April 13, 2005
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Hezbollah's Dilemma
 |
As an increasing number of Lebanese have been pushing for Syria to end its occupation of their country, Hezbollah has found itself caught between the demands of its patron in Damascus and the necessities of domestic politics in Beirut. The Party of God, long both a revolutionary terrorist group and a Lebanese political and social movement, may be forced to choose a single identity once and for all. In a fresh update to his 2003 Foreign Affairs article on the topic, Georgetown's Daniel Byman argues that the Bush administration is correctly trying to encourage Hezbollah's transition to politics, rather than working to eradicate the group altogether.
|
|
Previously in Background on the News
|
| |
Proud to Be a North American
March 30, 2005
Last week, the leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico committed their nations to an extension of NAFTA called the North American Alliance for Prosperity and Security. The leaders' pledge for greater cooperation in a range of different areas could be an important step toward a true North American community. . . . Read more
|
 |
| |
Is Palestine the Pivot?
March 16, 2005
Does the Bush administration deserve credit for the recent democratic flowering in the Middle East? Writing in Foreign Affairs two years ago, Princeton University's Michael Scott Doran argued against those who claimed that the Palestinian issue was the crucial pivot on which Middle Eastern events turned. . . . Read more
|
|
| |
|
| |
Advertisement
Study Ethical Globalization at MIT
 This new summer course offers an intensive overview of the primary ethical dimensions of globalization, which are increasingly emerging as key issues for leaders of business, government and society. Taught by professors from MIT and Harvard with experts from the United Nations and Transparency International, the course will focus on labor, corruption, environment, and human rights issues and is a unique offering unavailable elsewhere in the U.S.
Dates: June 6-8, 2005
Click here for a course description or to register.
|
|
In the Current Issue of Foreign Affairs
The complete text of selected essays and of all the book reviews from the March/April issue can be found on the Foreign Affairs Web site. Currently the following essays are available in their full text:
|
| |
Taking on Tehran
Kenneth Pollack and Ray Takeyh
If Washington wants to derail Iran's nuclear program, it must take advantage of a split in Tehran between hard-liners, who care mostly about security, and pragmatists, who want to fix Iran's ailing economy. By promising strong rewards for compliance and severe penalties for defiance, Washington can strengthen the pragmatists' case that Tehran should choose butter over bombs.
|
| |
The Overstretch Myth
David H. Levey and Stuart S. Brown
The United States' current account deficit and foreign debt are not dire threats to its global position, as would-be Cassandras warn. U.S. power is firmly grounded on economic superiority and financial stability that will not end soon.
|
| |
The Choice
Donald Kennedy
Jared Diamond's Collapse is a catalog of past environmental ruin. But despite the abundance of bad news, its message is one of cautious optimism: if modern society can learn from the failures of its predecessors, it can avoid their fate.
|
| |
Red-Handed
Mitchell B. Reiss, Robert Gallucci, Richard L. Garwin, and Selig Harrison
Mitchell Reiss, Robert Gallucci, and Richard Garwin allege that in questioning the Bush administration's case against North Korea, Selig Harrison misstated the facts; Harrison responds.
|
|
Outstanding New Books
Plaudits from our book review panel in the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs.
Mixed Signals: U.S. Human Rights Policy and Latin America
by Kathryn Sikkink
". . . [an] illuminating account of how persistent policy entrepreneurs armed with fresh ideas inserted and then institutionalized human rights promotion into inter-American relations." --Richard Feinberg
Read the review
The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America
by Kenneth M. Pollack
" . . . this informed and eminently readable study provides a detailed narrative of that turbulent quarter-century of U.S.-Iranian relations from the advent of the Islamic Republic to the present." --L. Carl Brown
Read the review
The Democracy Advantage: How Democracies Promote Prosperity and Peace
by Morton H. Halperin, Joseph T. Siegle, and Michael M. Weinstein
" . . . [a] forceful case for a 'democracy centered' foreign policy . . ." --G. John Ikenberry
Read the review
Freeing God's Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights
by Allen D. Hertzke
"Freeing God's Children is the best available account of . . . the rise of the religious right in foreign policy . . ." --Walter Russell Mead
Read the review
Africa Since Independence: A Comparative History
by Paul Nugent
"Nugent's book is easily the best single-volume history of postcolonial Africa written in the last 20 years." --Nicolas Van De Walle
Read the review
|
| |
 Back to top.
|
|
|
|
- Instant access to the current issue and an entire year of back issues online
- 50% discount on article purchases in our digital archive
- Improved account management
SIGN UP TODAY!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You've received this email because you subscribed to the HTML version of the biweekly Foreign Affairs email newsletter.
Use the following links to manage your subscription:
|
|
Foreign Affairs and the Council on Foreign Relations are located at:
58 East 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
|
|
|
