Global Development and Human Rights: The Sustainable Development Goals and Beyond by Paul Nelson
Liberalism in Dark Times: The Liberal Ethos in the Twentieth Century by Joshua L. Cherniss
Negotiating the New START Treaty by Rose Gottemoeller
Diplomacy and the Future of World Order by Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall, Editors
The War That Doesn’t Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo by Jason K. Stearns
Global China: Assessing China’s Growing Role in the World Edited by Tarun Chhabra, Rush Doshi, Ryan Hass, Emilie Kimball
Global Development and Human Rights: The Sustainable Development Goals and Beyond
By Paul Nelson
University of Toronto Press, June 2021
256 pages
From 2000 to 2015 the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) mobilized external aid to finance life-changing services in the global South. In Global Development and Human Rights, Paul Nelson assesses the current thirty-year effort to make transformative changes in the global South by exploring how the disconnect from human rights weakened the MDGs reputation as a successful aid organization. To overcome the failings of the MDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were formed in 2016 with the intention of managing the issues fundamentally ignored by the MDGs. Drawing on twenty-five years of research on development goals, human rights, and the organizations that promote them, Nelson shows how human rights can offer leverage and political support that help drive transformative national initiatives.
REVIEWS
“. . .This deeply nuanced explanation of what has (and has not) worked in relation to the SDGs succeeds in making us care about development: the dilemmas of distribution, inequality, participation, and accountability central to this assessment are central to our shared futures. This book is vital to understanding how development paradigms have changed over time and to making our way forward collectively amidst the uncertainty facing us all.” — Shareen Hertel, Professor of Political Science and Human Rights, University of Connecticut, and Editor, The Journal of Human Rights
“Global Development and Human Rights is by far the best and most comprehensive work so far on the vital question of how the Sustainable Development Goals connect to human rights standards. It provides both an explanation of the theoretical issues involved and many practical examples of development agencies building on this connection. It also considers the impact of COVID-19 on progress toward the SDGs. It moves forward understanding of the rights-based approach to development, and will be equally interesting to academics and to practitioners in the development sphere.” — Joel E. Oestreich, Professor of Politics, Drexel University, and author of Development and Human Rights: Rhetoric and Reality in India
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul J. Nelson is an associate professor of International Development at the University of Pittsburgh.
Liberalism in Dark Times: The Liberal Ethos in the Twentieth Century
By Joshua L. Cherniss
Princeton University Press, October 2021
328 pages
Today, liberalism faces threats from across the political spectrum. While right-wing populists and leftist purists righteously violate liberal norms, theorists of liberalism seem to have little to say. In Liberalism in Dark Times, Joshua Cherniss issues a rousing defense of the liberal tradition, drawing on a neglected strand of liberal thought. Early in the twentieth century, democracy was under attack around the world, with one country after another succumbing to dictatorship. While many intellectuals dismissed liberalism as outdated, unrealistic, or unworthy, a handful of writers defended and reinvigorated the liberal ideal, including Max Weber, Raymond Aron, Albert Camus, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Isaiah Berlin―each of whom is given a compelling new assessment here. . . In the face of rising political fanaticism, Cherniss persuasively argues for the continuing importance of this liberal ethos.
REVIEWS
“In this beautifully written book, Joshua Cherniss draws on the history of liberalism to make a compelling and timely argument. Today, when liberalism faces an existential crisis, and people are being drawn to political extremes, liberals should not abandon their political ethos to embrace the tactics of their illiberal adversaries. Rather, they should learn from thinkers like Niebuhr, Camus, Aron, and Berlin, who advocated a ‘tempered liberalism’ during a crisis that was not all that different from our own. Cherniss’s book offers many important insights into the political thought of these key thinkers and valuable lessons for our own time.”
— Helena Rosenblatt, author of The Lost History of Liberalism
“A remarkably well-developed case for a ‘tempered liberalism.’ Rejecting dangerous strains of political thought―both antiliberalism on the right and a lack of complexity on the left―Cherniss charts a political theory that celebrates humility, pluralism, limits, skepticism, humor, realism, and modesty. The result is an expansive intellectual tool kit for the future.”―Kevin Mattson, author of When America Was Great: The Fighting Faith of Liberalism in Postwar America
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joshua L. Cherniss is associate professor of government at Georgetown University and the author of A Mind and Its Time: The Development of Isaiah Berlin’s Political Thought.
Negotiating the New START Treaty
By Rose Gottemoeller
Cambria Press, May 2021
244 pages
Winner of the Douglas Dillon Award for a Book of Distinction on the Practice of American Diplomacy
Rose Gottemoeller, the U.S. chief negotiator of the New START treaty-and the first woman to lead a major nuclear arms negotiation delivers in this book an invaluable insider’s account of the negotiations between the U.S. and Russian delegations in Geneva in 2009 and 2010. It also examines the crucially important discussions about the treaty between President Barack Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev, and it describes the tough negotiations Gottemoeller and her team went through to gain the support of the Senate for the treaty. And importantly, at a time when the US Congress stands deeply divided, it tells the story of how, in a previous time of partisan division, Republicans and Democrats came together to ratify a treaty to safeguard the future of all Americans.
REVIEWS
“As advances in technology usher in a new age of weaponry, future negotiators would benefit from reading Rose Gottemoeller’s memoir of the process leading to the most significant arms control agreement of recent decades.” — Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State
“Rose Gottemoeller’s book on the New START negotiations is the definitive book on this treaty or indeed, any of the nuclear treaties with the Soviet Union or Russia.” — William J. Perry, former U.S. Secretary of Defense
“A deeply informed, highly readable, and timely analysis of one of the most important nuclear treaties in recent history .. an invaluable guide for understanding the craft of arms control negotiations, as well as the critical role and responsibility of skillful, knowledgeable, and determined negotiators.” — Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Program, The Brookings Institution
“A major contribution to arms control history and to diplomacy, and it is likely to feature in international relations syllabi in the United States-and, I would hope, in Russia and many other countries.” –The Foreign Service Journal
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rose Gottemoeller is the Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and its Center for International Security and Cooperation. She is also a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Before joining Stanford, Gottemoeller was the Deputy Secretary General of NATO from 2016 to 2019, where she helped to drive forward NATO’s adaptation to new security challenges in Europe and in the fight against terrorism. Prior to NATO, she served for nearly five years as the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the U.S. Department of State, advising the Secretary of State on arms control, nonproliferation and political-military affairs. While Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance in 2009 and 2010, she was the chief U.S. negotiator of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the Russian Federation. Before this government service, she was a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, with joint appointments to the Nonproliferation and Russia programs. She served as the Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center from 2006 to 2008 and is currently a nonresident fellow in Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program.
Diplomacy and the Future of World Order
By Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall, Editors
Forward by Ambassador William J. Burns
Georgetown University Press, May 2021
376 pages
Diplomacy in pursuit of peace and security faces severe challenges not seen in decades. The reemergence of strong states, discord in the UN Security Council, destabilizing transnational non-state actors, closing space for civil society within states, and the weakening of the international liberal order all present new obstacles to diplomacy.
In Diplomacy and the Future of World Order, an international group of experts confronts these challenges to peace and conflict diplomacy ― defined as the effort to manage others’ conflicts, cope with great power competition, and deal with threats to the state system itself. In doing so, they consider three potential scenarios for world order where key states decide to go it alone, return to a liberal order, or collaborate on a case-by-case basis to address common threats and problems.
These three scenarios are then evaluated through the prism of regional perspectives from around the world and for their potential ramifications for major security threats including peacekeeping, nuclear nonproliferation, cyber competition, and terrorism. . .the volume (concludes) by identifying emerging types of diplomacy that may form the foundation for global peacemaking and conflict management in an uncertain future.
REVIEWS
“Crocker, Hampson, and Aall have assembled an impressive group of authors to offer a comprehensive assessment of global and regional challenges, with a useful focus on contrasting global scenarios. Their concept of ‘peace and conflict diplomacy’ is valuable and timely for scholars and practitioners alike.” ― Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO, New America, former Director of Policy Planning, U.S. State Department
“A very important book on how the United States should cope with a very different world. Essential for conflict resolution courses.” ― Roy Licklider, adjunct senior research scholar at the Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies and adjunct professor of political science, Columbia University.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of the Practice of Strategic Studies at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He previously served as the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs.
Fen Osler Hampson is a Chancellor’s Professor and professor of international affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and president of the World Refugee and Migration Council.
Pamela Aall is a senior advisor for conflict prevention and management at the United States Institute of Peace
The War That Doesn’t Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo
By Jason K. Stearns
Princeton University Press, February 2022
328 pages
Well into its third decade, the military conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been dubbed a “forever war”―a perpetual cycle of war, civil unrest, and local feuds over power and identity. Millions have died in one of the worst humanitarian calamities of our time. The War That Doesn’t Say Its Name investigates the most recent phase of this conflict. Jason Stearns argues that the fighting has become an end in itself, carried forward in substantial part through the apathy and complicity of local and international actors. Stearns shows that regardless of the suffering, there has emerged a narrow military bourgeoisie of commanders and politicians for whom the conflict is a source of survival, dignity, and profit. Foreign donors provide food and urgent health care for millions, preventing the Congolese state from collapsing, but this involvement has not yielded transformational change. Stearns gives a detailed historical account of this period, focusing on the main players―Congolese and Rwandan states and the main armed groups. He extrapolates from these dynamics to other conflicts across Africa and presents a theory of conflict that highlights the interests of the belligerents and the social structures from which they arise. Exploring how violence in the Congo has become preoccupied with its own reproduction, The War That Doesn’t Say Its Name sheds light on why certain military feuds persist without resolution.
REVIEWS
“With great clarity and insight, Jason Stearns explains how, despite its best intentions, the post–Cold War liberal model of peacemaking sometimes contributes to the persistence of unrest and violence. A fascinating and eye-opening account of the Congolese conflict―and what it signals for the future of conflict in general.”―Stathis Kalyvas, author of The Logic of Violence in Civil War
“A tour de force on the Congo’s forever war by one of the world’s leading experts on violence. . . Stearns upends conventional wisdom while offering a nuanced and detailed take on a struggle that can often appear indecipherable.”―Zachariah Mampilly, author of Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life during War
“This masterful book substantially advances the understanding of long-running conflicts like that in the eastern Congo as a social phenomenon and is one of the very few fieldwork-based investigations into the inner workings of the main armed groups in the Congo’s conflict. Stearns provides unique insight into how these armed groups work, including a fascinating analysis of how they adapt to the context around them as they pursue interests in prolonging insecurity and uncertainty. This book will considerably advance the growing field of research on civil wars.”―Will Reno, author of Warfare in Independent Africa
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jason K. Stearns is an assistant professor in the School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University and the founder and director of the Congo Research Group at New York University. He is the author of Dancing in the Glory of Monsters.
Global China: Assessing China’s Growing Role in the World
Edited by Tarun Chhabra, Rush Doshi, Ryan Hass, Emilie Kimball
Brookings Institution Press, June 2021
428 pages
In 2005, a senior official in the George W. Bush administration expressed the hope that China would emerge as a “responsible stakeholder” on the world stage. . . China is no longer just a “rising” power. It has emerged as a truly global actor, both economically and militarily. Every day its actions affect nearly every region and every major issue, from climate change to trade, from conflict in troubled lands to competition over rules that will govern the uses of emerging technologies.
Global China: Assessing China’s Growing Role in the World is intended to furnish policy makers and the public with hard facts and deep insights for understanding China’s regional and global ambitions. The initiative draws not only on Brookings’s deep bench of China and East Asia experts, but also on the tremendous breadth of the institution’s security, strategy, regional studies, technological, and economic development experts. Areas of focus include the evolution of China’s domestic institutions; great power relations; the emergence of critical technologies; Asian security; China’s influence in key regions beyond Asia; and China’s impact on global governance and norms.
REVIEWS
“For as long as I can remember, the breathless pace of change in China meant you had to see it firsthand, on a regular basis, to make sense of political, economic, and social developments. Global China provides that perspective to get past the unfortunate tendency to simply admire the problem, helpfully identifying comparative advantages and vulnerabilities brought by Beijing’s expanding interests, making it a welcome tool for strategists and policymakers.” —David Stilwell, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
“If we expect to successfully counter the threats that China poses to U.S. economic and national security, we must first understand the complexity of the challenge, and then develop short- and long-term strategies that are comprehensive and multilateral. This book effectively underscores the most serious issues that lawmakers must consider in dealing with China’s rise, and provides a number of noteworthy recommendations going forward.” —U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
“China’s transformation from a regional actor to global power and geopolitical rival will have profound implications for the national security of the United States, our partners, and our allies. Leveraging the insights of an impressive array of experts, this volume provides a clear set of recommendations designed to ensure that the United States can effectively contend with a rapidly shifting global environment.” —U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
ABOUT THE AUTHORS/EDITORS
Tarun Chhabra was a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, and director of the Brookings Institution’s Project on International Order and Strategy. He previously served on the National Security Council staff and Department of Defense. He has written on U.S. grand strategy, U.S.-China relations, and U.S.- allied technology cooperation.
Rush Doshi is a former director of the Brookings China Strategy Initiative and fellow in the Brookings Foreign Policy program. He is also a former fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. He is the author of The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order.
Ryan Hass is the Armacost Chair in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. Hass also is a nonresident fellow at Yale Law School’s Tsai China Center, and a senior advisor at McLarty Associates and The Scowcroft Group. He is author of Stronger: Adapting America’s China Strategy in an Age of Competitive Interdependence.
Emilie Kimball is an executive assistant in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. Prior to working at Brookings, she served as a staff officer on the National Security Council from 2015 to 2018, where she helped manage the national security decision-making process and staffed the President on foreign travel.