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Books
2009 Faculty Books
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Hossein G. Askari, Iran Professor of International Business and International Affairs
Globalization and Islamic Finance: Convergence, Prospects and Challenges (co-written with Zamir Iqbal and Abbas Mirakhor, John Wiley and Sons Ltd., Nov. 28, 2009.)
William B. Bonvillian, Part-time faculty
Structuring an Energy Technology Revolution (co-authored with Charles Weiss, MIT Press, 2009)
America is addicted to fossil fuels, and the environmental and geopolitical costs are mounting. A federal program — on the scale of the Manhattan Project or the Apollo Program — to stimulate innovation in energy policy seems essential. In Structuring an Energy Technology Revolution, Charles Weiss and William Bonvillian make the case for just such a program. Their proposal backs measures to stimulate private investment in new technology, including a cap-and-trade system or carbon tax, but augments these with a revamped energy innovation system. It would encourage a broad range of innovations that would give policymakers a variety of technological options over the long implementation period and at the huge scale required. Using new organizational features, the program would go beyond traditional research and development efforts to promote prototyping, demonstration, and deployment of technological innovations faster than could be accomplished by market forces alone.
Weiss and Bonvillian propose a new integrated policy framework for advancing energy technology and outline a four-step approach for encouraging energy innovations: assessment of how new technology will be launched, focusing on obstacles that may be encountered in the marketplace; development of technology-neutral policies and incentives, putting new technology pathways into practice to bridge the traditional "valley of death" between research and late-stage development; identification of gaps in the existing system of institutional support for energy innovation; and the establishment of private and public interventions to fill these gaps. This approach aims for a level playing field so that technologies can compete with one another on their merits.
Strong leadership and public support will be needed to resist the pressure of entrenched interests against putting new technology pathways into practice. This book will help start the process.
Jennifer Brinkerhoff, Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs; Director, GW Diaspora Program
Digital Diasporas: Identity and Transnational Engagement (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
In the first full-length scholarly study of the increasingly important phenomenon of digital diasporas, Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff examines how immigrants who still feel a connection to their country of origin use the Internet. She argues that digital diasporas can ease security concerns in both the homeland and the host society, improve diaspora members' quality of life in the host society, and contribute to socio-economic development in the homeland. Drawing on case studies of nine digital diaspora organizations, Brinkerhoff's research supplies new empirical material regarding digital diasporas and their potential security and development impacts. She also explores their impact on identity negotiation, arguing that digital diasporas create communities and organizations that represent hybrid identities and encourage solidarity, identity, and material benefits among their members. The book also explores these communities' implications for policy and practice.
Michael E. Brown, Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs; Professor of International Affairs and Political Science
Primacy and Its Discontents: American Power and International Stability, (Co-edited with Owen R. Coté Jr., Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller, MIT, 2009)
The unprecedented military, economic, and political power of the United States has led some observers to declare that we live in a unipolar world in which America enjoys primacy or even hegemony. At the same time public opinion polls abroad reveal high levels of anti-Americanism, and many foreign governments criticize U.S. policies. Primacy and Its Discontents explores the sources of American primacy, including the uses of U.S. military power, and the likely duration of unipolarity. It offers theoretical arguments for why the rest of the world will — or will not — align against the United States. Several chapters argue that the United States is not immune to the long-standing tendency of states to balance against power, while others contend that wise U.S. policies, the growing role of international institutions, and the spread of liberal democracy can limit anti-American balancing. The final chapters debate whether countries are already engaging in "soft balancing" against the United States. The contributors offer alternative prescriptions for U.S. foreign policy, ranging from vigorous efforts to maintain American primacy to acceptance of a multipolar world of several great powers.
Amitai Etzioni, University Professor and Professor of International Affairs; Director, Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies
New Common Ground: A New America, A New World (Potomac Books, June 2009).
Race, age, political affiliation, country of origin, native language — too often Americans define themselves, and are defined, by the differences that separate them. But if the 2008 presidential campaign has taught us anything, it is that we as a people want to look beyond these divisions to the values and interests that unite us. New Common Ground embodies this zeitgeist, showing the ways that traditional boundaries among ethnic groups, political ideologies, and generations are blurring, and how to hasten the process.
New Common Ground demonstrates that even though the deepest divide in America is said to be racial, the differences in viewpoints and values among races are declining, even in an age of increased intermarriage. On immigration and other controversial matters, Etzioni argues for diversity within unity and the means to achieve that necessary end. New Common Ground is a provocative and insightful look into how we as Americans can reach consensus not just in spite of our diversity but also in ways that strengthen our commitment to the good of one and all as we seek to overcome the divisiveness that sometimes results from identity politics. The book closes by looking beyond our shores to the bridges that bring America closer to the rest of the world.
Lee Ann Fujii, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs; Program Coordinator, International Politics Cohort, Women's Leadership Program
Killing Neighbors: Webs of Violence in Rwanda, (Cornell University Press, 2009)
In the horrific events of the mid-1990s in Rwanda, tens of thousands of Hutu killed their Tutsi friends, neighbors, even family members. That ghastly violence has overshadowed a fact almost as noteworthy: that hundreds of thousands of Hutu killed no one. In a transformative revisiting of the motives behind and specific contexts surrounding the Rwandan genocide, Lee Ann Fujii focuses on individual actions rather than sweeping categories. Fujii argues that ethnic hatred and fear do not satisfactorily explain the mobilization of Rwandans one against another. Fujii's extensive interviews in Rwandan prisons and two rural communities form the basis for her claim that mass participation in the genocide was not the result of ethnic antagonisms. Rather, the social context of action was critical. Strong group dynamics and established local ties shaped patterns of recruitment for and participation in the genocide. This web of social interactions bound people to power holders and killing groups. People joined and continued to participate in the genocide over time, Fujii shows, because killing in large groups conferred identity on those who acted destructively. The perpetrators of the genocide produced new groups centered on destroying prior bonds by killing kith and kin.
David Alan Grier, Associate Professor of International Science and Technology Policy and International Affairs; Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
Too Soon to Tell: Essays for the End of the Computer Revolution, Volume 001 (Wiley-VCH, 2009)
Based on author David A. Grier's column, "In Our Time," which runs monthly in Computer magazine, Too Soon to Tell presents a collection of essays skillfully written about the computer age, an era that began February 1946. Examining ideas that are both contemporary and timeless, these chronological essays examine the revolutionary nature of the computer, the relation between machines and human institutions, and the connections between fathers and sons to provide general readers with a picture of a specific technology that attempted to rebuild human institutions in its own image.
Henry E. Hale, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs; Director, Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies; Director, European and Eurasian Studies Program
Developments in Russian Politics, (co-edited with Stephen White and Richard Sakwa, 7th Ed., Duke Univ. Press, Oct. 2009).
Stuart E. Johnson, Professorial Lecturer
Underkill: Scalable Capabilities for Military Operations amid Populations (co-written with David C. Gompert, Martin C. Libicki, David R. Frelinger, John Gordon, IV, Raymond Smith, and Camille A. Sawak ; Rand Corp. 2009).
The battle for Gaza revealed an extremist strategy: hiding in cities and provoking attack to cause civilian deaths that can be blamed on the attacking forces. The U.S. and allied militaries, having no options but lethal force or no options at all, are ill-equipped to defeat this strategy. The use of lethal force in dense populations can harm and alienate the very people whose cooperation U.S. forces are trying to earn. To solve this problem, a new RAND study proposes a "continuum of force" — a suite of capabilities that includes sound, light, lasers, cell phones, and video cameras.
In missions ranging from counterinsurgency to peacekeeping to humanitarian intervention to quelling disorder, the typical small unit of the U.S. military should and can have portable, easy-to-use, all-purpose capabilities to carry out its missions without killing or hurting civilians that may get in the way. The technologies for these capabilities are available but have not been recognized as a solution to this strategic problem and, consequently, need more high-level attention and funding.
Young-Key Kim-Renaud, Professor of Korean Language and Culture and International Affairs; Chair, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures
Korean: An Essential Grammar, (Routledge, May 2009).
Korean: An Essential Grammar is a concise and convenient guide to the basic grammatical structure of standard Korean. Presenting a fresh and accessible description of the language, this engaging Grammar uses clear, jargon-free explanations and sets out the complexities of Korean in short, readable sections.
Key features include:
- clear explanations of grammatical terms
- frequent use of authentic examples
- the Korean alphabet used alongside McCune-Reischauer romanization system
- a full glossary of explanations.
Michael J. Marquardt, Professor of Human Resource Development and International Affairs
Action Learning for Developing Leaders and Organizations: Principles, Strategies, and Cases (APA, 2009)
Today's rapidly changing and globally competitive business environment mandates that 21st century leaders develop new models and innovative learning processes of organizational leadership. To meet these shifting needs, Action Learning has emerged as a key training and problem-solving tool for companies as diverse as Nokia, Samsung, Boeing, GE, Motorola, Marriott, General Motors, Deutsche Bank, and British Airways. These and hundreds of other companies around the world now employ Action Learning for strategic planning to develop managers, identify competitive advantages, reduce operating costs, and create high-performing teams.
What exactly is Action Learning? Simply described, it is a dynamic process that involves a small group of people solving real organizational problems, while focusing on how their learning can benefit individuals, groups, and the larger organization. The emphasis on learning is what makes this process strategic rather than tactical in equipping leaders to more effectively respond to change.
Jerrold M. Post,Professor of Psychiatry, Political Psychology and International Affairs; Director, Political Psychology Program
The World's Most Threatening Terrorist Networks and Criminal Gangs (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)
Terrorist organizations and international criminal networks pose an increasingly severe danger to US security. Who are these rivals who threaten us? What do they want to achieve? This book looks at diverse groups such as Al Qaeda, its jihadist fellow travelers as well as Hezbollah and its terrorist sponsor, Iran. Other chapters examine Hamas, Jemaah Islamiyah, the FARC, the Mexican drug cartels, and the criminal gang, Mara Salvatrucha 13. Pakistan, where jihadists pose an extreme security threat, is another focus as is a chapter on terrorist WMD threats. This look at sub-state rivals is recommended to all serious students of international security.
Chad Rector, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
Federations: The Political Dynamics of Cooperation (Cornell University Press, 2009)
Why would states ever give up their independence to join federations? While federation can provide more wealth or security than self-sufficiency, states can in principle get those benefits more easily by cooperating through international organizations such as alliances or customs unions. Chad Rector develops a new theory that states federate when their leaders expect benefits from closer military or economic cooperation but also expect that cooperation via an international organization would put some of the states in a vulnerable position, open to extortion from their erstwhile partners. The potentially vulnerable states hold out, refusing to join alliances or customs unions, and only agreeing to military and economic cooperation under a federal constitution.
Rector examines several historical cases: the making of a federal Australia and the eventual exclusion of New Zealand from the union, the decisions made within Buenos Aires and Prussia to build Argentina and Germany largely through federal contracts rather than conquests, and the failures of postindependence unions in East Africa and the Caribbean.
Richard C. Thornton, Professor of History and International Affairs
The Reagan Revolution III: Defeating the Soviet Challenge, (Tradford Publ., September 2009).
Volume III of the Reagan Revolution series recounts the president's successful defeat of the Soviet drive for global hegemony — for strategic weapons superiority, political domination of the Eurasian landmass, and decisive leverage over world oil. In volumes I and II of this study, Thornton analyzed the president's decisions to jettison the failed strategy of detente and seek victory in the Cold War.
In this volume, Thornton shows how Reagan foiled the Soviet drive for strategic weapons superiority with a complex, high technology weapons buildup and a surprise shift to strategic defense, inaugurating a fundmental change in the national security equation.
Nicholas Vonortas, Professor of Economics and International Affairs; Director, Center for International Science and Technology Policy; Director, International Science & Technology Policy Program
The Innovation Imperative: National Innovation Strategies in the Global Economy (Edward Elgar, 2009)
As a result of globalization, strategies for investments in innovation capabilities have gained considerably in importance, for businesses, research institutions and policymakers. Public policy has to provide conditions for investments in R&D and innovation that are internationally attractive and effective in stimulating innovation, economic growth and job creation. This book focuses on the changing roles and challenges of innovation and growth policy, and the strategies and measures that are critical in a globalizing world. It provides guidance for innovation policy strategy formulations and design of innovation policy measures.
Globalization and the innovation imperative towards sustained economic growth require a major renewal and deepening of public policy thinking and strategies. This book focuses on these policy challenges, and the policy strategies and measures that are critical for innovation and growth in a globalizing world. Topics include: globalization and offshoring of software, the multilateral trading system and competition, innovative entrepreneurship, research frameworks and innovation awards, the globalization of converging nanotechnologies, and the relationship between knowledge and innovation.
Science and technology policy makers, university professors and graduate students in public policy, innovation, business and economics will find much of value in this book.
Nicholas Vonortas, Professor of Economics and International Affairs; Director, Center for International Science and Technology Policy; Director, International Science & Technology Policy Program
Innovation Networks In Industries (co-edited with Franco Malerba, Edward Elgar Publ., 2009)
This informative book provides an extensive study in the fields of industry structure, firm strategy and public policy through the use of network concepts and indicators. It also elucidates many of the complexities and challenges involved.
The contributors explore the role of networks in industries, reflecting a belief that some of the most important analytical and policy questions related to networks must fully consider the industry level. This includes examining the very structure of industries, the role of relationships in different sectoral systems of production and innovation, and the delineation of real industry boundaries.
Innovation Networks in Industries will be a useful enhancement to the studies of postgraduate students in the fields of innovation, industrial economics and strategy. It will also be an invaluable guidance tool for academic researchers and policy-makers.
Sharon L. Wolchik, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
Women in Power in Post-Communist Parliaments (co-edited with Marilyn Rueschmeyer; Copub.: Indiana University Press, Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2009)
Women in Power in Post-Communist Parliaments examines the life and work of women who have reached positions of political power after the end of communism in Europe. It explores the roles they have adopted, the relationships they have cultivated, and the agendas they have pursued. In contrast to much of the literature on women in post-communist states, this volume treats the issues comparatively, in six countries with interesting differences — the Czech Republic, Germany (with a focus on parliamentarians from the former GDR), Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Russia. Interviews with and written statements by the "women in power" give voice to their experiences as political actors within an environment of volatile economies and new foreign engagements.
Daqing Yang, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs
Communications Under the Seas: The Evolving Cable Network and Its Implications (co-edited with Bernard Finn, MIT Press, 2009)
By the end of the twentieth century, fiber-optic technology had made possible a worldwide communications system of breathtaking speed and capacity. This amazing network is the latest evolution of communications technologies that began with undersea telegraph cables in the 1850s and continued with coaxial telephone cables a hundred years later. Communications under the Seas traces the development of these technologies and assesses their social, economic, and political effects. If we cannot predict the ultimate consequences of today's wired world — its impact on economic markets, free expression, and war and peace — or the outcome of the conflict between wired and wireless technology, we can examine how similar issues have been dealt with in the past. The expert contributors to this volume do just that, discussing technical developments in undersea cables (and the development of competing radio and satellite communications technology), management of the cables by private and public interests, and their impact on military and political activities.
Chapters cover such topics as the daring group of nineteenth-century entrepreneurs who wove a network of copper wires around the world (and then turned conservative with success); the opening of the telegraphic network to general public use; the government- and industry-forced merger of wireless and cable companies in Britain; and the impact of the cable network on diplomacy during the two world wars.
