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32751. Electricity Restructuring

Author:
John A. Riggs and Paul Runci
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Over the July 4th weekend, seventy current and former government officials and experts from industry, academia, and consumer and environmental public interest groups met to discuss the state of the U.S. electricity industry. The lack of progress in addressing critical electricity issues will increase costs and reduce performance in the electricity sector over the next several years. The long-term future of electricity supply and demand is also clouded by the absence of clear and stable government policies.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

32752. Fundusz Mikro An Experiment In Partnership–Based Microfinance 1998 – 2002.

Author:
Witold Szwajkowski
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Fundusz Mikro's evolution has to be understood in the context of Poland's emergence from communism during the 1990s. For businesses, the challenge of that time was not merely to learn new skills, but to unlearn old habits and attitudes while at the same time taking on new ones appropriate to a market economy. Because of this shift, Fundusz Mikro (FM) found that it had to do more than lend money; it had to learn to play a more pro-active role in changing the culture in which business took place. The financial crisis of1998 and the harder economic times since then were an added incentive for FM to adapt its approach, products, and finally its mission.
Topic:
Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe and Poland

32753. Journalism, Security and the Public Interest

Author:
Adam Clymer
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In the wake of the national trauma of September 11, 2001, if there was one nostrum that dominated national commentary, it was “nothing will ever be the same again.”
Topic:
Government and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States

32754. Media Convergence, Diversity, and Democracy

Author:
Neil Shister
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The complexity of democracy is both its defect and its virtue. As an idealized conception, democracy promotes equitable social order through the counter play of interests while the rule of law protects individual citizens from the arbitrariness of the state. In practice, matters are considerably more ambiguous. Contradictions exist between theory and action; the power and privileges of some people invariably make them "more equal" than hers—social equity being a relative term. Even so, belief that democracy renders "the greatest good for the greatest number" constitutes the orthodox faith of contemporary civil religion. "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise," noted Winston Churchill in his oft-quoted observation. "Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time."
Topic:
Politics and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

32755. Biological Security Public Health: In Search of a Global Treatment

Author:
Kurt M. Campbell and Philip Zelikow
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
This summary is drawn from discussions held from August 4 to August 8, 2002 in Aspen, Colorado, building on the background research prepared for the participants. For four consecutive days, the Aspen Strategy Group and its guests examined the nexus of bio-logical security and global public health, focusing on national preparedness for biological attack and for new naturally occurring biological dangers, as well as global preparedness to address extreme biological dangers faced by much of humanity. The ensuing summary draws out the pol-icy recommendations from this dialogue, thereby omitting much of the detail and factual exchanges that were also extremely beneficial to all the participants. The participants were a distinguished group, and a list of them follows. They benefited from a thought-provoking and insightful set of papers, to be found in the subsequent sections of this publication.
Topic:
Security, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology

32756. The Rise of Netpolitik: How the Internet Is Changing International Politics and Diplomacy

Author:
David Bollier
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In the midst of her travels as Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright decided to venture off the standard diplomatic tour and visit the local market in Bakhara, Uzbekistan. “For all intents and purposes it could have been in the fifteenth century,” she recalled. “It was a big camel market, with rugs that looked liked they had been hanging there for a long time. Dust and all that.”
Topic:
Diplomacy, Government, International Political Economy, and Science and Technology

32757. Balancing Policy Options in a Turbulent Telecommunications Market

Author:
Robert M. Entman and Dale N. Hatfield
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In 2002, the Aspen Institute Conference on Telecommunications Policy deviated from its traditional single annual gathering in Aspen by holding two meetings—one on spectrum policy and the other on broader telecommunications issues. The first convening, held last spring at the Aspen Wye River campus, focused on reforming spectrum policy; a subsequent meeting was held in the usual August time slot. This summer meeting went beyond the issue of spectrum policy to delve into more pressing issues surrounding an industry experiencing more than its of share of troubles. This report is a synthesis of both convenings, with an emphasis on the larger context provided by the summer colloquy.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Government, International Political Economy, and Science and Technology

32758. China's New Leadership: Paradoxes, Characteristics and Implications

Author:
Cheng Li
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In his seven-decade-long academic career, the great British historian, Joseph Needham, tried to explain what Sinologists later called “the Needham Paradox.” It was a paradox that, while traditional China had many talented people and was advanced in science, the country declined during the middle part of the last millennium. According to Needham, a primary reason for the decline of China was that the country “lost its edge” by suppressing technicians and merchants “whose power posed a threat to the Emperor.”
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
China, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

32759. The Prospects for Political Reform in China: Religious and Political Expression

Author:
Richard Madsen
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Religion is flourishing in China today. After being severely restricted in the first decade and a half of the Maoist era, virtually all forms of public religious practice were suppressed during the Cultural Revolution and replaced by a quasi-religious cult of Mao, complete with sacred texts (the Little Red Book), rituals, and claims of miracles. But the Mao cult imploded amid the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. After the death of Mao and the overthrow of his close associates, the Deng Xiaoping regime relaxed restrictions on religious practice; and the freedoms of an expanding market economy made the remaining restrictions easy to subvert. In this environment, hundreds of religious flowers began to bloom, some of them replications of pre-revolutionary religious forms, many others new mutations of the old. According to the government's own—almost certainly underestimated—figures, there are over 100 million religious believers in China today. The real number is probably several times as large.
Topic:
Politics and Religion
Political Geography:
China, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

32760. Taiwan in U.S.-China Relations

Author:
Shelley Rigger
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
It is hardly a revelation that U.S. relations with Taiwan and the People's Republic of China are vexed and vexing. Managing U.S. relationships with Taiwan and China has never been easy, but the trend seems to be toward ever greater complexity and ever higher stakes. The U.S. is like a helicopter pilot carrying out a rescue at sea. The pilot is struggling to hover above the boat, which is drifting and heaving, while the wind does its best to blow his craft out of the sky. Meanwhile, the passengers on the deck are fighting over who gets to go up first. Like the helicopter pilot, U.S. policy makers must hold a steady course while they wait for Taiwan and China to resolve their differences. They also would like to do what they can to speed up the negotiations down on the deck.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, China, Israel, Taiwan, East Asia, and Asia