REFERENCE UPDATE

May 2007

ECONOMIC AND TRADE

1. The Truth about Empire
Niall Ferguson
Harvard International Review, Winter 2007, 4 pages.
In this interview, Ferguson, professor of history at Harvard University and professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, talks about how the American empire benefits world order in the 21st Century in terms of economic security and trade freedom.

2. Pirating the American Dream: Intellectual Property Theft’s Impact on America’s Place in the Global Economy and Strategies for Improving Enforcement
Moisés Naím
Testimony before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, April 12, 2007, 5 pages.
On April 12, 2007, in a hearing before the Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance, Naím, editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine, discussed intellectual property theft’s impact on America’s place in the global economy and strategies for improving enforcement.

3. Vietnam: Country outlook
Economist Intelligence Unit - ViewsWire,
5 April 2007, 3 pages
The article provides brief and updated information on Vietnam's development including economic growth, international relations, domestic politics and policy trends.

4. Top Ten Global Economic Challenges: An Assessment of Global Risk and Priority
Brookings Global and Economy Development, February 2007, 28 pages.
This publication seeks to offer policymakers and leaders a concise and clear view of the critical challenges as viewed by leading experts in the field. From economic exclusion of youth in the Middle East to a pragmatic approach to energy and environmental security, this top 10list is intended to mark core issues and shed light on opportunities and challenges with a broader and longer-term perspective.

5. The End of National Currency
Benn Steil
Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007, 14 pages.
Global financial instability has sparked a surge in monetary nationalism -- the idea that countries must make and control their own currencies. But globalization and monetary nationalism are a dangerous combination, a cause of financial crises and geopolitical tension. The author argues that the world needs to abandon unwanted currencies, replacing them with dollars, euros, and multinational currencies as yet unborn.

6. Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business
Federal Trade Commission, March 2007, 28 pages.
The Federal Trade Commission is offering a new guide for businesses with practical suggestions on safeguarding sensitive data. The 24-page brochure can help businesses of all sizes protect their customers’ and employees’ personal information. It offers solutions for determining what needs to be kept, how to secure it, what to get rid of, and how properly to dispose of it.

REGIONAL SECURITY

7. Guidelines for U.S. Policy in Southeast Asia
Walter Lohman
Heritage Backgrounder #2017, March 20, 2007, 9 pages.
Southeast Asia is vital to U.S. political, economic, and security interests. Ensuring that the region remains strong, independent, and outward-looking is therefore in the best interests of both the United States and the nations of Southeast Asia. U.S. foreign policy should reflect the importance of the U.S.-ASEAN relationship and be continually adjusted to meet these aims.

8. In Pursuit of Security and Prosperity: Technology Controls for a New Era
March Foulon and Christopher A. Padilla
The Washington Quarterly, Spring 2007, 8 pages.
To maximize economic benefit and national security in a complex global environment, the U.S. government needs a new system of technology controls that would enjoy broad support among the executive branch, Congress and industry.  Here’s two senior U.S. Department of Commerce officials offer a framework for one.

GLOBAL ISSUES AND ENVIRONMENT

9. Global Warming: Who Loses--And Who Wins?
Gregg Easterbrook
The Atlantic, April 2007, 10 pages.
Climate change in the next century and beyond could be enormously disruptive, spreading disease and sparking wars. It could also be a windfall for some people, businesses, and nations. Easterbrook offers a guide to how we all might get along in a warming world.

10. Globalization and the Environment: Why All the Fuss?
David A. Wirth
Boston College Law School Faculty Papers #189, February 2007, 10 pages.
The relationship between globalization and environmental policies is not just free trader versus self-serving protectionists, the author contends.  This article sets out a structural and analytical framework for addressing the major issues in the field -- including (1) unilateral trade-based measures to protect the environment; (2) science-based tests applied through trade agreements; (3) disciplines on foreign investment that may have a chilling effect on environmental regulation; and (4) the relationship between free trade agreements and multilateral environmental agreements.

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

11. The Digital Road to the White House
Aaron Dalton
PC Magazine, April 24, 2007, 2 pages.
Now that the Presidential race seems truly under way, who will best be able to garner support from the more than 210 million Internet users in the U.S. while avoiding the political land mines on YouTube and in the blogosphere? The author evaluates the web sites of the top three Democratic and Republican candidates for president in 2008 and discusses how the Internet will affect the 2008 presidential campaign.

12. Bloggers Press for Power
Nicole Casal Moore
State Legislatures, January 2007, 3 pages.
A blog swarm began after a blogger was denied a press pass to cover the Kentucky Legislature. Bloggers want credentials to gain the same political power, influence and direct lines of communication to the public that traditional media outlets have. Bloggers' qualifications for press credentials in the United States is discussed.

13. Google's Moon Shot
Jeffrey Toobin
The New Yorker, February 5, 2007, 6 pages.
Google's book-scanning project has raised many questions about copyright applicability, and several publishers have filed suit against the company because it does not seek permission to scan texts. There are other efforts to digitize book collections, but everyone is waiting for the outcome of the lawsuit against Google and wondering whether Google's search engine will be up to the task of searching the vast universal digital library.

U.S. SOCIETY AND CULTURE

14. The Measure of Learning
Alex Kingsbury
U.S. News & World Report, March 12, 2007, 6 pages.
The author focuses on the drive to reform college education in the United States. Discussed is the rising cost of tuition, and the value of what is being taught in colleges. The author also examines two major tests used to measure learning, the Collegiate Learning Assessment and the National Survey of Student Engagement.

15. The Rankings Revolt
Julie Rawe
Time, April 2, 2007, 2 pages.
The practice of ranking colleges and universities has long rankled some educators and administrators who believe an education is hard to quantify in the ranking formats of the most influential sources. But any single school that chose not to participate or complete the survey, or that otherwise tried to alter the practice, found itself saddled with a ranking based on non-answers, rather than no ranking. This article describes a new group effort of colleges banding together and trying to change the ranking system with less risk to individual institutions.

16. Americans without Americaness
John McWhorter
National Review, April 16, 2007, 3 pages.
The author examines attitudes toward Americanism as expressed by citizens in the early 20th Century, and issues which arise from the notion of an American national identity and the perceived lack of pride in being American he sees in some sections of the population.

17. Let the 2008 Games Begin
Charles E. Cook, Jr.
The Washington Quarterly, Spring 2007, 10 pages.
The outlook for the 2008 presidential nomination fights remains a mixture of the almost certain and the totally unknown. The end result is very likely to turn on circumstances that one has no way of anticipating today, but it is going to be close.

18. Let Women Rule
Swanee Hunt
Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007, 12 pages.
Women are more likely to work in nongovernmental organizations than become actively involved in politics, says the author, but when they come into political arena, they often do better than men.  The article discusses the dearth of women politicians in world governments, citing a study by the World Bank which shows that countries with a higher number of women parliament members have lower levels of governmental corruption.

19. Generation 'We' - The Awakened Giant
Carl M. Cannon
National Journal, March 10, 2007, 8 pages.
The author examines the role young people play in American politics. There are surveys showing that youth are voting more -- in the 2004 elections, voting among 18 to 24-year-olds increased 10 percentage points compared to 3 percentage points among all voters. The author provides evidence arguing that youth were influential in two tight Senate races in 2006 in Virginia and Montana, the outcomes of which gave Democrats control of Congress.

20. Why the Supreme Court Matters
John Paul Ryan
USA Today, January 2007, 3 pages.
Since World War II, the Supreme Court has turned its attention to the protection of individual rights and liberties for Americans of all ages.  In this article, the author reviews the role of the Supreme Court in American democracy, and how Supreme Court decisions affect people’s daily life. 

21. Robert's Rules
Jeffrey Rosen
The Atlantic Monthly, January/February 2007, 8 pages.
In an exclusive interview, Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts offers his views on what makes a successful chief justice and the biggest challenge he faces.

22. Rights and Place: Using Geography in Human Rights Work
Jean Connolly Carmalt
Human Rights Quarterly, February 2007, 19 pages.
Human rights practitioners have become increasingly concerned with how to translate universal norms into locally meaningful standards. The field of human geography offers several methodologies and theories that help with this endeavor. The article presents two specific examples of how geography impacts human rights analysis: the right to housing and the right to free political speech. In each case, the overarching goal is to demonstrate how using a geographic perspective can create new causes of action or expand current legal analysis.

Translated Document

23. New CDROM:  InfoUSA
Your Guide to the USA, 2007-2008
INFORMATION USA is an authoritative resource for foreign audiences seeking information about official U.S. policies, American society, culture, and political processes. By organizing, and disseminating materials about the United States, INFORMATION USA seeks to promote better understanding of the principles and institutions that shape American values.

24. CDROM of translated Documents updated June 2007

The following articles are from The State Department at Work, eJournal USA, February 2007

25.  Building Bridges
Dina Habib Powell, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs
4 pages

26. Fostering Economic Prosperity at Home and Abroad
Daniel S. Sullivan, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs
4 pages

27. Providing Help and Hope Around the World
Ellen R. Sauerbrey, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration
3 pages

28. Promoting Women's Empowerment
The Office of the Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues
3 pages