• 160: The Cyber-Delusion: Digital Threats Are Manageable, Not Existential, submitted on 2022-03-22 20:48:14+08:00.
• 161: Foreign Affairs Open House: Spring 2022, submitted on 2022-03-23 03:16:08+08:00.
• 162: When Migrants Become Weapons: The Long History and Worrying Future of a Coercive Tactic, submitted on 2022-03-23 21:28:47+08:00.
• 163: Madeleine K. Albright: The Coming Democratic Revival, submitted on 2022-03-24 03:18:54+08:00.
• 164: Madeleine K. Albright: The Coming Democratic Revival, submitted on 2022-03-24 03:21:14+08:00.
• 165: Madeleine K. Albright: The Coming Democratic Revival, submitted on 2022-03-24 03:58:19+08:00.
• 166: Why Democracy Stalled in the Middle East: Economic Despair and the Triumph of the China Model, submitted on 2022-03-25 22:58:51+08:00.

160: The Cyber-Delusion: Digital Threats Are Manageable, Not Existential, submitted on 2022-03-22 20:48:14+08:00.

—– 160.1 —–2022-03-22 20:49:27+08:00:

[SS from the article by John Mueller, Political Scientist at Ohio State University and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.]

“This contemporary approach to cyberthreats resembles the aftermath of 9/11, when almost all experts believed an even larger terrorist attack would soon take place. Then, as now, the threat is overblown. Although occasionally dramatic, cyberattacks have turned out to be a comparatively minor and manageable threat. Far too much discussion around the issue focuses on worst-case scenarios, fails to contextualize the problem, and neglects to weigh the costs of cyberattacks against the enormous value of the Internet and artificial intelligence. Most commentary, moreover, does not fully appreciate the ability of the business sector—by far the most tempting of targets for malevolent hackers—to develop effective countermeasures.”

Read John Mueller on why the threat of hackers mounting destabilizing cyberattacks on American energy grids, military infrastructure, and election systems is overblown.

161: Foreign Affairs Open House: Spring 2022, submitted on 2022-03-23 03:16:08+08:00.

—– 161.1 —–2022-03-23 03:16:57+08:00:

Join Foreign Affairs on April 6 for a virtual graduate school fair! Explore graduate opportunities and chat with admissions officers from top programs in public policy, diplomacy, and international studies. Registration is free. Sign up here.

162: When Migrants Become Weapons: The Long History and Worrying Future of a Coercive Tactic, submitted on 2022-03-23 21:28:47+08:00.

—– 162.1 —–2022-03-23 21:30:20+08:00:

[SS from the article by Kelly M. Greenhill, Visiting Professor at SOAS University of London, Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University, and a Senior Research Scholar at MIT.]

“By exploiting political divisions that exist within the targeted states, the threatened or actual deployment of engineered flows of migrants has long been a distressingly effective policy instrument, and it is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Unless policymakers begin to confront the forces that enable weaponized migration, the favored policy responses seem destined to increase, rather than curtail, its use.”

States have long manipulated migration flows to achieve foreign policy goals that have been frustrated by other means. Read Kelly M. Greenhill on what the history of weaponized migration can teach today’s policymakers about how best to respond.

163: Madeleine K. Albright: The Coming Democratic Revival, submitted on 2022-03-24 03:18:54+08:00.

—– 163.1 —–2022-03-24 03:20:25+08:00:

[SS]

Madeleine K. Albright, the 64th U.S. secretary of state and the first woman to hold that office, died on Wednesday at age 84. Revisit her 2021 essay in Foreign Affairs, in which she called on Washington to lead a global democratic revival.

164: Madeleine K. Albright: The Coming Democratic Revival, submitted on 2022-03-24 03:21:14+08:00.

—– 164.1 —–2022-03-24 03:22:11+08:00:

[SS]

Madeleine K. Albright, the 64th U.S. secretary of state and the first woman to hold that office, died on Wednesday at age 84. In an essay written last year for Foreign Affairs, she called on Washington to lead a global democratic revival:

165: Madeleine K. Albright: The Coming Democratic Revival, submitted on 2022-03-24 03:58:19+08:00.

—– 165.1 —–2022-03-24 03:58:49+08:00:

[SS]

“Democracy is not a dying cause; in fact, it is poised for a comeback.” With the sad news of former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright’s passing on Wednesday, revisit her final essay for Foreign Affairs here.

166: Why Democracy Stalled in the Middle East: Economic Despair and the Triumph of the China Model, submitted on 2022-03-25 22:58:51+08:00.

—– 166.1 —–2022-03-25 23:00:34+08:00:

[SS from the article by Amaney A. Jamal, Co-Founder and Co-Principal Investigator at Arab Barometer and Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and Michael Robbins, Director and Co-Principal Investigator at Arab Barometer]

“To understand why the Arab world’s ardor for democracy has faded, it is crucial to grasp that most of the people who took to the streets in 2011 were motivated not just by a desire for liberty but also by intense frustration with the material conditions of their lives. “Bread, freedom, and justice” was the protest slogan often heard in Cairo during the Egyptian uprising—and there is a reason bread comes first on the list. Egyptians and Tunisians saw economic considerations as the primary reason for the Arab Spring revolts in their countries, according to Arab Barometer surveys conducted in both places in 2011. The protesters were tired of political repression, but they were deeply angry about the meager opportunities that authoritarian systems afforded. The brief flowering of pro-democracy passions and movements failed to produce durable democratic governments. Perhaps more important, however, it also failed to produce the kind of economic change that people across the Middle East desperately craved.
Today, the region is plagued by the same issues that have dragged down its economic development for decades: high unemployment, especially among young people; low rates of participation in the labor force, especially among women; a lack of high-quality education; rising inequality; and rampant corruption.”