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11. Information Technology and the New Global Economy: Tensions, Opportunities, and the Role of Public Policy

Author:
David Bollier
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Changes in technology have been transforming commerce, politics, and culture for centuries. Yet it is now becoming clear that the explosion of the Internet and assorted digital technologies is provoking epochal changes in the global economy. Finance capital now roams the world with unprecedented speed. Transportation and logistics have become radically more efficient. Work readily moves to wherever it can be most skillfully and cheaply performed. Innovation and productivity are forging ahead, sometimes at blinding speeds.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Globalization, Government, and Science and Technology

12. Tackling the Critical Conundrum: How Do Business, Government and Media Balance Economic Growth and a Healthy Environment?

Author:
John A. Riggs
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
One of the enduring debates about environmental issues is the extent to which progress can be achieved without economic harm, either to a business or to society as a whole. The risk of such harm has frequently been used, often effectively, as a reason to oppose or delay actions to reduce pollution or to otherwise advance environmental protection goals. The apparent political persuasiveness of the argument has led to a counterargument: that there are usually win-win solutions and that environmental and economic goals need not be in conflict.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, and Government
Political Geography:
United States

13. A Matter of Degree: The Role of Journalists as Activists in Journalism Business and Policy

Author:
Neil Shister
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The prevailing view of journalism today draws on strands from a diverse portfolio of political, legal, and commercial theories. Some of the propositions underlying the way we regard the practice of the craft date back to the 18th-century “age of reason;” others are as current as yesterday's Wall Street media deal. “Journalism” is a historical hybrid— more an evolving social construct than a fixed point of reference. As such, it conveys contradictory associations: on one hand a band of swashbuckling iconoclasts daring to “speak truth to power;” on the other hand considerably more temperate, disinterested professionals gathering content to distribute through the “information division” of giant corporations. Each image is exaggerated; neither is wholly wrong
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

14. Capital Plus: The Challenge of Development in Development Finance Institutions

Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Capital Plus is a position paper written by the members of the Development Finance Forum (the Forum), a group of practitioners that has met for a week each year since 1997. The Forum members use the term “development finance institutions” (DFIs) to refer to our diverse institutional forms, customer strategies, and products, which include microcredit, loans to small and medium sized businesses, and investments in housing projects and community facilities. The word “practitioner” is the key to our group. While donors, academics, and representatives of multilateral institutions play an important role in building and marketing the development finance field, they have often dominated the way debates and ideas are shaped. We asked ourselves: as practitioners, did we have, or could we develop, a common perspective? Could it shape the debate in a new way? What new ideas could we add?
Topic:
Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

15. A Climate Policy Framework: Balancing Policy and Politics

Author:
John A. Riggs
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
What is the preferred framework for a domestic policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? The approach most likely to achieve environmental results? To be admin- istratively feasible and cost effective? To gain political acceptance?
Topic:
Environment, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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