Article Alert - October 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 27 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 at http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/services/irc/alert/alert.html.  

SPOTLIGHT: ASIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

1. “The Future of Free Trade in Asia”
Philip Levy, et al. The Center for National Policy, May 5, 2011, 9 pages.
Economics and trade experts discuss trade liberalization in emerging and developing countries and the future of free-trade in Asia, focusing on the implication for the U.S. trade policy in Asia.

2. “The Inevitable Superpower”
Arvind Subramanian. Foreign Affairs, September/October 2011, 13 pages.
Is China poised to take over from the United States as the world’s leading economy?   The author, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, discusses the challenges from China’s economic dominance and projects the world economy in 2030, forecasting what the United States' and China's positions will be then.

U.S. ECONOMIC POWER

3. “The Impact of Globalization on Income and Employment”
Michael A. Spence. Foreign Affairs, July/August 2011, 14 pages.
As developing countries become more competitive, growth and employment in the United States are starting to diverge, increasing income inequality and reducing jobs for less-educated workers.  The author, a distinguished visiting fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the impact of globalization on the distribution of jobs and wealth and the challenge for the U.S. economy.

4. “An Exorbitant Burden”
Michael Pettis. Foreign Policy, posted September 7, 2011, 7 pages.
The author, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, examines the relationship between the role of U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency and the power of the U.S. economy.

GASOLINE PRICE CRISIS

5. “What Drives Gas Prices: Cartels, Speculators, or Supply and Demand?”
Kenneth P. Green. Energy and Environment Outlook#3, August 2011, 6 pages.
The author, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, explores the true causes of oil price fluctuations and explains how policymakers can help lower gasoline prices.

GLOBAL SECURITY

6. “Beyond Securitization: Explaining the Scope of Security Policy in Southeast Asia”
Lee Jones. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, September 2011, 30 pages.
The author, a professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London, examines the need to shift the scope of security policy in Southeast Asia into concrete regional cooperation to tackle new threats.

7. “The South China Sea is the Future of Conflict”
Robert D. Kaplan. Foreign Policy, September/October 2011, 9 pages.
The author, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, discusses the potential dominance of Chinese naval forces and conflicts in the South China Sea, and the U.S. role in balancing rising Chinese power.

8. “Think Again: War”
Joshua S. Goldstein. Foreign Policy, September/October 2011, 4 pages.
The author, Professor Emeritus of International Relations at American University, takes a second look at war and peace, focusing on the effects of war on civilian populations, the effectiveness of peacekeeping efforts, the connection between peace and democracy, ongoing conflicts, and the destructive outcome of potential wars.

U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AFTER 9/11

9. “9/11 in Retrospect: George W. Bush's Grand Strategy, Reconsidered”
Melvyn P. Leffler. Foreign Affairs, September/October 2011, 12 pages.
Did the 9/11 attacks fundamentally change U.S. foreign policy?  The author, Edward Stettinius Professor of History at the University of Virginia, examines the foreign policy doctrines of U.S. President George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and contrasts the direction of the Bush administration before and after the attacks.

10. “A Decade After 9/11: What We Got Right in the War on Terror”
Abe Greenwald. Commentary, September 2011, 14 pages.
The author, a senior editor of Commentary, discusses the U.S. war on terror waged in the first decade after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, focusing on the lessons the United States has learned from the efforts.

DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

11. “Taming and Reining in Cyberspace”
Josh Smith. National Journal, September 17 2011, 6 pages.
From blocking online poker to tracking suspected terrorists' cyber-footprints, governments are exercising more power over—and through—the Internet than ever before.  The author, a staff reporter for National Journal, discusses the growing threat of Internet censorship and the power of governments to control the Internet.

12. "It’s a Small World, After All"
Reid Wilson. National Journal, September 10, 2011, 5 pages.
Political campaigns are using technology to bring people together, even as they’re driving them apart. Sound contradictory?  The author, an editor-in-chief of National Journal Hotline, explores how political campaigns in the United States are being shaped by technology.

13. “US Foreign Policy and Human Rights: Situating Obama”
David P. Forsythe. Human Rights Quarterly, August 2011, 23 pages.
The author, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, analyzes three alternative approaches to human rights in U.S. foreign policy, focusing on a ‘muddling through’ approach practiced by not only the Obama administration, but by all administrations at the end of the day.

14. “How Civil Society Can Help”
Jeff Ballinger. Harvard International Review, Summer 2011, 6 pages.
The author, Director of Press for Change, an NGO advocating worker rights in the developing world, discusses the consequences of globalization in light of the proliferation of sweatshop workers who are receiving little or no pay in several garment and textile factories in developing countries.  He examines how civil society and nongovernmental organizations can help to reduce labor exploitation in those countries.

SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT

15. “Worlds of Water”
Charles Emmerson. World Today, July 2011, 3 pages.
Why does water security one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century, and why have water politics just become more complicated?  The author, a senior research fellow at the Energy, Environment and Development Programme at Chatham House, discusses water security and how politics, geography, and wealth determine a country's access to water.

16. “Hidden Landscape”
Will Hunt. Discover, July/August 2011, 8 pages.
To understand what happens on the earth’ surface geologically, including earthquakes and landscape changes, we need to understand the deep movements of the earth’s mantle. The author, a freelance journalist, examines the attempt to produce images of the internal layers of the Earth, including the use of seismic tomography and the study of mantle convection.

17. “On Thin Ice”
Susan McGrath. National Geographic, July 2011, 10 pages.
The author, a freelance writer, discusses the negative impact that global warming is having on Arctic regions, particularly on the ice formations in the regions that polar bears use for hunting.

18. “What You Don't Know Can Kill You”
Jason Daley. Discover, July/August 2011, 8 pages.
The author explores the human reaction to risk and how threats are perceived by the brain.  Researches on risk perception conducted by professionals in the field of nanotechnology are also discussed.

URBAN PLANNING

19. “Back to the Future: A Roadmap for Tomorrow’s Cities”
James Howard Kunstler. Orion, July/August 2011, 8 pages.
Many people seem to think that there will be more of everything—more people, taller skyscrapers, greater suburbs, bigger airplanes, larger metro regions, or even super-gigantic slums.  Seeing things differently, the author of several books on urban planning, including The Long Emergency, and The Geography of Nowhere, discusses the future of suburbia and skyscraper-studded cities in the United States.

JOURNALISM

20. “What Shapes the News around the World?  How Journalists in Eighteen Countries Perceive Influence on Their Work”
Thomas Hanitzsch and Claudia Mellado. The International Journal of Press/Politics, July 2011, 23 pages.
The authors compare the perceived importance of various influences on news work across 18 societies. Evidence is based on journalists’ survey responses to a six-dimensional scale, covering political, economic, organizational, professional, and procedural influences as well as influences from reference groups.

21. “Signal and Noise”
Emily Bell. Columbia Journalism Review, July/August 2011, 4 pages.
Seeking to understand what is missing in its coverage of news, the author, a director of Tow Center for Digital Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School, discusses the U.S. news media from both international and domestic perspectives.

22. “The Wikileaks Illusion”
Alasdair Roberts. The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2011, 6 pages.
The author, a professor of law and public policy at Suffolk University Law School, examines the impact of WikiLeaks' massive release of classified documents to international news media that seek to open barriers to U.S. governmental secrecy.

EDUCATION

23. “How to Craft Social Media for Graduate Study”
Terence K. Huwe. Computers in Libraries, June 2011, 3 pages.
The author, Director of Library and Information Resources at the University of California–Berkeley, offers guidelines on how to make social media more attractive to senior faculty and their graduate students.

24. “Online Venture Energizes Vulnerable College”
Marc Parry. The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 2, 2011, 8 pages.
The author, an editorial staff member of The Chronicle of Higher Education, examines the online education programs developed by Southern New Hampshire University, and discusses how the university has combined the techniques used by for-profit and nonprofit institutions in order to improve its financial situation.

25. “The Millennials: A Survey of the Most Cited Literature”
Lisa Beinhoff. Choice, August 2011, 7 pages.
The author, Director of the Library at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, identifies key readings in research about the millennial generation and discusses the most-cited works in the fields of education, business, sociology, psychology, religion, and technology that acknowledge the effects of the millennials on sociological change.

READING AND LIBRARY TRENDS

26. “Ebooks Everywhere”
Nancy K. Herther. Searcher, July/August 2011, 8 pages.
The author, a sociology/anthropology librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries, examines the impact of the growing e-book trend on the entire ecosystem of books and reading in the United States and abroad.

27.  “U.S. Public Libraries and Web Technologies: What's Happening Now?”
Jamie E. Helgren and Zeth Lietzau. Computers in Libraries, September 2011, 5 pages.
The authors discuss U.S. public library services and web technologies, focusing on how many libraries were using various web technologies and whether their adoption of Web 2.0 tools contributed to their success as defined by traditional statistical measures of library achievement.