Highlights of new books by Belfer Center authors

The al-Qaeda Franchise: The Expansion of al-Qaeda and Its Consequences

By Barak Mendelsohn, Fmr. Research Fellow, International Security Program

Oxford University Press  (January 2016)

The al-Qaeda Franchise asks why al-Qaeda adopted a branching-out strategy, introducing seven franchises spread over the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. After all, transnational terrorist organizations can expand through other organizational strategies. Forming franchises was not an inevitable outgrowth of al-Qaeda’s ideology or its U.S.-focused strategy. The efforts to create local franchises have also undermined one of al-Qaeda’s primary achievements: the creation of a transnational entity based on religious, not national, affiliation.

“An extremely illuminating discussion of an important, neglected subject—the cooperative and organizational expansions of terrorist groups. The focus is on Al-Qaeda, showing how its expansion and decline are intimately related. All students of terrorism will find this intriguing, unique analysis very valuable.”

—David C. Rapoport, Founding Editor, Terrorism and Political Violence

Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies

By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development, Harvard Kennedy School

Oxford University Press (June 2016)

Drawing from nearly 600 years of technology history, Innovation and Its Enemies identifies the tension between the need for innovation and the pressure to maintain continuity, social order, and stability as one of today’s biggest policy challenges. It reveals the extent to which modern technological controversies grow out of distrust in public and private institutions. Using detailed case studies of coffee, the printing press, margarine, farm mechanization, electricity, mechanical refrigeration, recorded music, transgenic crops, and transgenic animals, it shows how new technologies emerge, take root, and create new institutional ecologies that favor their establishment in the marketplace.

“An insightful book that addresses one of the paradoxes of our time, namely why generations that have benefited so much from innovation are so resistant to it….A must-read for everyone involved in technology development and policy.”

—Louise O. Fresco, President of Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands

Pursuing Sustainability: A Guide to the Science and Practice

By Pamela Matson, William C. Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development, Harvard Kennedy School, and Krister Anderson

Princeton University Press (2016)

Sustainability is a global imperative and a scientific challenge like no other. This concise guide provides students and practitioners with a strategic framework for
linking knowledge with action in the pursuit of sustainable development, and serves as an invaluable companion to more narrowly focused courses dealing with sustainability in particular sectors such as energy, food, water, and housing, or in particular regions of the world.

“This is a beautiful, lucid, and desperately needed book about the sustainability challenge. The authors accomplish a mission impossible: providing deep analyses of complex adaptive social-environmental systems while using simple terms and compelling metaphors to expose the crucial steps we need to take for long-term inclusive well-being. A must-read for practitioners and scholars alike.”

—Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Founder and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

The Inside Counsel Revolution: Resolving the Partner-Guardian Tension

By Ben W. Heineman, Jr., Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Ankerwycke (April 2016)

The Inside Counsel Revolution: Resolving the Partner-Guardian Tension by Ben W. Heineman, Jr., former General Electric general counsel and a founding father of the inside counsel movement, describes the past, present, and future of this transformation. He takes a critical and careful look at the central role of general counsel in advancing the core mission of today’s corporation: to achieve high performance with high integrity and sound risk management. He explains how to resolve the critical tension facing inside counsel—being partner to the board of directors, the CEO and business leaders, but ultimately being guardian of the corporation.

“Ben Heineman, a renowned pioneer at GE, has written an extraordinary and definitive book on the role of the general counsel in companies today.”

—Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft Corporation