Article Alert - September 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: GLOBAL SECURITY

1. “The Art of Declining Politely: Obama's Prudent Presidency and the Waning of American Power”
Adam Quinn. International Affairs, July 2011, 22 pages.
The author discusses President Obama’s approach of U.S. foreign policy-making and evaluates its wisdom, as well as the prospect of a decline in American power, the sustainability of U.S. primacy, and the status of the United States within the international order.

2. "Critical Geopolitics and the Control of Arms in the 21st Century"
Simon Dalby. Contemporary Security Policy, April 2011, 17 pages.
Who controls which arms and why the question is essential to the future geopolitical order of the planet?  The author, a professor at Carleton University, Canada, discusses the contextual dimensions of arms control and the new geopolitical circumstances of globalization.

3. “Hacking the Lights Out”
David M. Nicol. Scientific American, July 2011, 6 pages.
The author, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, discusses cybersecurity and the potential for a cyber attack on the U.S. electric power grid.
 

SPECIAL PROFILE: SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON

4. “Woman of the World”
Jonathan Alter. Vanity Fair, June 2011, 9 pages.
The author, a Bloomberg View columnist, profiles U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her ninth year as the Gallup poll’s America’s most admired woman.  He discusses her role as the secretary of state who is dealing with radical change across the globe, as well as trying to transform U.S. diplomacy on the nuts-and-coffee level.

EAST ASIA’S RISING ECONOMIC POWER

5. "The End of 'Growth with Equity'? Economic Growth and Income Inequality in East Asia"
Wang Feng. AsiaPacific Issues No. 101, July 2011, 8 pages.
Will East Asia, a major area of economic growth of the twenty-first century, become increasingly unequal economically and socially within the next half century?  The author, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, discusses economic growth and social redistribution in East Asian countries.

6. “Can the Asian Middle Class Come of Age?”
Homi Kharas. East Asia Forum, June 12, 2011, 2 pages.
The author, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, discusses Asia’s economic growth and the emergence of a sizeable middle class, focusing on challenges facing the growing economies and a lack of social stability.

OIL PRICE CRISIS

7. “A Crude Predicament: The Era of Volatile Oil Prices”
Robert McNally and Michael Levi. Foreign Affairs, July/August 2011, 12 pages.
The authors discuss wild fluctuations in global oil prices and the consequences for economics and geopolitics, focusing on what the United States can do to mitigate its effects.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH

8. “Should Capital Flow to Poor Countries?”
Uri Dadush and Bennett Stancil. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Policy Outlook, July 18, 2011, 22 pages.
The authors discuss why the presumption that large amounts of capital should flow from rich to poor nations is not only simplistic and empirically unverified but also dangerous, as it can destabilize developing economies.

9. “An Emerging Global Market”
Saskia Sassen. Harvard International Review, Summer 2011, 6 pages
The author, the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, discusses structural trends, consequences and the challenges facing the global labor market, and examines the changing patterns of outsourcing foreign skilled workers and professionals in relation to its effectiveness in improving market economies.

U.S. POLITICS

10. “Reagan's Lasting Realignment”
Michael G. Franc. National Review, August 1, 2011, 2 pages.
Former President Ronald Reagan's first term in office was marked by greater numbers of Americans calling themselves Republicans.  Conversely, during Obama's first term self-identified Democrats have declined in numbers.  The author, Vice President of Government Studies at the Heritage Foundation, compares the impact of the U.S. presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama on party identification.

DEMOCRACY PROMOTION

11. “Looking for Help: Will Rising Democracies and International Democracy Support?”
Thomas Carothers and Richard Youngs. The Carnegie Papers, July 2011, 42 pages.
Will a more multipolar be a less democratic one?  What roles do democracy and human rights concerns currently play in the foreign policies of the major rising democracies?  The authors discuss the great potential value of rising democracies as international democracy supporters, and analyze whether it is realistic to envisage increased engagement of those countries on such issues in the decade ahead.

12. “The New Democratic Order: Complex Societal-Systems and the 'Invisible Hand'”
Monty G. Marshall. Harvard International Review, Spring 2011, 12 pages.
The author, a researcher and political consultant specializing in complex societal-systems analysis, explores the emergence of a New Democratic Order in world politics in the 21st century, and examines global systemic trends in conflict, governance, and development.

HUMAN RIGHTS

13. “The Power of Social Media in Developing Nations: New Tools for Closing the Global Digital Divide and Beyond”
Amir Hatem Ali. Harvard Human Rights Journal, Summer 2011, 35 pages.
The author examines the role of social media on the Internet in addressing the global digital divide, focusing on its capacity to empower individuals in developing nations and the implications of human rights.

14. “Naturalism or Pragmatism? Towards an Expansive View of Human Rights”
John Eekelaar. Journal of Human Rights, April-June 2011, 13 pages.
The author, Co-Director of the Oxford Centre for Family Law and Policy, explores the extent to which an expansive view of human rights can have universal properties, compares the naturalistic account of human rights with the practical account, and proposes an understanding of human rights similar to the practical conception that grows from an analysis of what is implied by making a claim to human rights.

GLOBAL ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

15. “Rebuilding Sandcastles”
Cleo Paskal. The World Today, July 2011, 3 pages.
The author, an associate fellow for the Energy, Environment and Resource Governance Programme at Chatham House, ponders the effectiveness of risk assessments in providing more security against natural disasters, and explores mankind's ability to prepare for increasing natural disasters.

16. “2 Degrees of Separation”
Gregory Mone. Discover, June 2011, 7 pages.
Can humanity handle the heat if global temperatures reach a dangerous tipping point?  The author examines the potential impact of rising global temperatures due to global warming and the use of global climate models to forecast future trends in weather changes.

17. “The Perfect Firestorm”
Daniel Glick. Audubon, July/August 2011, 6 pages.
Today’s warmer, drier climate has spawned a new breed of furiously intense wildfires that can be nearly impossible to put out.  Is there any way to control these megafires?  The author, a co-founder of The Story Group, discusses ways to prevent crown fires and their effects.

18. “The Crisis in Clean Energy”
David G. Victor and Kassia Yanosek. Foreign Affairs, July/August 2011, 9 pages.
The authors discuss the crisis and the challenges facing the clean-energy industry crisis -- from energy insecurity to trade deficit to global warming.

INFORMATION LITERACY

19. “Ideas in the Ascendant”
John Swallow. The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 1, 2011, 4 pages.
The author, Acting Associate Provost for Planning and Administration at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, discusses the need of information evaluation in the Internet age, and how to develop competent argumentative and judgment skills, focusing on the validity of information posted to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and how thoughts are shaped through daily constructions of ideas.

20. “Drive More Traffic to Your Website and Blog”
Penny C. Sansevieri. The Writer, July 2011, 2 pages.
The author, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., discusses how to increase the readership of the blogs and websites.

JOURNALISM AND SOCIAL NETWORKING

21. "Going Pro"
Andrew Damstedt. American Journalism Review, Spring 2011, 2 pages.
More newspapers are turning to student journalism because of budgetary constraints that have led to reductions in staff.  The author, an American Journalism Review editorial assistant, discusses the use of student-produced journalism by major media outlets, and new innovations in journalism.

22. “United States of Google”
Reihan Salam. National Review, August 15, 2011, 2 pages.
The author of National Review Online’s The Agenda, examines online social networking websites such as Google+ and Facebook from a political perspective, and discusses the idea that social media's virtual communities are similar to the virtual community of a nation-state.

EDUCATION

23. “Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method”
Joshua Cohen. English Teaching Forum No. 3, 2011, 8 pages.
The author, an instructor of English as a Foreign Language in the Business Department at Kinki University in Japan, discusses Repeated Reading, a method where students reads and rereads a text silently or aloud from two to four times to reach a predetermined level of speed, accuracy, and comprehension, and how the method can be used to develop fluency, comprehension skills, and greater reading self-esteem.

24. “6 Building Blocks of SUCCESS”
Stephen J. Laster. Educause Review, May/June 2011, 7 pages.
The author, a chief information officer of Harvard Business School, discusses the six building blocks of success in higher education information technology (IT) leadership, and the challenges for IT leader in higher education.

25. “Composition 1.01: How Email Can Change the Way Professors Teach”
James Somers. The Atlantic, July 27, 2011, 5 pages.
The author, a chief technology officer at BookTour.com, discusses how email can be used as an educational tool for practicing and teaching writing.

LIBRARY TRENDS

26. “Future of Libraries”
Barbara Mantel. CQ Researcher, July 29, 2011, 36 pages.
Should the physical library shrink as books, journals and other materials increasingly become available in digital form?  What role will libraries play if e-books come to dominate the reading experience?  Should public libraries be privatized in an effort to save money?  The author, a freelance writer in New York City, examines the myriad challenges facing libraries about their future.