Does Iraq Have a Plan for After the Islamic State?
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Monday that the United States will deploy 560 more troops to Iraq, bringing the total upwards of 4,600 as preparations get underway to recapture Mosul from the self-proclaimed Islamic State. It comes as Iraqi forces and militias, with U.S. backin…
Trouble in Paradise: Tourism in the Age of Terrorism
EGYPT Sinai Peninsula He quickly performed yet another inspection of the surveillance cameras, got an update on the status of maintenance work being performed on the bomb detector and went over his calculations on the future strength of his team of guards for the umpteenth time. Now all security exp…
Terrorists report on their own bloody work, bypassing media
In 1985, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher spoke about terrorism at the annual convention of the American Bar Association. Following a recent high-profile hijacking of a TWA passenger forced to land in Beirut that had received lavish media coverage, Thatcher urged that news organiza…
The Social Stability Model
Social stability – captured in measures of human rights, public services, rule of law and the like – is a powerful predictor of a nation’s quality of life. This holds true in countries regardless of geographic region, political tradition or level of development. Now we find that social stability is …
The breakdown of productivity diffusion
The OECD view Jane Bourke writes that a recent OECD report – “The Future of Productivity” – presents a new perspective on what drives national productivity growth . The OECD explains that in every world economy there are some ‘frontier firms’, which are internationally competi…
How to End Hunger
Last September, world leaders made a commitment to end hunger by 2030, as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It sounds like a massive undertaking. In fact, the world already produces enough food to feed everyone. So why does the problem persist? Poverty and hunger are i…
Islamic stateless?
THE self-proclaimed caliphate of Islamic State (IS) is weakening fast. In June the jihadists were kicked out of Fallujah by the Iraqi army, then pounded by air strikes as they fled. American-backed rebels in Syria have surrounded the group’s fighters in the northern city of Manbij and are eyeing Raq…
Going, Going, Gone? A Blueprint for Decreasing Emissions and Increasing Optimism
This year’s Climate and Society class is out in the field (or lab or office) completing a summer internship or thesis. They’ll be documenting their experiences one blog post at a time. Read on to see what they’re up to. By Tim Bushman, ’16 We are surrounded by numbers throughout our daily lives. Som…
The Digital Underworld: What You Need to Know
Tens of millions of Americans will have their credit-card numbers, hospital records, or digital identities hacked or stolen this year, RAND research suggests—victims of a cybercrime industry that now rivals the illegal drug trade in reach and sophistication. The numbers are more sobering than surpri…
New international energy forum focuses on innovation
Last month, energy ministers from around the world gathered in San Francisco for the annual Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), which for the past seven years has focused on deploying existing clean energy technologies around the world. But for the first time, clean energy innovation was on the gatherin…