Foreign Affairs

July/August 2002

 

Comments

• The Palestinian H-Bomb   by Gal Luft
  Suicide bombing, once the tool of religious fanatics, has won wide acceptance among Palestinians as a legitimate weapon. Neither retaliation nor a fence will stop the bloodshed. Only deploying Palestinian hopes of independence can do that.

• China’s “War on Terror”  by Chien-peng Chung
  In the wake of September 11, China has launched its own “war on terror” against Uighur separatists in Xinjiang. But Beijing is employing the wrong strategy; the way to improve the situation is by addressing the Uighurs’ legitimate grievances.
  [500-word preview]

• The Corporate Key  by George C. Lodge
  Past attempts to combat global poverty have failed for a simple reason: they have not attacked the problem at its roots. It is therefore time for a new approach, a global corporate alliance that brings business know-how and the profit motive into play.
  [500-word preview]

 

Essays

• American Primacy in Perspective   Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth
  If America’s current global predominance does not constitute unipolarity, then nothing ever will. And despite what many have argued, no serious attempts by others to balance U.S. power are likely for the foreseeable future. The sources of American strength are so varied and so durable that the country now enjoys more freedom in its foreign policy choices than has any other power in modern history. But just because the United States can bully others does not mean it should. If it wants to be loved as well as feared, the policy answers are not difficult to find.

• The Wrong War   Grenville Byford
  Defining who is a terrorist is more complicated than it might seem — and even if it were not, choosing one’s enemies on the basis of their tactics alone has little to recommend it. This is why the Bush administration now finds itself caught between the policies it needs to adopt and the language it is using to describe them.

• A New Model Afghan Army  Anja Manuel and P. W. Singer
  Afghanistan’s peace remains tenuous. Rival warlords still control separate militias, and distrust of government abounds. Only a national army can secure the peace. Yet the Afghans have been slow to create one, and the international community has not helped much. The United States must jump-start the process before war breaks out again.
  [500-word preview]

• Is Southeast Asia the Second Front?  John Gershman
  With U.S. troops on the ground in the Philippines and closer military ties developing to other countries in the region, Washington is taking the war on terror to Southeast Asia. But a military approach to the region’s problems would be a deadly mistake: it could weaken local democracies and turn neutral forces into new enemies.
  [500-word preview]

• Trouble in the Kingdom  Eric Rouleau
  Saudi Arabia is ailing. Despite the efforts of reformers in the royal family, the kingdom is struggling with economic problems, social unrest, and popular outrage over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Meanwhile, radical Islam and anti-Americanism continue to simmer — and could soon reach a dangerous boil.
  [500-word preview]

• Chapter 11 for Countries?  Richard N. Cooper
  A debate is unfolding over a new IMF proposal to avert future Argentina-style financial meltdowns: an international “Chapter 11” that would let a country declare bankruptcy, just like a troubled firm. Such a plan would represent an improvement over the current approach — but it will not eliminate financial crises altogether.
  [500-word preview]

• Clash of Globalizations  Stanley Hoffmann
  After September 11, the world risks being squeezed between a new Scylla and Charybdis. On one side, America is tempted to launch a dangerous, unilateral mission of robust intervention. But the alternative — resignation to fresh terrorist attacks and oblivion to the security threats posed by globalization — is no better.
  [500-word preview]

• Ties That Bind  Joseph P. Quinlan
  A single-minded focus on the U.S. trade deficit with China ignores a new reality: since the early 1990s, the ground beneath U.S.-China relations has been shifting. Shallow links based on trade have given way to deeper ties characterized by rising U.S. foreign direct investment and sales by U.S. foreign affiliates in China.
  [500-word preview]

• Failed States in a World of Terror  Robert I. Rotberg
  State failure is not new, but recently it has become more dangerous than ever. Weak states threaten not only themselves but also their neighbors and even global security. Preventing state failure is thus a strategic and moral imperative. If nation building is done on the cheap, the war against terror will be lost.
  [500-word preview]

 

Reviews & Responses

• See No Evil   Chaim Kaufmann
  Despite solemn vows of “never again,” the United States has repeatedly allowed genocide to occur over the last 50 years. Samantha Power’s important new book explains why.

• The View From Above   Sarah E. Mendelson
  Strobe Talbott’s memoirs provide a richly detailed account of the U.S.-Russia relationship in the 1990s. They are an insider’s chronicle of critical (and often overlooked) successes mixed with deeply regrettable lost chances.

• The Globalization Wars   Barry Eichengreen
  Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz’s account of his years in the Clinton administration and at the World Bank is a prosecutor’s brief against globalization. Whether it will be enough to convince the jury is a different story.

• The Past as Prologue   Thomas Donnelly
  Max Boot’s history of America’s small wars shows that the republic actually has a long, underappreciated imperial past. It offers lessons for the new Pax Americana and a call not to retreat from policing the imperial frontier.

• India’s House Divided   Radha Kumar
  Why are some parts of India — such as the recently riot-stricken state of Gujarat — plagued by communal violence while other parts are not? Ashutosh Varshney’s new book finds an answer in civil society.

• Is Inequality Decreasing? 
  David Dollar and Aart Kraay claimed in these pages that globalization reduced economic inequality. Three writers argue they got it wrong, and the authors respond.

  James K. Galbraith
  Joe W. Pitts III, et al.
  Andrew Wells-Dang
  Dollar and Kraay reply
  

 

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