by
Council on Foreign Relations. Independent Task Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security.
Call Number
379.1580973 23
Publication Date
2012
Summary
The United States' failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country's ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role. This report notes that while the United States invests more in K-12 public education than many other developed countries, its students are ill prepared to compete with their global peers. According to the results of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment that measures the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science every three years, U.S. students rank fourteenth in reading, twenty-fifth in math, and seventeenth in science compared to students in other industrialized countries. The lack of preparedness poses threats on five national security fronts: economic growth and competitiveness, physical safety, intellectual property, U.S. global awareness, and U.S. unity and cohesion, says the report. Too many young people are not employable in an increasingly high-skilled and global economy, and too many are not qualified to join the military because they are physically unfit, have criminal records, or have an inadequate level of education. The report proposes three overarching policy recommendations: implement educational expectations and assessments in subjects vital to protecting national security; make structural changes to provide students with good choices; and, launch a "national security readiness audit" to hold schools and policymakers accountable for results and to raise public awareness.
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17513.6641
by
King, Kay, 1954-
Call Number
342.730412 23
Publication Date
2010
Summary
In this report, the author explores the political and institutional changes that have contributed to congressional gridlock and examines their consequences for foreign policy making. Some of these developments, she notes, are national trends that have developed over a number of decades. Successive redistricting efforts, for example, have all but eliminated interparty competition in some House districts, leaving the real competition to the primaries and the most ideologically driven voters. King further notes that the rising cost of elections has increased the time devoted to fundraising at the expense of substantive priorities, and the twenty-four hour news cycle has decreased the time and incentive for reflective debate. More subtle, but equally important, institutional changes have likewise diminished Congress's effectiveness. A decline in committee chairmen's authority and expertise, tighter control over voting by party leaders, and the relaxation of traditional customs limiting the use of procedural tools to practical ends have all, led to a breakdown in comity. The consequences highlighted are both broad and significant, from delayed presidential appointments to a poorly coordinated budget process for critical foreign policy areas such as intelligence, diplomacy, and development.
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3040.4985
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by
Padmanabhan, Vijay.
Call Number
345.01 22
Publication Date
2010
Summary
The United States has long been a leading force behind international efforts to bring the perpetrators of atrocities to justice. It spearheaded the prosecution of German and Japanese officials after World War II and more recently supported tribunals to deal with events in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere. Washington has kept far more distance, however, from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Although President Bill Clinton allowed U.S. negotiators to sign the Rome Statute, the agreement that established the court, he and subsequent presidents have maintained objections to elements of the court's jurisdiction and prosecutorial authority. U.S. administrations have since cooperated to varying degrees with the ICC, but the notion of ratifying the Rome Statute and joining the court has never been seriously entertained. Even as a nonmember, though, the United States has important interests at stake in the ICC's operations. On the one hand, the court can bring to justice those responsible for atrocities, something with both moral and strategic benefits. On the other hand, there are fears that the court could seek to investigate American actions and prosecute American citizens, as well as concerns that it will weaken the role of the UN Security Council (where the United States has a veto) as the preeminent arbiter of international peace and security.
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3040.4656
by
Bruton, Bronwyn E.
Call Number
VH320.9 22
Publication Date
2010
Summary
"Even among failed states-- those countries unable to exercise authority over their territory and provide the most basic services to their people-- Somalia stands apart. A country of some nine million, it has lacked a central government since the fall of Mohamed Siad Barre's regime in 1991. Poverty and insecurity are endemic. Less than 40 percent of Somalis are literate, more than one in ten children dies before turning five, and a person born in Somalia today cannot assume with any confidence that he or she will reach the age of fifty. Failed states provide fertile ground for terrorism, drug trafficking, and a host of other ills that threaten to spill beyond their borders. Somalia is thus a problem not just for Somalis but for the United States and the world. In particular, the specter of Somalia's providing a sanctuary for al-Qaeda has become an important concern, and piracy off Somalia's coast, which affects vital international shipping lanes, remains a menace. In this report, Bronwyn E. Bruton proposes a strategy to combat terrorism and promote development and stability in Somalia. She first outlines the recent political history involving the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) formed in 2004 and its Islamist opponents, chiefly the Shabaab, which has declared allegiance to al-Qaeda. She then analyzes U.S. interests in the country, including counterterrorism, piracy, and humanitarian concerns, as well as the prospect of broader regional instability."--Page vii.
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2150.0876
by
Lettow, Paul Vorbeck, 1977-
Call Number
327.1747 22
Publication Date
2010
Summary
Nuclear technology has long been recognized as capable of both tremendous benefits and tremendous destruction. With this in mind, countries have devised international arrangements intended to promote peaceful nuclear applications while preventing the spread of materials, equipment, and technologies useful for producing nuclear weapons. Today, however, it is clear that this global nonproliferation regime is falling short. North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003 and has since tested two nuclear devices. Iran, while still a party to the NPT, has developed the capacity to enrich significant amounts of uranium; many believe it is seeking to build nuclear weapons or at least attain the ability to do so. In addition, there is the challenge of facilitating the expansion of nuclear energy, something that could help reduce carbon emissions, while preventing countries from using related technologies for military purposes. Finally, the prevalence of nuclear materials only intensifies the fear that terrorist groups could acquire them through theft or a deliberate transfer from a state. In this Council Special Report, Paul Lettow examines the shortcomings of the nonproliferation regime and proposes a comprehensive agenda to shore it up.
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1923.2124
by
Knake, Robert K.
Call Number
004 22
Publication Date
2010
Summary
The Internet, since its debut in 1989, has revolutionized commerce, communication, military action, and governance. Much of the modern world is simply inconceivable without it. This revolution, however, has not come without a price. The annual cost of cyber crime has now climbed to more than $1 trillion, while coordinated cyberattacks have crippled Estonia, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan and compromised critical infrastructure in countries around the world. While no fewer than six UN bodies and multiple regional and national forums have sought to build a consensus on the future of Internet governance, there has been little progress thus far. The United States has largely abstained from these discussions, instead focusing on developing its own offensive and defensive cybersecurity capabilities while entrusting the ongoing stability of the system to the expertise of the private sector. In this Council Special Report, Robert K. Knake briefly examines the technological decisions that have enabled both the Internet's spectacular success and its troubling vulnerability to attack. Arguing that the United States can no longer cede the initiative on cyber issues to countries that do not share its interests, he outlines an agenda that the United States can pursue in concert with its allies on the international stage. This agenda, addressing cyber warfare, cyber crime, and state-sponsored espionage, should, he writes, be pursued through both technological and legal means. He urges first that the United States empower experts to confront the fundamental security issues at the heart of the Internet's design. Then he sketches the legal tools necessary to address both cyber crime and state-sponsored activities, including national prohibitions of cyber crime, multilateral mechanisms to prevent and prosecute cyberattacks, and peacetime norms protecting critical civilian systems, before describing the bureaucratic reforms the United States should make to implement effectively these changes.
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1923.1128
by
Letiche, John M., 1918-
Call Number
330.092 22
Publication Date
2011
Summary
The influential life of a leading Berkeley scholar who served as an adviser to the United Nations and American and African governments.
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0.2540
by
Smith, Neil, 1954-2012.
Call Number
910.92
Publication Date
2003
Summary
Arguing that American globalism had a very distinct geography and was pieced together as part of a powerful geographical vision, this text explores US global ambition. The story unfolds through an account of the career of Isaiah Bowman, the most famous American geographer of the 20th century.
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0.2390
by
Kurlantzick, Joshua, 1976- author.
Call Number
321.8 23
Publication Date
2013
Summary
Since the end of the Cold War, the assumption among most political theorists has been that as nations develop economically, they will also become more democratic—especially if a vibrant middle class takes root. This assumption underlies the expansion of the European Union and much of American foreign policy, bolstered by such examples as South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and even to some extent Russia. Where democratization has failed or retreated, aberrant conditions take the blame: Islamism, authoritarian Chinese influence, or perhaps the rise of local autocrats.But what if the failures of democracy are not exceptions? In this thought-provoking study of democratization, Joshua Kurlantzick proposes that the spate of retreating democracies, one after another over the past two decades, is not just a series of exceptions. Instead, it reflects a new and disturbing trend: democracy in worldwide decline. The author investigates the state of democracy in a variety of countries, why the middle class has turned against democracyin some cases, and whether the decline in global democratization is reversible.
Format:
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0.2265
by
Pollack, Jonathan D.
Call Number
355.031095105 21
Publication Date
1998
Summary
The papers in this collection were first presented at a conference on "Chinese Security Policy and the Future of Asia." The authors, each representing different countries and regions affected by the growth of Chinese power, were asked to address four major questions: (1) China's position in the present and future security environment of the given country or region; (2) principal sources of tension between China and the particular country or region; (3) prevailing opinion in the country or region toward China's efforts at military modernization; and (4) the principal political, security, and economic strategies for responding to China's emergent power and military role. The purpose was to reveal elements of commonality and difference in national strategies.
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0.2236
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