Blog Post
Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future
Ashton B. Carter and John P. White, editors
(The MIT Press, 2001)
A BCSIA Study in International Security
Most national security debate concerns the outcomes of policies, neglecting the means by which those policies are implemented. This book argues that although the U.S. military is the finest fighting force in the world, the system that supports it is in disrepair. Operating with Cold War-era structures and practices, it is subject to managerial and organizational problems that increasingly threaten the military''s effectiveness.
Keeping the Edge goes beyond questions of Pentagon reorganization and weapons procurement to explore how the U.S. defense establishment can improve its readiness, logistics, and ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. It also looks at how the U.S. military can exploit information technology more effectively, improve its intelligence, and counter asymmetric threats. The authors recommend changes in the Department of Defense and other government agencies. They show how the U.S. can improve its ability to implement its policies and anticipate and adapt to a changing and uncertain world.
Carter is Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs and Co-Director of the Preventive Defense Project. White is Lecturer in Public Policy and an affiliate of the Preventive Defense Project.
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BCSIA/Library.nsf/ISbschron
"I truly found this book the best work on our current military problems and the way ahead." --General Anthony Zinni (ret.), Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command, 1997-2000
Holding the Line: U.S. Defense Alternatives for the Early 21st Century
Cindy Williams, editor
(The MIT Press, 2001)
A BCSIA Study in International Security
Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military has reduced its combat forces by 40%, closed about 20% of its bases, and withdrawn from many overseas posts. Even after these changes, the U.S. military is by far the strongest in the world, with huge advantages in training, equipment, and technology.
Despite cutting its annual spending by about 30%, the U.S. spends more than the countries with the six next-largest military budgets combined. Heated debates continue to rage over U.S. military spending. Some argue that U.S. military spending is too low; others say that the U.S. has taken on too many military missions and needs to scale back these deployments.
Holding the Line presents detailed assessments of the U.S. defense budget and America''s military strategy. Its contributors conclude that the U.S. must reshape its military to face the real challenges of the coming decades. They call for smaller U.S. forces with more modern weapons, sensors, avionics, and communications systems. They offer recommendations that would enable the U.S. military to transform its forces and make them more effective, while holding the line on defense budget increases.
Williams is a Senior Research Fellow at MIT and served as Assistant Director for National Security in the Congressional Budget Office.
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BCSIA/Library.nsf/ISbschron
"A must-read book for everyone who cares about the future of the United States military." --Andrew Krepinevich, Executive Director, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
Bridges and Boundaries: Historians, Political Scientists, and the Study of International Relations
Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman, editors
(The MIT Press, 2000)
A BCSIA Study in International Security
How do historians and political scientists differ in their approach to international relations, and what is the influence of disciplinary training? Bridges and Boundaries presents a conversation between traditional historians and political scientists in an attempt to answer these and related questions.
The discussion focuses on: British hegemony in the nineteenth century; diplomacy in the interwar period and the causes of World War II; and the origins and course of the Cold War. For each topic, a political scientist, a historian, and a commentator reflect on how disciplinary "guild rules" have shaped the study of international events.
The Elmans are Professors at Arizona State University and were ISP Fellows.
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BCSIA/Library.nsf/ISbschron
The Rise of China
Michael E. Brown, Owen R. Cote, Jr., Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds.)
(The MIT Press, 2000)
An International Security Reader
China''s relentless economic growth in the 1980s and 1990s heralded its emergence as a great power in world politics. As its economy expanded, China seemed poised to become the second-largest economy in the world. At the same time, it modernized its military and adopted a more assertive diplomatic posture.
Many observers have begun to debate the international implications of China''s rise. Some analysts argue that China will inevitably pose a threat to peace and security in East Asia. A few even predict a new cold war between Beijing and Washington. Others claim that a powerful China can remain benign. No one believes that China can be ignored.
The essays in this volume assess China''s emerging capabilities and intentions, debate the impact that China will have on security in the Asia-Pacific region, and propose policies for the United States to adopt in its relations with China.
"The rise of China is undoubtedly one of the most important strategic issues for the Asia Pacific of the 21st century." --Yuen Foong Khong, Acting Director, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Singapore
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BCSIA/Library.nsf/ISrdrschron
Other IS Readers:
America''s Strategic Choices - revised edition
Michael E. Brown, Owen R. Cote, Jr., Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds.)
(The MIT Press, 2000)
Rational Choice and Security Studies: Stephen Walt and His Critics
Michael E. Brown, Owen R. Cote, Jr., Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds.)
(The MIT Press, 2000)
Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict - revised edition
Michael E. Brown, Owen R. Cote, Jr., Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds.)
(The MIT Press, 2001)
Taking Technical Risks: How Innovators, Executives and Investors Manage High-Tech Risks
By Lewis M. Branscomb and Philip E. Auerswald
(The MIT Press, 2001)
How do technology innovators, business executives, and venture capitalists manage the technical elements of business risk when developing and launching new products? Overcoming technical risks requires crossing the so-called "valley of death"--the gap between demonstrating the soundness of a technical concept in a controlled setting and readying the product technology for the market.
Crossing the valley of death may mean bringing university-based research to the point where it appears viable to venture capitalists, or bridging the cultural gap between technical innovators and the managers who are being asked to risk their institutional resources. In every context, purely technical risks are coupled with the market risks inherent in innovation.
In this book Branscomb, Aetna Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management emeritus, and STPP Fellow Auerswald address early-stage, high-tech innovation in the context of business decision making and innovation policy. The topics addressed include the extent to which purely technical risk is separable from market risk; how industrial managers make decisions on funding early-stage, high-risk technology projects; and under what circumstances government can and should act to reduce the technical risks of innovative projects so that firms will invest in them.
http://mitpress.mit.edu/book-home.tcl?isbn=026202490X
Environmental Economics and Public Policy: Selected Papers of Robert N. Stavins, 1988-1999
By Robert N. Stavins
(Edward Elgar Publishing, 2000)
Stavins, the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and Faculty Chair of ENRP, has emerged as one of the most influential voices in environmental economics over the last decade and a half. These twenty-three essays on environmental economics and policy, written by Stavins and his co-authors over the period 1988-1999, originally appeared in a diverse set of leading scholarly periodicals and are here collected for the first time.
The book is divided into seven parts: an overview; benefits and costs of environmental regulation; normative analysis of policy instruments; positive analysis of policy instruments; environmental technology innovation and diffusion; causes and consequences of land-use changes; and global climate policy. The book begins with an introductory essay in which Stavins reflects on the professional path that led to his research and writing and identifies common themes that emerge from this period of research.
http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/
Using Force to Prevent Ethnic Violence: An Evaluation of Theory and Evidence
By David Carment and Frank Harvey
(Praeger Publishers, 2000)
More than ever before, ethnic struggle finds expression in the growing incidence and scale of displaced persons and refugee flows, as well as in exacerbated levels of ethnic minority abuse and involuntary assimilation. Demographic and political sources of instability in multi-ethnic societies assure the continuing significance of ethnic strife and the potential for intrastate ethnic violence far into the next millennium.
While not all disagreements between ethnic groups can be expected to escalate into violence, more than a few have produced intractable and destructive conflicts, and one or more of these conflicts could ultimately reach levels that overwhelm international resources and capabilities.
Carment, an ISP/WPF Fellow, and Harvey, a professor at Dalhousie University, examine how regional and international security organizations can prevent ethnic conflict and manage cases in which violence already is at hand. They develop a framework for advancing research on the prevention and management of intrastate ethnic violence through an in-depth study of NATO''s involvement in Kosovo and Bosnia.
http://info.greenwood.com/books/0275969/0275969797.html
Counter-Terrorist Law and Emergency Powers in the United Kingdom, 1922-2000
By Laura K. Donohue
(Irish Academic Press, 2000)
Counter-Terrorist Law by ISP Fellow Donohue examines in detail the introduction and development of the 1922-1943 Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Acts (SPA), the use of which contributed to the fall of the Northern Ireland parliament and the assumption of direct rule by Westminster.
The 1973 Northern Ireland (Emergency Powers) Act was drawn almost wholly from regulations introduced under the Northern Ireland Stormont regime. Similarly, the 1974 Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act drew on legislation previously in place. The book examines not only the statutes themselves, but also why they failed to be "temporary" measures and became firmly ensconced in the British response to Northern Ireland. This discourse of rights leads into consideration of European counter-terrorist legislation and cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights for the exercise of emergency law in the United Kingdom.
http://www.iap.ie/milhist.htm#counterterrorist
Information & Recht
By Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger
(Springer Publishing, 2001)
In the new economy information is the primary source of wealth. But who owns and who controls information? Currently, a number of very different, even conflicting rights cover ownership of information, like copyrights, or the rights to privacy and publicity. Economists tell us this is inefficient and impedes growth. Some have suggested creating a new information right. Information & Recht shows that this is neither practical nor necessary.
Analyzing these very different rights, HIIP faculty affiliate Mayer-Schoenberger shows that their actual structure and composition is quite similar. Conflicts only evolve when by interpreting these rights we do not understand their common roots. Information & Recht suggests a concrete common framework for all rights of ownership and control of information.
http://www.springer.at/springer.py?Page=30&Key=156id=859&cat=8