- and analyzes the political fantasies of the global “sports autocrats” who have claimed to be peacemakers.

U.S. Politics

  • “The Republican Resurgence in 2010”Gary C. Jacobson. Political Science Quarterly, Spring 2011, 26 pages.

The author, a distinguished professor of political science at the University of California, discusses the resurgence of the U.S. Republican Party in the 2010 midterm Congressional elections and its implications for American politics in the next few years.

Global Economic Crisis

  • "Soaring Food Prices: Causes, Consequences, and Remedies"Kimberly Ann Elliott, et al. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 6, 2011, 32 pages.

Global food prices are currently at record high. If there is another major supply shock in the near future, a serious food crisis could arise.  The authors discuss the causes, consequences, and policy implications of the recent surge in global food prices.

Why has the reaction in developing countries been so much less extreme after the global financial crisis than it was after the Great Depression?  The authors discuss global economic development following the global financial crisis of 2008-09 and the subsequent recession.

  • “Impact of the Global Financial Crisis: Predictions Gone Wrong”Alejandro Foxley. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Policy Outlook, March 24, 2011, 12 pages.

The author, a senior associate in the Carnegie International Economics Program, discusses the analysis of predictions on the global financial crisis that has gone wrong, and how to avoid similar outcomes in the future.

Global Environment and Climate Change

  • “Seconds before the Big One”Richard Allen. Scientific American, April 2011, 6 pages.

The author, a professor of geophysics and associate director of the seismological laboratory at the University of California, discusses earthquake detection systems that can detect the earliest stages of an earthquake and sound an alarm to warn people of the danger.

  • “The Planet Boom”Tim Folger. Discover, May 2011, 10 pages.

Does life exist on other planets?  Are any other intelligent beings out there?  The author, a contributing editor at Discover, explores the mission of the Kepler spacecraft, run by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to search for small, life-friendly, Earth-sized planets around distant stars.

Journalism

  • “The Bloomberg Juggernaut”Jodi Enda. American Journalism Review, Spring 2011, 14 pages.

While many news organizations are struggling and retreating, Bloomberg News keeps adding talented journalists, expanding its empire and elevating its ambitions.  The author, a senior contributing writer at American Journalism Review, discusses the size and growth of the organization since it was founded in 1990.

  • “The Ins and Outs of iPad Apps”Barb Palser. American Journalism Review, Spring 2011, 6 pages.

The author, an American Journalism Review's new-media columnist, discusses the effort that news agencies are making to use the iPad tablet computer device as a platform to distribute content to readers through applications, focusing on the pros and cons of charging a fee to news consumers to download the application.

Social Media and Freedom of information

How readers understand and interpret the material they find on Wikipedia, a publicly edited online encyclopedia?  Do people know that anyone can edit the site?  And if so, what does this fact lead them to believe about the reliability of Wikipedia or particular articles therein?  The authors analyze the information-seeking behavior of a diverse group of 210 college students from two Midwestern U.S. universities as a first step towards addressing these questions.

  • “The Deciders: Facebook, Google, and the Future of Privacy and Free Speech”Jeffrey Rosen. The Future of the Constitution Series#12, May 2, 2011, 14 pages.

The author, a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, examines four different areas where existing ideas about constitutional protections for free speech and privacy will be most challenged in the era of Facebook and Google: ubiquitous surveillance with GPS devices and online surveillance cameras; airport body scanners; embarrassing Facebook photos and the problem of digital forgetting; and controversial YouTube videos.

  • “Relationships, Community, and Identity in the New Virtual Society”Arnold Brown. The Futurist, March/April 2011, 4 pages.

The author, a chairman of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc., discusses how the Internet has reshaped social lives, enticing people into a virtual world where traditional interactions require new protocols, focusing on the impact of online social media on relationships, community, and identity.

  • “5 Myths of the 'Information Age'”Robert Darnton. The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 22, 2011, 4 pages.

The author, a professor and university librarian at Harvard University, examines several myths associated with the information age including the misconception that traditional books are no longer needed, the belief that all information is available online, and the thought that libraries are obsolete.

Education

  • “Getting Students to Talk”David Brooks. The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 25, 2011, 5 pages.

The author, an A.B.D. doctoral candidate in history at the University of Montana, discusses teaching methods and ways to stimulate conversation amongst students in seminars and classroom discussions.

The author, a professor of library science at Purdue University, discusses an area of translation studies and its continuous growth and popularity.

Library Trends

  • “Making Twitter Works for You”Donna F. Ekart. Computers in Libraries, May 2011, 2 pages.

The author, a librarian and the communications coordinator for K-State Libraries at Kansas State University, discusses how Twitter can go beyond managing a library’s presence and help librarians extract values out of the Twitter universe.

  • “Library Mobile: Abilene Christian University”Gerald McKiernan. Searcher, April 2011, 4 pages.

The author, a science and technology librarian at Iowa State University Library, examines why Abilene Christian University is an ideal mobile university, focusing on its mobile-learning fellows and projects, its use of iPad as an educational tool, and its digital book pilot classes.

American Cities

  • “Dense, Denser, Densest”Witold Rybczynski. Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2011, 5 pages.

The author, the Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the layout of American cities in light of economic and environmental concerns.  The gross density of cities, development of tall buildings and skyscrapers, and suburban densification are examined.