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61. Thinking the Future

Author:
James Jay Carafano
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
America's problem in a nutshell is that we do not think very well. The last quarter century has seen an explosion in the human capacity to create and manipulate new knowledge. Despite that fact, the instruments used to inform public policy choices are as creaky as ever. Washington makes policy largely by intuition shaped by an orthodox adherence to tired interpretations of international relations and public choice theory—ideas that have barely evolved since the Cold War. Our minds are behind the times. All this needs to change if America wants to out-think its enemies and help its friends in the world secure a safe, free, and prosperous future.
Political Geography:
America

62. Scarcity, Abundance, and Conlflict: A Complex New World

Author:
Ravi Bhavani
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Memories of Lagos from the early 1980s are replete with striking contrasts. Private tennis lessons, a dip in the Ikoyi Club's vast side-by-side pools, and the grilled red-pepper crusted Suya treat that followed are pitted against the burned image of a rotting corpse on the Badagary expressway, the eerie silence and emptiness which characterized the coup overthrowing Shaghari's civilian regime, and the chaos accompanying the expulsion of over a million migrant workers from the country in 1983—our entire Ghanaian household staff included. These contradictions resonate even more powerfully today, as the country's abundant oil wealth is siphoned and squandered, leaving Lagos' millions to eke out an existence in slum-dwelling depravity.

63. Viewing Global Futures Through Rural Transformations: Lessons from India

Author:
Pratyusha Basu
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
The most dramatic economic and political upheavals in today's world are linked to rural areas. The two most prominent examples of this phenomenon are the shocks experienced due to rising food and oil prices and the development of social movements against the privatization of rural resources. In Asia, the future of rural populations is an especially pressing concern because a majority of the people are directly dependent on the agricultural sector for their livelihoods. Within Asia, rural India provides a significant illustration of the promises and pitfalls of contemporary rural change. As an emerging economy that is linked to global networks of information technologies, India is also characterized by a deepening urban-rural divide. The economic disparities inherent in these two broad trends have important implications for both national and global development.
Political Geography:
India and Asia

64. The Future of Global Water Scarcity: Policy and Management Challenges and Opportunities

Author:
J.C. Padowski and J.W. Javitz
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Water is a ubiquitous natural resource covering approximately three-quarters of the Earth's surface. However, almost all of the water on the planet (over 97 percent) is saline ocean water, unusable by most terrestrial organisms. Of the remaining three percent, more than two-thirds is sequestered as ice and snow at high elevations or latitudes and is functionally unavailable, leaving less than one percent of global water as both fresh and potentially available for meeting human needs. While this fraction of available fresh water is small compared to the overall volume of water on the planet, this supply has been sufficient to meet historic needs. During the past century, water availability has become a prominent global concern, particularly as demands for fresh water have grown beyond our capacity to meet them.

65. Water Crisis in the Middle East: An Opportunity for New Forms of Water Governance and Peace

Author:
Joshka Wessels
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
The Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) is the most water scarce region in the world. Worldwide, the average water availability per person is close to 7,000 m3/person/year, whereas in the MENA region, only around 1,200 m3/person/year is available. The region also has the highest variability of precipitation in the world. Moreover, with the population expected to grow from around 300 million today to around 500 million in 2025, per capita availability is expected to halve by 2050-Worldbank, 2009.
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

66. Rethinking Liberalism: An Interview with Hernando de Soto

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
The conventional wisdom that democracy and free market capitalism provide the best means available to achieve a high standard of living has come under attack. Many believe the current financial crisis is evidence that global capitalism has the potential to create a level of misery that is intolerable. Moreover, even before the crisis, sustained economic growth in certain countries seemed to contradict the widely held assertion that political liberalization inevitably accompanies its economic counterpart (as evidenced by the rise of China). Such challenges to the intellectual order behoove us to seek perspective on how and why these systems that underpin our economic and political interactions succeed or fail, and what their futures may be. In a recent interview with the Journal , Hernando de Soto helps us do exactly that.
Political Geography:
China

67. In Defense of a Concert of Liberal Democracies

Author:
Robert Singh
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Among the many areas of academic disagreement about US foreign policy at the end of the Bush years, one notable source of relative consensus exists—democracy promotion will assume a very modest part of the Obama Administration's approach to world affairs. Even during the comparatively benign years of the Clinton presidency, opinion surveys consistently demonstrated that democracy promotion was a very low priority among the American public, and only marginally more important to foreign policy elites. Now, amidst grave financial crisis and huge economic instability, liberal democracies are facing the imperatives of securing energy independence and combating climate change. Compounded by shifting changes in the global balance of power and challenges to Washington from both traditional state actors (Russia, Iran, and Venezuela) and continuing threats from militant Islam, institutional liberalism's least pressing task would seem to be the dogged pursuit of a more democratic world. Tarnished in particular by the mismanaged occupation of Iraq and the victory of Hamas in Gaza, serious doubts now remain over not only Washington's capacity to build democracies abroad, but also the very desirability of such efforts.
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Iraq, Iran, Washington, Gaza, and Venezuela

68. Rethinking the Responsibility to Protect

Author:
Alan J. Kuperman
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
One of the most recent innovations of institutional liberalism in international politics is the so-called Responsibility to Protect. Defined in 2001 by an international commission established by Canada, this emerging norm challenges the Westphalian tradition by arguing that sovereignty is neither absolute nor an entitlement of statehood, but rather a privilege that states may earn only by protecting their people. Moreover, if a state refuses to protect its people, or intentionally harms some of them, the international community has not merely the right, but the responsibility, to violate that state's traditional sovereignty to protect the at-risk population—if necessary, through military intervention.
Political Geography:
Canada and Westphalia

69. Liberalism and the Collapse of the Oslo Peace Process in the Middle East

Author:
Jonathan Rynhold
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
The end of the Cold War signaled the triumph of liberal democracy and thus 'the end of history,' according to Fukuyama. In Central and Eastern Europe, the iron curtain came down and was replaced by a peace grounded on liberal mechanisms for peace building: regional institutions, economic integration, democratization, mutual recognition of national rights, and the development of mutual trust. The end of the Cold War initiated the Middle East peace process with the 1991 Madrid Conference and the 1993 Oslo Accords signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Here, too, attempts were made to use liberal peace building mechanisms, albeit without democratization.
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and Oslo

70. Are Markets Good for Girls? The World Bank and Neoliberal Education Reforms in Developing Countries

Author:
Jane Arnold Lincove
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
As human capital plays an increasingly important role in global economies, the World Bank has given more attention to the education sector. The World Bank is now the self-proclaimed largest financier of international education, and debates about the legitimacy of World Bank policy and influence are ever present in the education sector. Academic literature on education policy highlights two key conflicts that reflect broader concerns about neoliberal ideology. First, there is a conflict between market-based policies and efforts to reduce inequality. Second, there is a conflict between the World Bank's generic approach to education policy and the need for local, context-specific policy adaptation. This article summarizes debates about the World Bank's role in the education sector and advances these discussions by examining how individual countries balance the competing demands of efficiency and gender equity in the context of World Bank-funded projects.