Reference Update

JUNE 2006

ECONOMICS AND TRADE

1. "THE IMPERATIVE FOR REBUILDING THE CONSENSUS FOR TRADE"
U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman
Remarks at the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, May 19, 2006, 7 pages.
Given the pace of change, and particularly the increasing integration of the global economy, U.S. policy needs to be moving forward to avoid retreating. The U.S. Trade Representative explains the government's efforts to open markets and increase trade flows, and urges the American business community to confront the economic isolationism that threatens the U.S. leadership role in global economic growth. He discusses the rapid growth of Asia and recommends that the U.S. should “upgrade our trade ties” with countries throughout Asia.

2. VIETNAM: COUNTRY OUTLOOK
Economist Intelligence Unit – ViewsWire, 4 pages
The article provides brief and updated information on Vietnam's development including economic growth, international relations, domestic politics and policy trends.

3. "THE HIDDEN KEY TO GROWTH"
Martin Baily, Diana Farrell, and Jaana Remes
International Economy, Winter 2006, 8 pages.
Dynamic, competitive local services can unlock a huge contribution to GDP growth and employment, say the authors. Unfortunately, they are being overlooked. Policymakers who want to leverage the economic power of local services growth need to ensure barriers to competition are removed and service companies are treated equally with manufacturing firms. The authors highlight the positive relationship between the local service sector and employment, and provide recommendations.

4. "FIXING THE WORLD ECONOMY, PART 97"
Clive Crook
National Journal, April 29, 2006, 2 pages.
The international imbalances, principally the U.S. current-account deficit and China's surplus, have been around for several years, and economists have warned of impending disaster. The author discusses the recent agreement to enlarge the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to equip it to "help resolve global 'economic imbalances.'" The author warns against being reassured by the familiarity of the issue, asserting, "imbalances in global trade and finances are exposing the United States and the world to some serious economic hazards."

5. "MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND GLOBAL POVERTY REDUCTION"
George Lodge and Craig Wilson
Challenge, May/June 2006, 9 pages.
The authors argue that multinational corporations have contributed and can continue to contribute enormously to the reduction of global poverty. Granting that public corporations exist to maximize value of their shareholders, the authors believe that, with the creation of a new institution, the energies of multinational corporations can be oriented toward reducing global poverty without undermining shareholder value.
 
6. "THE GLOBALLY INTEGRATED ENTERPRISE"
Samuel J. Palmisano
Foreign Affairs, May/June 2006, 5 pages.
A new corporate entity based on collaborative innovation, integrated production, and outsourcing to specialists is emerging in response to globalization and new technology. Such "globally integrated enterprises" will end up reshaping geopolitics, trade, and education.

7. "REFORMING THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND AND THE WORLD BANK"
Interview with Ngaire Woods
Challenge, May/June 2006, 12 pages.
The IMF and the World Bank face twin crises: the source of their funding is running dry, and criticism of their policies is widespread. Woods, Director of the Global Economic Governance Program at Oxford, argues that both institutions must be saved because they perform functions that no other institution can provide. Recommendations for reform are offered.

REGIONAL SECURITY

8. "AMERICA CONFRONTS THE ASIAN CENTURY"
Morton Abramowitz and Stephen Bosworth
Current History, April 2006, 6 pages.
Based on its military might and cultural preeminence, the United States has been the leading power in East Asia since World War II. But change is under way. The authors discuss the economic growth of China and the region's increasing global influence, then details four inter-related issues that will determine the American relationship with the new East Asia.

9. "A CHINA POLICY FOR THIS CENTURY"
Scott Tait
Hoover Digest, Winter 2006, 5 pages.
Can the United States and China be partners, rather than antagonists, in the twenty-first century? The road ahead will be treacherous, but the rewards could be enormous.

10. "TRANSFORMING THE U.S. GLOBAL DEFENSE POSTURE"
Ryan Henry
The Naval War College Review, Spring 2006, 17 pages.
The security environment at the start of the twenty-first century is perhaps the most uncertain it has been in the history of the United States. What strategic realities are driving the transformation of American global defense posture, and what changes are the Department of Defense working to bring about in relationships and capabilities around the world?

GLOBAL ISSUES AND ENVIRONMENT

11. "HOW TO RECYCLE PRACTICALLY ANYTHING"
Sally Deneen
The Environmental Magazine, May/June 2006, 7 pages.
Recycling is not some feel-good activity; it is one of the backbones of global economic development. The author explores expanded opportunities to recycle almost anything instead of putting them as landfills.

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

12. "THINK AGAIN: GOOGLE"
David A. Vise
Foreign Policy, May/June 2006, 5 pages.
The darling of the Internet has rocketed to fame and fortune in only eight years. With users in every corner of the world, Google is the quintessential American success story. The author raises a question that has begun to irk human rights groups as well as Wall Street: Is Google really as kind, ubiquitous, and omnipotent as it seems?

13. "IT'S BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD"
Adriel Betterheim
CQ Weekly, May 1, 2006, 2 pages.
Decades old and subject to viruses, worms and other assaults, the Internet is scheduled for a makeover. Scientists, including some original creators of the World Wide Web, are beginning to plan a facility and network that could form the heart of the second generation Internet.

14. "CONNECTING THE DIGITAL DOTS: LITERACY OF THE 21ST CENTURY"
Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan
EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Number 2, 2006, 3 pages.
Prior to the 21st century, "literate" defined a person’s ability to read and write, separating the educated from the uneducated. With the advent of a new millennium and the rapidity with which technology has changed society, the concept of literacy has assumed new meanings. Literacy today depends on understanding the multiple media that make up our high-tech reality and developing the skills to use them effectively.

15. "OPEN CONTENT AND THE EMERGING GLOBAL META-UNIVERSITY"
Charles M. Vest
EDUCAUSE Review, May/June 2006, 8 pages.
Open-access projects are stimulating a broader open-content movement, which in turn is leading to the emergence of a meta-university—an accessible, dynamic, and communally constructed framework of open materials and platforms on which much of higher education worldwide can be constructed or enhanced. The author discusses MIT's OpenCourseWare (OCW) project, its benefits and challenges.

U.S. POLITICS, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

16. "TRUE BELIEVERS"
Elizabeth Edwards Spalding
Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2006, 7 pages.
President George W. Bush has attracted a good deal of criticism for looking to his religious faith for political guidance. These critics, the author says, seem to forget that God has long had a place in the White House. Woodrow Wilson's idealism and Harry Truman's Cold War crusade are great examples.

17. "WOMEN OF INFLUENCE: A CONVERSATION WITH COKIE ROBERTS"
Bruce Cole and Cokie Roberts
Humanities, January/February 2006, 9 pages.
Cole, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, talks with news analyst Cokie Roberts about her recent book, FOUNDING MOTHERS, and the importance of women in U.S. political history. Comparing the recent advances of women in politics with the role women played in the early days of the Republic, Roberts also discusses the difficulties of locating the original letters and manuscripts that formed the basis of the book.

18. "AMERICAN PIE"
Hanna Miller
American Heritage, April/May 2006, 8 pages.
Pizza has become "the most successful immigrant of all" to the U.S., notes the author. The article chronicles the growth of the modern pizza industry in the United States. Notes the author, "pizza, like teenagedom and rock 'n' roll, is a lasting relic of America's mid-century embrace of good times."
 
19. "SAN FRANCISCO THEN AND NOW"
John Dvorak
American Heritage, April/May 2006, 7 pages.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. The article describes how the city recovered from one of the greatest natural disasters to strike the U.S., and the potential earthquake threats that lie ahead.

20. "THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY"
Irving Louis Horowitz
National Interest, Spring 2006, 7 pages.
President George Bush's promotion of democracy has become the unifying and driving principle of his administration's global foreign policy. And yet there is still no consensus, either within the administration or American society, about what constitutes a democracy. The author examines several competing definitions of "democracy," concluding that none of them are perfect. However, success lies in balancing the ideals with reality, and the administration should draw from existing theories to guide, but not prescribe, policy.

21. "THE LONG WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION"
Ben W. Heineman, JKr. and Fritz Heimann
Foreign Affairs, May-June 2006, 12 pages.
The global anticorruption movement has gained ground since the mid-1990s, but its key agents, i.e. developed and developing countries, international organizations, and multinational corporations, must do more to prevent and punish misbehavior systematically.
 
22. "OF WHAT VALUE ARE PUBLIC OPINION POLLS?"
Richard E. Vatz
USA Today, May 2006, 3 pages.
Nowadays it is almost impossible to go a day without hearing or reading a poll finding regarding what "the world" thinks of some idea or position. Are these polls reliable? The author does not think so. He warns that "to the extent that public opinion should not be ignored completely, citizens also should realize that public opinion polls are not synonymous with public opinion."

TRANSLATED DOCUMENTS

Below documents are from “Focus on IPR” – IIP’s publication, January 2006:

23. TAKING ACTION: HOW COUNTRIES ARE FIGHTING IPR CRIME
http://vietnamese.vietnam.usembassy.gov/doc_intelprp_vi.html
10 pages

24. THE U.S. APPROACH: TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, GENETIC RESOURCES, AND FOLKLORE
http://vietnamese.vietnam.usembassy.gov/doc_intelprp_vii.html
14 pages

25. THE CHALLENGE OF COPYRIGHT IN THE DIGITAL AGE
http://vietnamese.vietnam.usembassy.gov/doc_intelprp_viii.html
13 pages

26. WHAT IS "FAIR USE"?
http://vietnamese.vietnam.usembassy.gov/doc_intelprp_ix.html
2 pages

27. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
http://vietnamese.vietnam.usembassy.gov/doc_intelprp_x.html
2 pages

28. ROUNDTABLE: ENFORCEMENT, A PRIORITY FOR ALL COUNTRIES
http://vietnamese.vietnam.usembassy.gov/doc_intelprp_xi.html
14 pages

29. PROTECTING TRADEMARKS ON THE INTERNET
http://vietnamese.vietnam.usembassy.gov/doc_intelprp_xvii.html
4 pages