REFERENCE UPDATE

Reference Update - August 2008

ECONOMIC AND TRADE

1. Asian Economies in Transition: Will the United States Be Left Behind?
Christopher A. Padilla
American Enterprise Institute, July 7, 2008, 5 pages
While countries in the Asia-Pacific region are embracing integrated economic regimes through bilateral trade agreements and the formation of regional multilateral architecture, the United States has shown little interest in these attempts at integration, and current domestic politics further threaten withdrawal from the free trade movement. But can America afford to ignore the transformation in East Asia’s economic environment? Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Christopher A. Padilla examines the United States’ lack of involvement in the increasingly integrated economic development of East Asia and its impact on American producers, consumers, and overall U.S. economic growth.

2. Beyond the Washington Consensus? Asia and Latin America in Search of More Autonomous Development
Jean Grugel, et al.
International Affairs, May 2008, 19 pages
Attempts to reshape development paradigms through interventions during financial crisis have been highly significant for the domestic political economy of the developing world. As reactions to the crises in Asia and Latin America were more varied, the authors explore domestic political responses to the challenges of development in both regions in the 1980s and late 1990s, as well as assess their significance. They conclude that countries are finding it increasingly difficult to trump domestic political pressure for change with arguments about technocratic necessity.

3. A Call for a Strategic U.S. Approach to the Global Food Crisis
Robert P. Casey, et al
A Report of the CSIS Task Force on the Global Food Crisis, July 2008, 14 pages
Unlike any food emergency the world has faced in the past, the current global food crisis is caused by a web of interconnected forces involving agriculture, energy, climate change, trade, and new demands from emerging markets. This paper assesses the rising humanitarian, security, developmental, and market impacts of rising food costs and shortages, and offers a feasible plan of action.

4. The United States' Four Deficits
David M. Walker
The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Spring/Summer 2008, 9 pages
The author examines four interrelated deficits facing the United States in 2008, namely the federal budget deficit, the savings deficit, the balance of payment deficits, and the leadership deficit. He believes that these deficits have serious implications not only for the standard of living at home, but also for the United States' role in the world, and possibly even the future national security of the United States.

5. Building Coherence: Development, Financial Systems, and Institutions
Supachai Panitchpakdi
Harvard International Review, Spring 2008, 4 pages
In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of developing countries pursued extensive economic reforms that in many cases succeeded in achieving economic stability, but rarely resulted in high and sustained economic growth. The lack of policy coherence in the international trading system, international monetary and financial system is critical for economic growth, and the improvement of living standards for all developing countries. The author examines substantial downside risks related to shortcomings in the system of global economic governance in the world economy that could lead to a halt or even a reversal of the developmental progress achieved in recent years.

REGIONAL SECURITY

6. The U.S. Position in Asia: Stronger Than Ever
Condoleezza Rice
Heritage Lecture #1091, June 18, 2008, 6 pages
Since World War II, U.S. presence in Asia has affected relations between the region’s major powers, which were already marked historically by tensions, mistrust, and conflicts. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, however, believes that the United States is actually in a stronger position in Asia than at any other time. In this piece, the Secretary of State discusses the rise of Asia and current U.S. policy in the region.

7. Briefing for the New President: The Terrorist Threat in Indonesia and Southeast Asia
Sidney Jones
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July 2008, 10 pages
Southeast Asia holds many encouraging signs on the counterterrorism fronts, particularly in Indonesia. The United States, under the next president, could help develop better information sharing between South and Southeast Asia. The author discusses the current terrorism threat and counter-terror capacity in the region, as well as offers policy recommendations for the 46th U.S. president.

8. Public Diplomacy and Soft Power
Joseph S. Nye. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 2008, 16 pages
Public diplomacy is an important tool in the arsenal of smart power, but smart public diplomacy requires an understanding of the roles of credibility, self-criticism, and civil society in generating soft power. The author discusses the distinction between power measured in behavioral outcomes and power measured in terms of resources, which is important for understanding the relationship between soft power and public diplomacy.

9. Wars of Ideas and the War of Ideas
Antulio J. Echevarria II
Strategic Studies Institute, June 2008, 63 pages
How does one approach the war of ideas appropriately? Currently, there are two principal schools of thought -- the first treats the conflict as a matter of public diplomacy; the other advocates waging the war of ideas as a real war, destroying the influence and credibility of the opposing ideology. After discussing several types of wars of ideas in an effort to achieve a better understanding of them, the author analyzes how the United States and its allies might proceed in the current war of ideas with terrorist groups. Recommendations concerning these approaches, as well as others in the war of ideas are provided.

10. The New Nuclear Threat
Ronald E. Powaski
America, June 23-30, 2008, 3 pages
Despite the demise of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the United States as the world's lone superpower, the threat of a nuclear catastrophe still looms. The author discusses strategies that needed to be considered by the U.S. government in order to address the threats of nuclear weapons. He also examines the failure of the state to effectively implement the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and offers ways for the next U.S. administration to help address the problem.

GLOBAL ISSUES AND ENVIRONMENT

11. Consumer Trends in Three Different Worlds
Andy Hines
The Futurist, July/August 2008, 6 pages
The author discusses the major trends that are affecting consumers globally and will likely shape the world in the next decade, including the aging societies, migration, changing family structures, the growth of the middle class, and increasing time pressures. The author analyzes how these trends vary in three different parts of the world, grouped by a country’s economic and social development and technological capability.

12. Facing the Freshwater Crisis
Peter Rogers
Scientific American, August 2008, 8 pages
There is a possibility that increasing economic development and global warming will lead to water shortages around the world. The author examines the effects of global warming and globalization on water shortages, as well as the need to develop sustainable low technology solutions to water supply issues, particularly transitions to greater conservation in irrigation and low water plumbing.

13. The Challenge of Common-Pool Resources
Elinor Ostrom
Environment, July/August 2008, 14 pages
How can we engage in sustainable development of the world’s future? And how do we address global resource systems or commons? The author examines the role of international regimes in a sustainable future and looks at the lessons scholars have learned about adaptive governance of common-pool resources over the past 20 years, which may be applied to the next 20 years and beyond.

14. Sea of Trash
Donovan Hohn
New York Times Magazine, June 22, 2008, 6 pages
The world's oceans are filling up with enormous quantities of plastic debris, much of it accumulating in subtropical convergence zones or brought in by the ocean currents on beaches thousands of miles away. The author argues that the problems are chronic because, unlike the marine debris of centuries past, commercial plastics do not biodegrade in seawater. The only real solution is to reduce the consumption of disposable plastic containers, which would require fundamental change by individuals, corporations, and governments worldwide.

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

15. In the Tank?
Paul Farhi
American Journalism Review, June/July 2008, 6 pages
The author examines the concept of media bias in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. Critics and campaigns have complained that media either favors or is unfairly critical of their favorite candidate. The author counters these accusations by pointing out that 'the media' is comprised of thousands of news outlets that do not share the same world view or conspire together to advance one candidate over another one.

16. The 21st-Century Writer
Patrick Tucker
The Futurist, July/August 2008, 7 pages
With newspapers and magazines across the United States focusing their resources more and more on their websites, many writers are alarmed by the shift. The author reflects on the effects of technological change on the publishing industry in the United States and how market trends are affecting publishing.

17. Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Nicholas Carr
The Atlantic, July/August 2008, 6 pages
The media and other technologies we use in learning the craft of reading, play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains. The author examines the effect of Internet use on the ways people read and process information. He discusses the ability of technology to shape the process of thought and distinctions between decoding text and deep reading.

U.S. SOCIETY AND CULTURE

18. Education and Economic Growth
Eric Hanushek, et al
Education Next, Spring 2008, 9 pages
What would it mean for economic growth, if a country like the United States, currently performing somewhat below the average of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, managed to increase its performance so that it would score alongside the world leaders? The authors explored the role of school attainment and cognitive skills in economic growth.

19. VOCABULARY: The Key to Teaching English Language Learners to Read.
Christopher Wallace
The Education Digest, May 2008, 4 pages
According to the author, most English-language learners (ELLs) possess a fluent oral vocabulary, yet many have difficulty achieving the reading level necessary to function at the appropriate grade level. He discusses the learning predicament faced by these students, the need for continued attention toward vocabulary development, the importance of vocabulary breadth and depth, strategies for teaching vocabulary, and the important link between vocabulary and reading comprehension.

20. Insights Gained Into Arts and Smarts
Debra Viadero
Education Week, March 12, 2008, 3 pages
Since the 1990s, a popular, but unproven theory has circulated, which postulates that the arts, particularly music, can make children smarter. Now, recently released findings have lent credibility to the claim that training in the arts might improve general thinking skills of children and adults. The author discusses the study that examined the relationship between the arts and academic achievement.

21. America's Top 25 Heritage Sites
American Heritage, Spring/Summer2008, 6 pages
The article offers information on the top 25 heritage sites in the United States, as selected by the readers of American Heritage magazine, including the Smithsonian Institution Museums in Washington, D.C., the world's largest museum and research complex. Website addresses of most sites are also provided.

22. Democratization and Government Education Provision in East Asia
Jing Chen
Journal of East Asian Studies, May-August 2008, 35 pages
How does the recent trend of democratization affect education services in the developing world? Studying the effects of democracy on multiple education indicators in eight East Asian countries/political entities, the author examines whether democratic governments increase education spending and access, and which social groups are favored in the process.

23. A League of THEIR OWN.
Thomas Carothers
Foreign Policy, July/August 2008, 6 pages
Calls for the League of Democracies, a free-standing organization separated from—and perhaps one day even replacing—the United Nations began to gain currency among U.S. political figures and foreign policy experts in 2006. This in response to a recognition that the United States in recent years had been operating too much on its own in the world. The author examines the establishment of the League as envisioned by its backers and argues that it may not be what the world has in mind when it dreams of a new era of international cooperation.

24. Building the Pillars of Democracy
Anand Panyarachun
Center for International Private Enterprise, 8 pages
A philosopher, thinker, and a Nobel Laureate in economics, Professor Amartya Sen has inspired us with his seminal contributions that have given new meaning to the ethical dimensions of the pressing economic and social challenges of our times. One of Professor Sen’s most influential contributions is the concept of capability, which places human freedom in the center of the discourse on development. Capability is what lies between raw capacity and action, and it is only with an appropriate capacity that individuals can exercise all kinds of freedoms – including democratic freedom.

BOOK IN VIETNAMESE

25. Enhancing the Education Quality in the United States: Systematic Approach and Market Orientation
Teacher Training College Publisher, 2008
360 pages