9 Items

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Newsletter

Yvonne Yew Offers Insight into Crucial Asian Security Issues

    Author:
  • Ramiro Gonzalez Lorca
| Summer 2013

"Researching Asian security issues has never been more topical," Yvonne Yew said in discussing her work at the Belfer Center. Despite Asia's economic growth, she said, "simmering tensions, territorial disputes, nuclear proliferation concerns, and military skirmishes serve to potentially undermine the region's peace and prosperity. As a former Singaporean diplomat and representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yew is in a unique position to view security issues spurred by the momentous and ongoing rise of Asia."

President Barack Obama, left, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START treaty at the Prague Castle, April 8, 2010. Obama warned that failure to ratify a new arms control treaty with Russia would undercut U.S. leadership on many challenges.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Toronto Star

Rumours of U.S. Decline are Greatly Exaggerated

| January 2, 2011

"The continuing warnings about American decline represent a kind of atavistic Cold War mindset, in which every military advance in another nation is by definition a threat to the United States and its allies. Have we become so accustomed to our great fortune that economic or military developments in countries that have not yet completely mastered basic human services like clean water, literacy and roads represent our own 'decline'?"

Book - MIT Press Quarterly Journal: International Security

Going Nuclear: Nuclear Proliferation and International Security in the 21st Century

The spread of nuclear weapons is one of the most significant challenges to global security in the twenty-first century. Limiting the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials may be the key to preventing a nuclear war or a catastrophic act of nuclear terrorism. Going Nuclear offers conceptual, historical, and analytical perspectives on current problems in controlling nuclear proliferation. It includes essays that examine why countries seek nuclear weapons as well as studies of the nuclear programs of India, Pakistan, and South Africa.

Foreign ministry officials from Iran, right, Afghanistan, left, and Pakistan, center, attend a meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, Jan. 16, 2010. They were meeting to discuss a range of issues: extremism, terrorism, & bilateral and regional security matters.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Iran Review

Regionalism in Iran's Foreign Policy

| February 8, 2010

"The second perspective focuses on the globalization and technological importance of the West, arguing that in the process of globalization and development, Iran needs expanding ties with the centers of science and wealth-creation in the West. From this perspective, forming regional coalitions or Iran's involvement in political and security issues of the Middle East, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, in a contradictory way will only go to further complicate Iran's relations with the West and will impede the country's development."

President Barack Obama calls for a world free of nuclear weapons in Prague, Apr. 5, 2009. 5 months later, there is little indication that he will have the needed votes for Senate ratification of a nuclear test ban treaty.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - The Providence Journal

Rooting for Arms Control

| December 15, 2009

"Dwight Eisenhower was the first Republican to recognize that the achievement of an international system to restrain the proliferation of nuclear weapons would be well worth a minor abrogation of national sovereignty. It is to be hoped that the necessary handful of Republican senators will endorse the collective wisdom of predecessors Root, Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and join their Democratic colleagues in supporting START renewal and ratification of the CTBT."

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, right sitting, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left sitting, sign a nuclear cooperation agreement at a ceremony in Rome's Villa Madama residence, Feb. 24, 2009.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Spreading Temptation: Proliferation and Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Agreements

| Summer 2009

Matthew Fuhrmann's article "Spreading Temptation: Proliferation and Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Agreements," was published by in the Summer 2009 issue of International Security. In his article, Dr. Fuhrmann argues "Peaceful nuclear cooperation—the transfer of nuclear technology, materials, or know-how from one state to another for peaceful purposes—leads to the spread of nuclear weapons. With a renaissance in nuclear power on the horizon, major suppliers, including the United States, should reconsider their willingness to assist other countries in developing peaceful nuclear programs."

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Belfer Center Newsletter Winter 2008-09

| Winter 2008-09

The Winter 2008-09 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming research, activities, and analysis by Center faculty, fellows, and staff on critical global issues. "What should the next president do first?" is a question raised in this issue. Belfer Center experts respond to the question with advice on what they consider priority issues of national security, climate/energy policy, and the economic crisis.

The Winter 2008-09 issue also features take-aways from the Center’s recent “Acting in Time on Energy Policy” conference hosted by the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group. In addition, it spotlights Belfer Center Faculty Affiliate Richard Clarkeand new Kennedy School Professor Nicholas Burns.

Analysis & Opinions - Los Angeles Times

Relax, and Trade with a Well-Oiled Empire

| Aug. 07, 2005

"...A collapsing China would ripple through the entire Asia-Pacific region and possibly send it into chaos. The world economy would lose a powerhouse.

Conversely, a vibrant Chinese economy would lift more citizens out of poverty and, if that happens, an appreciation for democracy will rise because it flourishes with economic development rather than with continuing poverty, as demonstrated in developed areas of China...."