Search

Begin New Search Publishing Institution World Policy Institute

61. Dave Eggers' Roundtable: Arabia Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Author:
David Eggers, Mamdouh al-Harthy, Hasan Hatrash, and Haifaa al-Mansour
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Last year, the San Francisco-based author Dave Eggers published his book, A Hologram for the King, a vision of Saudi Arabia where the Western world of holograms and the Internet comes up against the hard realities of today's Saudi Arabia. Eggers, whose novel was nominated for a National Book Award, spent weeks in the Kingdom researching, meeting an extraordinary Saudi film - maker whose first feature, Wadjda, premiered at the Venice Film Festival to considerable acclaim, and two Saudis who inspired key characters. World Policy Journal assembled Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia's first female film director; Mamdouh al-Harthy, a brilliant journalist and documentary producer, cast in Hologram as a driver who leads the narrator into the depths of the Saudi mind and spirit; and Hasan Hatrash, journalist, filmmaker, and musician, with a similar role in the novel, who in real life produced the Portfolio in the Winter 2012- 2013 issue of World Policy Journal. Eggers served as the moderator for this 90-minute roundtable discussion on art, freedom, and politics in Saudi Arabia and the post-Arab Spring Middle East.
Political Geography:
Arabia and Saudi Arabia

62. The Euro Crisis: Mission Accomplished?

Author:
Zsolt Darvas
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
BRUSSELS—High unemployment, bleak economic outlook, high public and private debts, dysfunctional banks, weak competitiveness, and an unfavorable external environment are just a few of the challenges facing southern members of the euro zone. Despite these hurdles, the ever-optimistic European Council and other leaders said in January that the euro crisis had bottomed out. Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, proclaimed, "The worst is behind us, in particular the existential threat to the euro." Then there was Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), who declared that "the darkest clouds over the euro area [have] subsided."
Political Geography:
Europe, Portugal, and Ireland

63. Russians Go West

Author:
Khristina Narizhnaya
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
MOSCOW—A seven-story cube of glass, concrete, and solar panels rises out of a grassy field on the outskirts of Moscow. Dubbed "the Hypercube," it's the first completed building of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, intended to serve as Russia's version of Silicon Valley. In less than two years, throngs of creative workers are expected to fill the Hypercube's offices, ice rink, and nearby cafes. The original plan even provided for a weather-controlled dome rising over the complex, though it was eventually deemed too expensive and scrapped.
Political Geography:
Russia and Moscow

64. Nearer, My God, to Thee

Author:
Damaso Reyes
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
BARCELONA—Los Pentecostales de Barcelona is located on a nondescript street near the city's convention center. Twenty minutes before the evening service, the sounds of prayer and soft singing waft down from the second floor sanctuary. The lights have been dimmed, and some two dozen congregants are scattered throughout the large room, some on their hands and knees whispering prayers at their seats. Others hold hands in small groups and sing joyously.
Political Geography:
Africa, America, and Asia

65. Global Libra

Author:
David A. Andelman
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
PARIS—As a New Year's gift to those who elected him, France's new president, François Hollande, mired in a seemingly intractable economic malaise and about to embark on a war in an old colonial territory of Francophone Africa, made an announcement, which the French daily Le Monde carried as an urgent bulletin. He would put an end to the practice of every ex-president becoming a David A. Andelman Global Libra member of the Conseil Constitutionnel, the final judicial appeal of French citizens. Beginning with himself, though not extending to his hated predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, no exiting president would have the inalienable right to a seat on France's highest court. It was a campaign promise, one of 60 that Hollande made, as French presidents are wont to make in the heat of battle but rarely expected to remember, let alone keep.
Political Geography:
Canada, Paris, and France

66. Secrecy + Security

Author:
David A. Andelman
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
For as long as there has been a need for security, there has been a parallel and equally pressing need for secrecy. Imagine the Trojan Horse unmasked before it was hauled into Troy. Or the flight from Egypt by Moses and the Israelites uncovered by the Pharaoh's agents. More recently imagine D-Day and the first Omaha Beach landing point revealed to Hitler's stormtroopers or the veil lifted on Japan's plans for Pearl Harbor. How history might have been transformed at each turn. Today, at the heart of many vicious political battles, lie a host of critical issues swirling around such paired and critical needs—security, or the need to safeguard our societies, our fortunes and our very lives; and secrecy in the interest of securing our present and future. Overhanging both priorities is the ultimate question of how much freedom we must be prepared to surrender to assure that the very soul of our democratic systems remain. In our fall cover theme, World Policy Journal seeks to address these efforts to balance competing priorities as they unfold.
Political Geography:
Japan, Israel, and Egypt

67. The Big Question: What should governments keep secret?

Author:
Chong Ja Ian, Dieter Dettke, Adil Najam, George O. Liber, Frank Vogl, Maximilian C. Forte, Rick Falkvinge, and Nada Alwadi
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
With secrecy a daily preoccupation of governments who routinely weigh security concerns over disclosure of covert operations, the balance of these two priorities becomes an ever more pressing national debate. We asked our panel of global experts what, if anything, they believe governments should or must keep secret.

68. From Inside the Bubble

Author:
Sir Richard Dearlove
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
CAMBRIDGE, England—For 38 years, I worked in a world governed by rules of secrecy. Knowledge was compartmented and needing to know something was the principle that governed one's right to know it. Did that system serve a useful purpose? Unequivocally it did. It was there to protect, in perpetuity if necessary, the identity of the sources, human and technical, that provided the intelligence that contributed to the creation of effective defense, foreign, and national security policies. Did that useful purpose in turn serve the public interest and the interests of individual citizens? It would be difficult to argue that it did not, particularly when the overarching threat that those policies were designed to counter was for the majority of my intelligence career thermonuclear obliteration. Why today are we apparently so uncertain about a government's need for secrecy? Why are those who set out to challenge that secrecy portrayed by some as heroes? Whistleblower or traitor, opinion is divided.
Political Geography:
England

69. Anatomy: Security Leviathan

Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
G4S is the world's largest private military and security company, and the third-largerst private employer, trailing only Walmart and FoxConn. Over the last two decades, the industry has boomed as governments increasingly outsource core security and military tasks to private firms. The British company has received widespread condemnation from international humanitarian and labor groups for its recurrent negligence and record of human rights abuse. Through aggressive lobbying and a "revolving door" strategy of recruiting high profile politicians to fill advisory or board positions, G4S has entrenched itself in government, as well as boardrooms, as the go-to company for any military or security task.
Topic:
Human Rights

70. Drones: A 360 Degree View

Author:
Neil Jacobstein
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Drones belong to a broad class of accelerating technologies that are increasing in capabilities as they decrease in cost. Driving this acceleration of technical capability is the exponential growth of information. Computer hardware and software, advanced aircraft materials, and imaging technologies such as high-resolution video cameras are all benefiting from lower costs and higher performance. For some applications, what used to take a $1 million drone can now be accomplished with a drone that costs less than $1,000.