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.
Harvard Project on Climate Agreements Hosts Susan Biniaz
Authors:
Robert C. Stowe
Casey Billings
| July 06, 2018
The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements hosted Susan Biniaz, former lead attorney for the U.S. climate-change negotiating team on April 17–19, 2018 at Harvard Kennedy School. Ms. Biniaz conducted a public seminar, “The Paris Agreement: Thoughts of a Negotiator on its Significance and Future,” on April 19, which attracted students, faculty, and other members of the academic community from Harvard, Tufts University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology interested in hearing her unique perspective on the past, present, and future of the treaty.
Susan Biniaz
Ms. Biniaz also met with Harvard faculty members who focus on environmental policy. She was a guest speaker in courses taught by Professor Jody Freeman at Harvard Law School (“Climate Change Law and Policy”) and Dr. Robert Stowe, Co-Director of the Harvard Project (“International Climate Change Policy”) — allowing students the opportunity to gain a broader understanding of the Paris Agreement and interaction between U.S. and international policy. Ms. Biniaz also held several meetings with students at the Kennedy School who were interested in climate-change policy, diplomacy, and negotiations.
Ms. Biniaz served for over thirty years in the State Department’s Legal Adviser’s Office, where she was a Deputy Legal Adviser, as well as the lead climate lawyer and a lead climate negotiator from 1989 until early 2017. She is now a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation and an adjunct faculty member at Columbia Law School. During the winter 2017 quarter, she was a distinguished fellow at the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago and taught at the University’s Law School. She attended Yale College and Columbia Law School and clerked for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
For Academic Citation:
Stowe, Robert and Casey Billings. “Harvard Project on Climate Agreements Hosts Susan Biniaz.” News, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, July 6, 2018.
In a new publication, Ketaki Zodgekar discusses sexual violence in the Ethiopian conflict even after the peace deal was signed in 2022. In the first two months after the signing, 852 incidents were reported.
Ahead of the G7, the Project on Managing the Atom convened participants in Hiroshima to discuss issues such as the merits of nuclear deterrence and risk reduction instruments.
Svenja Kirsch and Vladyslav Wallace argue that Russia should not be allowed to preside over the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), an institution of peace.
