Blog Post
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 three topics that have been studied extensively by the two disciplines: 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 book examines several ways in which historians and political scientists are commonly thought to differ. These include their view of theory versus historical evidence; their understanding of causation; their sense of aesthetics; their emphasis on purposive behavior versus unintended outcomes; and the importance they give to the need to make moral judgments of political behavior.
The book also considers promising areas for cross-fertilization. For political scientists, these include a better understanding of historians'' technical skills; for historians, they include a greater appreciation of theorization.
Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman are Assistant Professors of Political Science at Arizona State University and were International Security Fellows at BCSIA.
Truth V. Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions
Robert I. Rotberg and Dennis Thompson, editors
(Princeton University Press, 2000)
The truth commission is an increasingly common fixture of newly democratic states with repressive or strife-ridden pasts. From South Africa to Haiti, truth commissions are at work with varying degrees of support and success.
To many, they are the best— or only— way to achieve a full accounting of crimes committed against fellow citizens and to prevent future conflict. Others question whether a restorative justice that sets the guilty free, that cleanses society by words alone, can deter future abuses and allow victims and their families to heal.
WPF Program Director Rotberg and Harvard philosophy professor Thompson gather leading philosophers, lawyers, social scientists, and activists to look at the process of truth commissioning. The authors ask whether the truth commission, as a method of seeking justice after conflict, is fair, moral, and effective in bringing about reconciliation.
"In this outstanding collection of essays, well-qualified experts consider the legal, political, and moral issues associated with truth commissions."
--Richard Goldstone
Internet Publishing and Beyond: The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property
Brian Kahin and Hal R. Varian, editors
(The MIT Press, 2000)
The rapid growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web is transforming the way information is accessed and used. New models for distributing, sharing, linking, and marketing information are appearing.
This volume, a publication of the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project (HIIP) in collaboration with the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California at Berkeley, examines emerging economic and business models for global publishing and information access, as well as the transformation of international information markets, institutions, and businesses. It provides those in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors with a practical framework for dealing with the new information markets.
Kahin, founding Director of the HIIP, is a Fellow at the Internet Policy Institute and Varian is Dean of the School of Information Management and Systems, University of California, Berkeley.
Public Policies for Environmental Protection (second edition)
Paul R. Portney and Robert N. Stavins, editors
(Resources for the Future, 2000)
Public Policies contains a valuable summary and assessment of the main regulatory programs of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is an important resource for researchers, policymakers, industry professionals, and journalists who need up-to-date information on U.S. environmental policy.
The book, edited by ENRP Faculty Chair Stavins and Portney, President of Resources for the Future, provides a balanced, succinct analysis of the economic rationale, history, and performance of major federal environmental law and policy.
The book reviews major developments and trends in U.S. environmental policy over the past fifteen years, since the publication of the first edition of this book. Chapters include examinations of the EPA and the evolution of Federal regulation; market-based environmental policies; air pollution policy; climate change policy; water pollution policy; hazardous waste and toxic substance policies; and solid waste policy.
"An excellent book for teaching purposes as well as for a wide range of readers."
--American Scientist
Sale of the Century: Russia''s Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism
By Chrystia Freeland
(Crown Business, 2000)
As the former Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, Freeland was on hand to witness the former Soviet Union''s switch to a market economy. The story she documents from these troubled years illustrates how the Russian quest for democracy crumbled under the weight of corruption, greed, and the nearsightedness of those in power.
As Freeland writes in her prologue: "This is the bittersweet tale of Russia''s hopeful journey to capitalism and how and why it lost the map. It is the story of Russia''s capitalist revolution and of how that revolution was betrayed."
Freeland, an ISP Fellow, focuses on a group of ambitious young men who emerged from Russia''s transitional chaos to seize control of the country''s economic and political clout. Freeland''s detailed story of how these "oligarchs" were able to take advantage of Russia''s fledgling democracy to amass their personal wealth serves as an engaging look at what can happen when the principles of capitalism are skewed for the benefit of the few.
"Sale of the Century is the best guide I''ve read to the most important story of the 1990s: Russia''s stormy transition to capitalism."
--Michael Ignatieff
Strange Victory: Hitler''s Conquest of France
By Ernest R. May
(I.B.Tauris, 2000)
Before the Nazis killed him for his work in the French Resistance, Marc Bloch wrote a famous book, Strange Defeat, about the treatment of his nation at the hands of an enemy the French had believed they could easily dispose of.
In Strange Victory, BCSIA Board Member May asks the opposite question: How was it that Hitler and his generals managed this swift conquest, considering that France and its allies were superior in every measurable dimension and considering the Germans'' own skepticism about their chances?
Strange Victory is a narrative of those six crucial weeks in the spring of 1940, weaving together the decisions made by the high commands with the welter of confused responses from exhausted and ill-informed, or ill-advised, officers in the field. It is May''s contention that in the future, nations might suffer strange defeats of their own if they do not learn from their predecessors'' mistakes in judgment.
"May''s description of the military campaigning of 1940 is superb. Let us hope that our presidential candidates leave themselves a little time to reflect on [the book''s] lessons."
--Paul Kennedy, Yale University
International Security, Vol. 25, No. 2
Steven E. Miller, Michael E. Brown, Owen R. CotÂŽ Jr., Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Diane J. McCree, editors
(The MIT Press, Fall 2000)
The fall issue opens with an article by Richard Betts of Columbia University who considers the practicability of strategy. Betts concludes that the prospects for successfully implementing a particular strategy are weak at best. In separate articles, Michael O''Hanlon of the Brookings Institution and Robert Ross of Boston University explore some of the reasons why the United States should not formalize its commitment to defend Taiwan. Bradley Thayer of the University of Minnesota at Duluth uses evolutionary theory to explain two human traits— egoism and domination— that he contends are "critical components to any realist argument in explaining international politics." Does the United States have an industrial policy? Glenn Fong of the American Graduate School of International Management argues that the federal government has not only improved its capability to develop and execute technology and industrial policy measures, but has done so for the specific purpose of enhancing U.S. economic competitiveness. Dale Copeland of the University of Virginia reviews Alexander Wendt''s book, Social Theory of International Politics.
(http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/IS)