The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs

News

Fashioning a Realistic Strategy for the Twenty-First Century: A Conversation with Leslie H. Gelb

How Common Sense Can Rescue Foreign Policy, you argue that the meaning and nature of global power has not changed, and that the United States needs to reclaim its power before it loses its influence in the world. It will be determined by what we do with our economy. [...] as long as we stay tied to these massive land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the more we get ourselves in a frame of mind to take military action against Iran, the longer it will take to shore up our economy. [...] the les...

Yemen and the United States: Conflicting Priorities

Attacks included the 1992 assault on U.S. Marines in Yemen's port city Aden, the 1997 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania by terrorists linked to Yemen, and the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which was docked in Aden. [...] the United States should revive financial support to Yemen in order to ameliorate its basic economic problems, which continue to fuel despair and entrench radicalism. [...] unilateral American military solutions, as we should have learned from Iraq and Afghanistan...

To Tackle Co2, Start with H2o: How Latin America's Water Problems Could Affect Climate Change Negotiations

Spain, the IDB, and other donors are helping to finance the expansion of water and sanitation networks to low-income neighborhoods that primarily house Aymara Indians in the city's outskirts. Since the glaciers that supply a significant percentage of the city's water supply are melting rapidly, some of this aid will also be used to help the city plan ahead, secure new sources of water, and reduce leaks in the existing network.

From a Global Burden to an Engine of Growth: Reframing Climate Policy After Copenhagen

In doing so, GGI will work intensively with its national partners and their most engaged and promising economists and planners. Because of its global engagement, GGI will also be superbly positioned to develop "best practice" standards for low-carbon development plans, and to help implement such standards through its peer-to-peer network. [...] new organizations are emerging that can assess and advise governments about the effectiveness of their policies, programs, and measures that are ena...

A Millennium of Byzantine Power

[...] the "decisive" defeat inflicted on the Hunnic forces by their former German subjects in the battle of Nedao in 454. In his new book, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire, Luttwak gives us three reasons for Byzantium's staying-power: first, the Empire developed a systematic tax base; second, it trained its men for years before sending them into battle; and finally, it preferred any form of peaceful conflict solution to the use of arms.

Political Islam From Muhammad to Ahmadinejad

In his book, Kramer complained that the Saidian-dominated American academia's failure to understand Islamism had left a vacuum in the field and wondered what would fill it.4 The answer to this question came in 2007, six years after the publication of Kramer's book, when two of America's most senior Middle East experts, Bernard Lewis (Kramer's mentor at Princeton) and Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins University, founded a new organization with the not-so-hidden goal of creating a viable alternativ...

A Golden Moment: Applying Iraq's Hard Lessons to Strengthen the U.S. Approach to Stabilization and Reconstruction Operations

33 That debate is ongoing; but the time for talk about what reform and when is running short. Since 2003, the United States has committed more than $50 billion in Iraq and lost more than 4,300 soldiers.

The Hamas-Fatah Conflict: Shallow but Wide

While Fayyad's cabinets have not been able to extend their authority outside of West Bank cities and towns, the resumption of Israeli revenue transfers (Israel collects a large portion of Palestinian tax revenues when goods destined for Palestinian markets pass through Israeli ports) and a massive international assistance effort has assured the fiscal health of the Ramallah-based PA since June 2007. West Bank civil servants have been paid almost regularly, despite some unpaid arrears and del...

The Bioterror Pipeline: Big Pharma, Patent Expirations, and New Challenges to Global Security

Some even suggest that, based on open intelligence and the relative ease of access to dual-use biological pathogens and equipment, al-Qaeda may have advanced further in this field than in the nuclear realm.5 For instance, upon searching the evacuated terrorist camps after the invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. forces discovered al-Qaeda's 5,000-page "Encyclopaedia of Jihad," which included precise instructions for manufacturing biological weapons.6 Mohammed Atta, one of the September 11 hijackers,...

Reaping the Whirlwind: Pakistani Counterinsurgency Campaigns, 2004-2010

[...] how did the Pakistani military fare in its counterinsurgency campaigns from 2004-2008 under then-President Pervez Musharraf? [...] the Taliban regime provided sanctuary to al-Qaeda both before and after 9/11.

Ending the Exploitation of Migrant Workers in the Gulf

According to the ILO, the exploitation of migrant workers often takes the form of forced labor: work or service that is exacted under the peril of a penalty and undertaken involuntarily. 6 It consists essentially of exploitation in the place where the work or service is provided. 7 Migrant workers are subjected to forced labor, for example, in the sweatshops of China, the households of Hong Kong, the fish farms of Burma, the garments industries of Bangladesh, the plantations of Malaysia, and...

Note From Editor-in-Chief

Highlighting the renewed U.S. focus on Yemen, WILLIAM RUGH recommends that rather than pursuing unilateral military action, the United States should engage in multilateral diplomatic efforts with the Gulf states to unite the region against al-Qaeda. Dr. Abbas discusses the implications of U.S. foreign policy directed at the Muslim world and argues that moving forward, the United States should avoid becoming involved in sectarian politics in the region and instead focus on supporting Muslim r...

Engaging the Muslim World: A Conversation with Hassan Abbas

[...] the United States should support Muslim reformists and liberal intellectuals who are considered credible and authentic within the Muslim societies, irrespective of their political leanings (pro-Western or not). [...] there is clearly a dearth of progressive publishers in many Muslim states, whereas conservative and extremist writers (religious as well as political) have many avenues to get their works published. [...] there is an urgent need to encourage expansion of progressive and l...