Energy

329 Items

 Chinese structures and an airstrip on the man-made Subi Reef

Francis Malasig/Pool Photo via AP, File

Analysis & Opinions - Project Syndicate

What Could Cause a US-China War?

| Mar. 02, 2021

Thucydides attributed the war that ripped apart the ancient Greek world to two causes: the rise of Athenian power—and the fear that this created in the established power, Sparta. Joseph Nye advises that in order to prevent a new cold or hot war, the United States and China must avoid exaggerated fears and misperceptions about changing power relations.

People holding American Flags

Greg Nash

Analysis & Opinions - The Hill

The soft but unmatched power of US foreign exchange programs

| Feb. 25, 2021

Exchanges promote the best of American values. They build U.S. influence and help spread democratic ideals around the globe, strengthen economic and trade interests and provide a unique window into what makes the United States a singularly distinct and exceptional country.

Former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Oslo, February 2008

Sara Johannessen / Scanpix Norway / Reuters

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Affairs

The Diplomat as Gardener

| Feb. 19, 2021

Shultz had a deep commitment to what he called “tending the diplomatic garden.” I was a young Foreign Service officer accompanying Shultz. Watching the way he treated his hosts in each capital city was a powerful lesson in American diplomacy and why it matters.

President-elect Joe Biden and his climate envoy, John Kerry, at The Queen theater.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Analysis & Opinions - Bloomberg Opinion

What Does Success Look Like for a Climate Czar?

| Dec. 02, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to create a new cabinet-level position for climate-related issues — and to choose so prominent a figure as former Secretary of State John Kerry to fill it — demonstrates Biden’s sincerity over putting climate at the very center of U.S. foreign policy. It is easy to understate the importance of this appointment, given the flurry of czars created by most new administrations.

Flags stand arrayed

State Department Photo/Public Domain

Analysis & Opinions - Economist

America’s foreign service

| Nov. 20, 2020

Joe Biden, the president-elect, wants to end his country’s “forever wars” and believes diplomacy should be “the first instrument of American power”. He promises to reinvest in America’s hollowed-out diplomatic corps, the better to nurture alliances and tackle the global issues of the future, such as climate change and great-power competition. But how to make the foreign service fit for the future? Two new reports, one from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a think-tank, the other the result of an extensive project at Harvard University, offer thoughts.

Both say the State Department is in crisis. Its problems stretch back well beyond the Trump administration but have deepened dramatically under it. Morale is low, budgets are squeezed and the foreign service is suffering from an exodus of talent. Diplomats’ careers are stymied by the politicisation of senior posts. For the first time in a century, not one of the 23 Senate-confirmed assistant-secretary positions is a serving career official, and 43% of ambassadors are political appointees, also a modern record. The story on diversity is dismal: in March the Senior Foreign Service was 90% white and 69% male. Only five of 189 ambassadors are African-American (over their two terms, Barack Obama appointed 46 African-American ambassadors and George W. Bush had 44). Under Donald Trump, a quarter-century trend of rising female ambassadors has gone into reverse.

Wind turbines in desert

NREL/Dennis Schroeder

News - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

Former White House Advisor Jason Bordoff Analyzes Prospects for Green Energy Investments in the Biden-Harris Administration in HPCA Virtual Forum

    Author:
  • Doug Gavel
| Nov. 13, 2020

Former White House advisor Jason Bordoff, professor and founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), says the incoming Biden-Harris Administration will have the opportunity to both lift the nation out of recession and combat global climate change by crafting a thoughtful economic stimulus plan containing a significant green energy investment component.

Granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower Mary Jean Eisenhower (front row 4th from L), the great-grandson of President Eisenhower Merrill Eisenhower Atwater (5th) and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (5th) and others pose for photo ahead of the reception to mark 60th anniversary of Japan-U.S. Security Treaty at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo on Jan. 19, 2020. (The Yomiuri Shimbun)

AP Photo/Pool for Yomiuri

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Network Connections and the Emergence of the Hub-and-Spokes Alliance System in East Asia

    Author:
  • Yasuhiro Izumikawa
| Fall 2020

A social exchange network approach reveals how three U.S. allies—Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—contributed to the emergence and shape of the hub-and-spokes alliance system in East Asia. This finding enables scholars and policymakers to devise appropriate policy responses as the system changes.

President Donald J. Trump, joined by Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, participates in a phone call with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020, in his conference room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Tia Dufour / Official White House Photo

Analysis & Opinions

The US before the Elections: American Democracy at a Crossroads? [In German]

| Oct. 05, 2020

American democracy is facing pressure from all sides: For months, there have been partly violent protests against systemic racism and police violence of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The COVID pandemic has already claimed over 200,000 lives and has extreme economic consequences. Coupled with a polarized media landscape and the growing influence of social media, the pandemic has further exposed deep social divisions along ideological, economic and ethnic fault lines. In addition, the Trump administration is stepping up its escalatory description of the integrity of the American electoral system - what some consider to be a rigid electoral and party system in need of reform. How will the social conflicts affect the understanding of (American) democracy? How is the political establishment contributing to alienation from the Constitution?