Foreign Affairs articles from November 2008

Foreign Affairs archives from November 2008

The five-day war: managing Moscow after the Georgia Crisis.(Checking Russia)
November 1, 2008... ON AUGUST 8, as world leaders gathered in Beijing to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Russian tanks rolled across the border into Georgia. The night before, Georgian forces had responded to attacks by secessionists in South...

What has Moscow done? Rebuilding U.S.-Russian relations.(Checking Russia)
November 1, 2008... THIS PAST summer's war in Georgia--and its aftermath--delivered a higher-voltage shock to U.S.-Russian relations than any event since the end of the Cold War. It made Russia an unexpected flashpoint in the U.S. presidential campaign and...

From great game to grand bargain: ending chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan.(Essay)
November 1, 2008... THE GREAT GAME is no fun anymore. The term "Great Game" was used by nineteenth-century British imperialists to describe the British-Russian struggle for position on the chessboard of Afghanistan and Central Asia--a contest with a few players,...

Colombia: enduring confidence.(Sponsored Section)
November 1, 2008... As the gateway to the South American continent, Colombia's ideal location puts it at a geographical advantage to be a central force in global trade. However, in order to achieve this status it needs to first overcome its Achilles heel: being...

Engaging the energy potential.(Sponsored Section)
November 1, 2008... In the early 1980s Colombia, following important petroleum discoveries, became a net oil exporter and thereby started its ascent in the ranks of energy resource providers on the South American continent. However, not wanting to keep all its...

Hupecol: drilling the Colombian beat.(Sponsored Section)
November 1, 2008... That Texans have a taste for adventure is a well-known fact. So it was that in 1997, following a Houston presentation by the Colombian government, a group of private associates ventured into the Colombian plains. This was not, however, an...

Bettering Petro prospects.(Sponsored section)(Petrominerales Ltd.)
November 1, 2008... Boosted by high oil prices, an array of national and international corporations present in Colombia today produce over 500,000 barrels per day, and exploratory drilling wells have increased from eleven per year over five years to over eighty...

An agriculture of people.(Sponsored section)(Colombia)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Where peace is recovered, victory can be reclaimed in the war on poverty. Following recent successes against the FARC rebels and narco-terrorists, rural areas were once more rendered stable for legitimate agricultural cultivation. "We lost...

The latter-day sultan: power and politics in Iran.(Essay)
November 1, 2008... AS THE Iranian parliamentary elections of March 2008 approached, many Iranians wondered nostalgically: If a reformist had won the 2005 presidential election instead of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would Iran be in its current dismal state? For Abdollah...

The politics of hunger: how illusion and greed fan the food crisis.(Essay)
November 1, 2008... AFTER MANY years of stability, world food prices have jumped 83 percent since 2005--prompting warnings of a food crisis throughout much of the world earlier this year. In the United States and Europe, the increase in food prices is already...

The logic of zero: toward a world without nuclear weapons.(Essay)
November 1, 2008... U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS were born nearly 65 years ago with the purpose of winning a worldwide war against Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. They grew up to deter a massive Soviet army that threatened to invade and dominate all of Europe. With the...

Minor league, major problems: the case against a league of democracies.(Essay)
November 1, 2008... THE CALL to establish a "league of democracies" was one of the hottest policy proposals this past election season. Advocates contended that -creating a club open exclusively to the world's liberal democracies would enhance the ability of...

Brazil's big moment: a South American giant wakes up.(Country overview)(Essay)
November 1, 2008... AFTER DECADES of stop-and-start growth and political disorder, Brazil today seems poised to finally fulfill its long-unrealized potential as a global player. The key features of Brazil's awakening are widely recognized: expanded exports, oil...

Asian gateway: Thailand celebrates 175 years of U.S.-Thai relations.(Sponsored Section)
November 1, 2008... In the year 1833, a presidential envoy named Edmund Roberts traveled to the Royal City of Sia-Yut'hia, commonly known as Bangkok, to sign a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with His Majesty Rama III, the magnificent King of Siam. It marked the...

Hungry for energy, Thailand discovers new recipes.(Sponsored Section)
November 1, 2008... Thailand's economic boom, like that of so many other developing nations, has depended on--and continues to lay great demands on-energy supply. Not being blessed with copious reserves of fossil fuel has, however, turned the issue of growth into...

Thailand investment year: a call for confidence.(Sponsored Section)
November 1, 2008... Ever since the Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed 175 years ago, Thailand has been a prime destination for American and foreign investment in Asia. But even the most popular destinations have their ebbs and flows. Having recently gone...

Arrested development: making foreign aid a more effective tool.(Essay)
November 1, 2008... WASHINGTON'S FOREIGN aid programs have improved in many ways during the Bush presidency. Official development assistance has increased from $10 billion in 2000 to $22 billion in 2008, funding two dozen presidential initiatives, many of them...

Freight pain: the rise and fall of globalization.(Essay)
November 1, 2008... As POLITICIANS blame international trade for closed car-parts factories in Ohio, shuttered furniture plants in the Carolinas, and the arrival of deadly pet food from China, discomfort with the global economy is growing throughout the United...

After the crash: helping the U.S. economy right itself.(Essay)
November 1, 2008... ECONOMIC GROWTH in the United States is almost, if not quite, irrepressible. Democratic administration or Republican, it hardly seems to matter to the long postwar trend. Indeed, based on the evidence of 232 years of federal tinkering, American...

Political disorders: does executive authority corrupt the mind?(In Sickness and in Power: Illnesses in Heads of Government During the Last 100 Years)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... In Sickness and in Power: Illnesses in Heads of Government During the Last 100 Years. BY DAVID OWEN. Praeger, 2008, 448 pp. $44.95. David Owen has been in the thick of British politics almost since he qualified as a physician in 1962. After...

Politics first: why only U.S. withdrawal can spur Iraqi cooperation.(Response)
November 1, 2008... Stephen Biddle, Michael O'Hanlon, and Kenneth Pollack ("How to Leave a Stable Iraq," September/October 2008) argue that the situation in Iraq has improved but that progress could be jeopardized by withdrawing U.S. troops too rapidly. They...

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism.(Political and Legal)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism. BY ANDREW J. BACEVlCH. Metropolitan Books, 2008, 224 pp. $24.00. In post-Cold War foreign policy debates, it has been the voice of the sober realist, pointing out the limits of U.S....

On Empire: America, War, and Global Supremacy.(Political and Legal)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... On Empire: America, War, and Global Supremacy. BY ERIC HOBSBAWM. Pantheon Books, 2008, 128 pp. $19.95. In this short book of essays, the renowned historian of empire, revolution, and industrialism turns his attention to U.S. power and war...

Warring Friends: Alliance Restraint in International Politics.(Political and Legal)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Warring Friends: Alliance Restraint in International Politics. BY JEREMY PRESSMAN. Cornell University Press, 2008, 192 pp. $49.95 (paper, $18.95). Alliances are traditionally seen as military pacts formed by states to counter common...

States, Nations, and the Great Powers: The Sources of Regional War and Peace.(Political and Legal)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... States, Nations, and the Great Powers: The Sources of Regional War and Peace. BY BENJAMIN MILLER. Cambridge University Press, 2007, 526 pp. $110.00 (paper, $39.99). Debates about the causes of war have tended to focus on conflict among the...

Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics.(Political and Legal)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics. EDITED BY MICHAEL BARNETT AND THOMAS G. WEISS. Cornell University Press, 2008, 320 pp. $55.00 (paper, $19.95). This is a superb survey of the rise and challenges of international...

Fixing Fragile States: A New Paradigm for Development.(Economic, Social, and Environmental)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Fixing Fragile States: A New Paradigm for Development. BY SETH D. KAPLAN. Praeger Security International, 2008, 232 pp. $65.00. Economic development around the world has proceeded further than analysts half a century ago dared to hope. But...

Economic Sanctions Reconsidered.(Economic, Social, and Environmental)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Economic Sanctions Reconsidered. 3rd ed. BY GARY CLYDE HUFBAUER, JEFFREY J. SCHOTT, KIMBERLY ANN ELLIOTT, AND BARBARA OEGG. Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2007, 233 pp. $36.95. This is the third edition of a wen-known study...

Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade.(Economic, Social, and Environmental)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade. BY JAGDISH BHAGWATI. Oxford University Press, 2008, 160 pp. $24.95. The Columbia University economist Bhagwati takes strong exception to the proliferation of...

Migration and Remittances: Factbook 2008.(Economic, Social, and Environmental)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Migration and Remittances: Factbook 2008. BY DILIP RATHA AND ZHIMEI xu. World Bank, 2008, 256 pp. $29.95. The World Bank has usefully assembled in one place what is known (and can plausibly be guessed) about intercountry migration in the...

Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East.(Economic, Social, and Environmental)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East. BY VALERIE MARCEL. Brookings Institution Press, 2006, 322 pp. $52.95 (paper, $22.95). Oil and gas production was nationalized by many governments in OPEC (the Organization of the...

Hiroshima: The World's Bomb.(Military, Scientific, and Technological)(literature on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Hiroshima: The World's Bomb. BY ANDREW J. ROTTER. Oxford University Press, 2008, 384 pp. $29.95. Atomic Tragedy: Henry L. Stimson and the Decision to Use the Bomb Against Japan. BY SEAN L. MALLOY. Cornell University Press, 2008, 248 pp....

Targeting Civilians in War.(Military, Scientific, and Technological)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Targeting Civilians in War. BY ALEXANDER B. DOWNES. Cornell University Press, 2008, 328 pp. $29.95. Those who would rely on norms as a source of restraint in war even in the face of the developing frustration of wartime leaders desperate...

Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis.(Military, Scientific, and Technological)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis. BY MIKE CHINOY. St. Martin's Press, 2008, 432 pp. $27.95. It would be best not to have to rely on a nuclear taboo to restrain North Korea, and so attempts to prevent its...

The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice Since 1945.(Military, Scientific, and Technological)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice Since 1945. EDITED BY VAUGHAN LOWE, ADAM ROBERTS, JENNIFER WELSH, AND DOMINIK ZAUM. Oxford University Press, 2008, 816 pp. $200.00. The United Nations...

Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion.(The United States)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion. BY WALTER NUGENT. Knopf, 2008, 416 pp. $30.00. There seem to be two basic views among students of U.S. foreign policy today. One school sees a distinct break between an early American...

To Lead the World: American Strategy After the Bush Doctrine.(The United States)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... To Lead the World: American Strategy After the Bush Doctrine. EDITED BY MELVYN P. LEFFLER AND JEFFREY w. LEGRO. Oxford University Press, 2008, 320 pp. $17.95. With a distinguished cast of contributors, the editors Leffler and Legro have...

Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning.(The United States)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Old World, New World: Great Britain and America From the Beginning. BY KATHLEEN BURK. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008, 816 pp. $35.00. Historians are the last isolationists in the United States; standard treatments of American history almost...

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.(The United States)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans From the Civil War to World War II. BY DOUGLAS A. BLACKMON. Doubleday, 2008, 480 pp. $29.95. This harrowing book by the Atlanta bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal reviews...

The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America.(The United States)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America. BY MAURY KLEIN. Bloomsbury Press, 2008, 560 pp. $29-99. Conventional histories of the Industrial Revolution focus primarily on the technological and financial...

Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power.(The United States)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power. BY MARCUS MABRY. Modern Times, 2007, 362 pp. $27.50. Condoleezza Rice: An American Life. BY ELISABETH BUMILLER. Random House, 2007, 432 pp. $27.95. The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice...

Europe's Role in Nation-Building: From the Balkans to the Congo.(Western Europe)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Europe's Role in Nation-Building: From the Balkans to the Congo. BY JAMES DOBBINS, SETH G. JONES, KEITH CRANE, CHRISTOPHER S. CHIVVIS, ANDREW RADIN, F. STEPHEN LARRABEE, NORA BENSAHEL, BROOKE K. STEARNS, BENJAMIN W. GOLDSMITH. RAND, 2008, 342...

Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century.(Western Europe)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century. BY TONY JUDT. Penguin Press, 2008, 464 pp. $29.95. Judt made his name during the 1990s writing about left-wing European intellectuals with a penchant for provocation. Now, he has...

Shifting Alliances: Europe, America, and the Future of Britain's Global Strategy.(Western Europe)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Shifting Alliances: Europe, America, and the Future of Britain's Global Strategy. BY PATRICK DIAMOND. Politico's Publishing, 2008, 256 pp. $26.83. For the past 50 years, the United Kingdom's main foreign policy dilemma has been how to...

The End of the West? Crisis and Change in the Atlantic Order.(Western Europe)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... The End of the West? Crisis and Change in the Atlantic Order. EDITED BY JEFFREY ANDERSON, G. JOHN IKENBERRY, AND THOMAS RISSE. Cornell University Press, 2008, 312 pp. $59.95 (paper, $21.00). Ever since the Iraq war provoked the biggest...

"Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat": The Dire Warning; Churchill's First Speech as Prime Minister.(Western Europe)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat": The Dire Warning; Churchill's First Speech as Prime Minister. BY JOHN LUKACS. Basic Books, 2008, 147 pp. $24.00. The horrifying challenges of the summer of 1940 produced some of Winston Churchill's greatest...

The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution.(Western Hemisphere)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution. BY DANIEL P. ERIKSON. Bloomsbury Press, 2008, 368 pp. $28.00. With this fresh, astute, and compassionate exploration of the past two decades of U.S.-Cuban relations,...

Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause.(Western Hemisphere)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause. By TOM GJELTEN. Viking, 2008, 480 pp. $27.95. In this powerful tragedy, a famed business family remarkable for its progressive social policies and passionate nationalism is...

The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?(Western Hemisphere)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? BY FRANCISCO GOLDMAN. Grove Press, 2007, 416 pp. $25.00. This meticulously researched investigation into the 1998 assassination of the Guatemalan bishop Juan Gerardi pits the unspeakably...

Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality, and Economic Growth in Mexico.(Western Hemisphere)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality, and Economic Growth in Mexico. BY SANTIAGO LEVY. Brookings Institution Press, 2008, 357 PP. $27.95. The chief economist at the Inter-American Development Bank--and a principal...

The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke.(Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke. BY TIMOTHY SNYDER. Basic Books, 2008, 336 pp. $27.95. Not often does scholarly history soar and entrap like a fine historical novel, but here it does. Selecting as a hero an archduke...

Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World.(Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World. BY KRISTIE MACRAKIS. Cambridge University Press, 2008, 392 pp. $28.00. This book includes everything you ever wanted to know about the East German security service's penetration into...

The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia.(Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia. BY TIM TZOULIADIS. Penguin Press, 2008, 448 pp. $29.95. How odd to learn from this remove that in the first eight months of 1931, a hundred thousand Americans applied to emigrate to the...

Yezhov: The Rise of Stalin's "Iron Fist.".(Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Yezhov: The Rise of Stalin's "Iron Fist." BY J. ARCH GETTY AND OLEG V. NAUMOV. Yale University Press, 2008, 320 pp. $35.00. The diminutive monster (at only five feet tall) at the heart of the misery of Stalin's purges was Nikolai Yezhov,...

Russian Civil-Military Relations: Putin's Legacy.(Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Russian Civil-Military Relations: Putin's Legacy. BY THOMAS GOMART. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2008, 126 pp. $19.95. Normally, the study of civil-military relations seems to address a narrow, technical question of...

Investigating the Russian Mafia: An Introduction for Students, Law Enforcement, and International Business.(Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Investigating the Russian Mafia: An Introduction for Students, Law Enforcement, and International Business. BY JOSEPH D. SERIO. Carolina Academic Press, 2008, 324 pp. $35.00. In the malaise that corrodes the political and economic lives of...

A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East.(Middle East)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East. BY KENNETH M. POLLACK. Random House, 2008, 592 pp. $30.00. This big book offers nothing less than a U.S. grand strategy for the Middle East. Pollack arrives at his...

A History of Modern Iran.(Middle East)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... A History of Modern Iran. BY ERVAND ABRAHAMIAN. Cambridge University Press, 2008, 264 pp. $80.00 (paper, $24.99). Abrahamian's Iran Between Two Revolutions, published in 1982, treated the political history of Iran from the Constitutional...

After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan.(Middle East)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan. BY JAMES F. DOBBINS. Potomac Books, 2008, 192 pp. $19.95. During his long diplomatic career, Dobbins became an expert in helping to put together states shattered by civil war or invasion....

Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq.(Middle East)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq. BY PATRICK COCKBURN. Scribner, 2008, 240 pp. $24.00. Soon after invading Iraq in 2003, the United States encountered a major obstacle to piecing together a sustainable...

Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East.(Middle East)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East. BY KARL E. MEYER AND SHAREEN BLAIR BRYSAC. Norton, 2008, 480 pp. $27.95. The years from the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 to the British debacle in the 1956 Suez crisis spanned what...

A History of Nigeria.(Africa)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... A History of Nigeria. BY TOYIN FALOLA AND MATTHEW M. HEATON. Cambridge University Press, 2008, 376 pp. $90.00 (paper, $24.99). Faith and Politics in Nigeria." Nigeria as a Pivotal State in the Muslim World. B V JOHN N. PADEN. U.S. Institute...

Africa Doesn't Matter: How the West Has Failed the Poorest Continent and What We Can Do About It.(Africa)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Africa Doesn't Matter: How the West Has Failed the Poorest Continent and What We Can Do About It. BY GILES BOLTON. Arcade Publishing, 2008, 360 pp. $26.99. This highly readable critique of current Western policies toward Africa is authored...

Trade Unions and the Coming of Democracy in Africa.(Africa)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Trade Unions and the Coming of Democracy in Africa. EDITED BY JON KRAUS. Macmillan, 2007, 310 pp. $84.95. The organizational and political weakness of nonstate institutions is one of the enduring realities of political fife in sub-Saharan...

Africa and the War on Terrorism.(Africa)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Africa and the War on Terrorism. EDITED BY JOHN DAVIS. Ashgate, 2007, 200 pp. $99.95. Al Qaeda networks have long been present in one form or another in northern and northeastern Africa. From Osama bin Laden's association with the current...

Rice's record.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... To the Editor: Condoleezza Rice's "Rethinking the National Interest" (July/August 2008) presented the secretary of state with a unique opportunity to use the forum of this magazine productively. Unfortunately, the fundamental policies of...

Rethinking the embargo.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... To the Editor: Jorge Castaneda ("Morning in Latin America," September/October 2008) argues for rethinking the United States' Cuba policy because it has not worked and is increasingly irrelevant. Yet there are also compelling economic and...