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101. Homeland Security and Intelligence: Next Steps in Evolving the Mission

Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
American expectations of how their government secures the United States have evolved substantially, especially during the post-9/11 decade. From the post-World War II, 20th-century evolution of the national security architecture in the United States, focused on countering overseas nation-states with conventional forces, we now face requirements to protect at home. And not only to protect, but to prevent: the new, domestic security architecture is targeted more at securing borders, infrastructure, and cyberspace with defensive measures as it is at pursuing any single adversary with offensive measures.
Topic:
Intelligence, Terrorism, and Counterinsurgency
Political Geography:
United States and America

102. Family Planning Promotes the Demographic Dividend

Publication Date:
12-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The relationship between population dynamics and economic expansion is complex, but demographic changes play an important role in national development. While it is widely accepted that population growth rates do not have any consistent effect on economic growth, there is one set of population changes that can result in major economic benefits, as well as improved well - being for families and societies. This powerful opportunity is known as the demographic dividend, and it offers the potential to boost economic growth and poverty reduction — but only if government leaders implement sound policies.
Topic:
Demographics, Economics, Government, and Health Care Policy

103. Building an Impact Economy in America

Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Today America finds a new market force emerging: companies that achieve an intimate connection between profit and purpose. And these businesses are supported by a developing system of investors and other financial actors that seek to place capital in firms that are achieving social impact. A new trail is being blazed for our country – open, far-reaching, transformative, offering an opportunity for renewal and growth. This is the Impact Economy.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Monetary Policy
Political Geography:
United States and America

104. Population Growth, Reproductive Health and Sustainable Development

Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Sustainable development "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." In the 20thcentury, a tripling of human numbers was accompanied by dramatic gains in development, as measured in food production and economic growth. But much of that development was unsustainable—it focused on the needs of the present at the expense of future generations. Today, the world's nations must provide for an ever-growing population against a backdrop of food and water shortages, depleted resources, and a changing climate. Slower population growth would make that challenge easier to meet.
Topic:
Climate Change, Demographics, Development, Natural Resources, Food, and Health Care Policy

105. The Population-Climate Connection: Why Family Planning is a Win-Win for Women and the Planet

Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The great challenge of the 21st century is to lift billions from poverty, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and coping with a changing climate. That challenge will be easier to meet with slower population growth. Moreover, the means to slow growth—including family planning and other reproductive health services—are important ends in themselves. Family planning empowers women, improves public health, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and builds resilience to a changing climate.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Gender Issues, and Health

106. Changing Currents: Turbulence for the Electricity Industry?

Author:
Phil Sharp
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The question is never whether the United States has an energy policy. It has dozens. They come with various decision-makers at overlapping levels of authority, ample numbers of stakeholders, and generally lots of confusing and often contradictory signals.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

107. Global Energy Markets in a Time of Political Change

Author:
Bill White
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
A shift in relative energy consumption among regions and the development of new, unconventional supplies will be the most significant changes over the next twenty years. The dominant fuels in the world energy market until 2030 will continue to be hydrocarbons — oil, coal, and natural gas. Major shifts will occur, however, among the three fuels, among regions and in their supply. Globally, oil will continue to be the most widely used fuel as it supplies more than 90 percent of the energy for transportation. Coal, now the dominant fuel used for electric power generation, will lose ground to natural gas, a less carbon-intensive hydrocarbon. Natural gas will become the second largest overall supplier and well positioned to replace coal as the leading supplier for electric power. Developing countries will lead the way in overall energy growth, with Chinese and Indian energy demand growing fastest. Energy demand in developed countries will remain flat. For the United States, growth in gas shale and oil shale are likely to be “game changers,” altering the supply picture dramatically.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Markets, Political Economy, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States, China, and India

108. Re-Imagining Journalism: Local News for a Networked World

Author:
Michael R. Fancher
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The financial plight of news media companies was alarmingly clear when the Knight Commission released its report in October 2009. Newspapers were closing or filing for bankruptcy. Print and broadcast news staffs were being cut and coverage reduced. There was growing concern that the loss of traditional media at the local level would lessen citizens' ability to have the information they need for their personal lives and for civic engagement, as well as their ability to hold government accountable.
Topic:
Democratization, Globalization, Government, and Mass Media

109. Social Security: The House that Roosevelt Built

Author:
Pamela J. Perun and Patricia E. Dilley
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Critics of the Social Security program are fond of disparaging it as a "Ponzi" scheme or as a redistributive transfer of income from the young to the old. Others go even further, labeling the Social Security trust fund as a fiction or claiming the program is bankrupt. Some also suggest that the government bonds held in the trust fund are mere IOUs. Still others say that the program's legal basis is ephemeral, subject to the whims of Congress.
Topic:
Demographics, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
United States

110. Spectrum for the Next Generation of Wireless

Author:
Mark MacCarthy
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In November 2010, the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program held the latest in its continuing series of roundtable discussions on spectrum policy, “The Search for 500 MHz: Spectrum for the Next Generation of Wireless.” The Roundtable brought together technical experts, industry representatives, congressional staff, officials from the Executive Office of the President and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, industry analysts, officials from foundations and public interest groups, and academics.
Topic:
Globalization, Science and Technology, and Communications