The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
Renewables are widely perceived as an opportunity to shatter the hegemony of fossil fuel-rich states and democratize the energy landscape. Virtually all countries have access to some renewable energy resources (especially solar and wind power) and could thus substitute foreign supply with local resources. Our research shows, however, that the role countries are likely to assume in decarbonized energy systems will be based not only on their resource endowment but also on their policy choices.
As the United States emerges from the era of so-called forever wars, it should abandon the regime change business for good. Then, Washington must understand why it failed, writes Stephen Walt.
Newsletter Article
- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Democracy is Retreating, Authoritarianism is Rising
Author:
Jacob Carozza
| Fall/Winter 2017-2018
History did not end after the Cold War,” says Torrey Taussig, a postdoctoral fellow in the International Security Program.
Many hoped a tidal wave of democracy would sweep the globe after the Soviet Union’s fall in 1991. But there are now indications of a global democratic recession, especially in the last ten years.
Taussig’s research focuses on the authoritarian regimes that have often filled that void. She recently earned a Ph.D at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where her dissertation looked at the implications of authoritarian political and economic dynamics on Chinese and Russian foreign policy.
Like many in her generation, she says, the events of September 11—she was 13—opened her eyes to the fact that borders are “irrelevant to the movement of ideas, people, history, and cultures.”
But it was a book she read in high school—Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s memoir The Mighty and the Almighty—that got her thinking about specific challenges to international security in the 21st century.
Taussig’s research found that in Russia and China, domestic political consolidation has been accompanied by more assertive foreign policies. Both nations are seeking to develop spheres of influence in their proximate regions and prompting questions about the return of great power competition.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty in what Chinese intentions are in the short term, the medium term, the long term, and what China’s growing military and economic assertiveness mean for regional stability.”
Authoritarian rule can also have unintended consequences for regional security, Taussig says, such as when regimes’ domestic repressive circumstances breed instability, generate refugees and lead to violent extremism.
“We’re more likely to see civil wars break out within those environments,” she said, citing Syria as a prime example.
Taussig says she next hopes to research how authoritarian states such as Russia are exploiting democratic discontent in the West and capitalizing on the same conditions, like economic insecurity and poor governance, that aided their own rise to power.
Torrey Taussig (left) is a postdoctoral fellow in the International Security Program.
Carozza, Jacob. "Torrey Taussig: Democracy is Retreating, Authoritarianism is Rising." Belfer Center Newsletter, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Fall/Winter 2017-2018.
The U.S. and Canada must work together on Arctic climate challenges that have global impacts, from intensifying wildfires and thawing permafrost to endangered Indigenous subsistence and a changing Arctic Ocean, write John P. Holdren and Fran Ulmer.
We’re going to need every tool in the toolkit, including CCUS, to solve the climate crisis, argues Mohammed Al-Juaied. CCUS projects are already burying millions of tons of CO2 each year, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what’s needed, he says.
When the Boston Marathon bombing took place 10 years ago, the City’s detailed disaster preparedness plan kicked in and helped save numerous lives, Juliette Kayyem and other experts said in a recent discussion of lessons learned in the wake of the tragedy.
