Brookings Institution Press

News, updates and thoughts from the Brookings Institution Press

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Throwbook Thursday - A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China since 1972

On August 8th, 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. Ironically, the plane that took him home to California was the same plane that had carried him on one of the highlights of his presidency- his ground breaking 1972 trip to China with Henry Kissinger. In a presidency filled with regrets, that trip was a victory that opened the way for U.S. China relations that endure today.

We published A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China since 1972 by Harry Harding in 1992, a book that expands more on the relationship between the U.S. and China. Below is an excerpt from the book:

“Richard Nixon’s visit to Peking in 1972 ended twenty years of confrontation and isolation between the United States and China. Throughout the 1950s, the two countries inhabited two different camps in a rigidly polarized world. The United States was the leader of global alliance of capitalist states created to prevent the spread of communism. China, its communist revolution victorious, cast its lot with the rival bloc headed by the Soviet Union, which viewed its mission as promoting the victory of socialism over capitalism.”

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Throwbook Thursday - The Resilient Sector: The State of Nonprofit America- Circa 2003

The Resilient Sector:  The State of Nonprofit America by Lester Salamon, Director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at John Hopkins University, has been a top seller since its publication in 2003. In fact, we will be publishing a second edition this fall.

What makes this book so special? Here’s President Jimmy Carter’s endorsement:

The State of Nonprofit America gives us a much-needed assessment of one of the true treasures of American society- our private, nonprofit organizations- at a critically important moment in their development. All of those concerned about the special qualities of our society should read and ponder its message.

Learn more about the book on our website.

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Throwbook Thursday - Challenges to Research Universities

The twentieth century was good to American Research Universities. From the end of World War II until the 1990’s already prestigious universities expanded and many smaller teaching institutions evolved into significant research centers. But as the new millennium loomed research universities began to face new challenges. Published in March 1998, Challenges to Research Universities, reviews the history, assesses the future prospects of research universities and proposes innovative economic changes.

An interesting side note, Richard Florida, who is today a senior editor at the Atlantic, and known primarily for his work on urban affairs co-authored chapter seven, Industry and the Academy .

Find out more about the book here.

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Throwbook Thursday - Beyond Sweatshops: Foreign Direct Investment and Globalization in Developing Countries - Circa 2002

Although the cover invokes a 1960s knitting pattern book, Beyond Sweatshops is an important work that is timely in today’s high-tech manufacturing world and likely will be for a long time to come.  Just think of discussions around workers at the iPhone manufacturing Foxconn factory in China.

Author Theodore H. Moran delves into case studies in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and the Philippines and sets out to answer:

·         What impact do foreign investors and their subcontractors, in sectors other than natural resources and infrastructure, have on the lives of workers and average citizens in the developing world?

·         How might the globalization of industry, via foreign direct investment, affect the lives of workers and average citizens in developing countries, other than through the creation of low-skill jobs free from abusive treatment?

·         What is the impact of globalization of industry, via foreign direct investment, on the well-being of workers and average citizens in the home country of the investor? Click here for more information on the book.

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Throwbook Thursday -Climate Change and Forests: Emerging Policy and Market Opportunities Circa 2008

For decades, climate change policies and reforms have been debated in both the national and international levels. But as the debate continues, our environment continues to be affected by climate change—especially our forests.

In 2008, we published Climate Change for Forests: Emerging Policy and Market Opportunities by Charlotte Streck, Robert O’Sullivan, Toby Janson- Smith, and Richard Tarasofsky. In the book, the authors offer specific recommendations for policy makers, project developers and market participants who work within the world’s forests.  Their examination of the current state of the world’s forests and suggestions for carbon crediting and accounting leads them to conclusions that will offer incentive options to slow deforestation and protect the world’s remaining forests. Their insights into climate change and recommendations for the future are still relevant and even more important today.

Below is an excerpt from the book:

Climate change is one of the most significant global challenges of our time, and addressing it requires the urgent formulation of comprehensive and effective policy responses. A changing climate affects nearly every sector of the world’s economy and is intricately intertwined with other major environmental threats such as population growth, desertification and land degradation, air and water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and deforestation. To date, most of the international attention directed toward combating climate change has been strikingly insufficient and focused primarily on the industrial and energy sectors.

For more information on Climate Change and Forests: Emerging Policy and Market Opportunities, check out our website.

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Throwbook Thursday - Starting Over: Brazil Since 1985

Gola!

The 2014 World Cup kicks off today. Brazil has dominated play in the past as a five-time winner and the only team to have played in all 19 World Cup Tournaments, but this time the world's eyes are on Brazil the host. In 1990, Brazil's economy was a disaster. Today, it is thriving. How did it get there? We published Starting Over: Brazil Since 1985 by Albert Fishlow in 2011. In this book, professor Fishlow wrote about the evolution of Brazil from all angles; economic, social and political. The book also discussed the challenges facing Brazil throughout history, some of the lessons the country learned and a variety of strategies that the country needs to follow in order to maintain its current developmental status. Below is an excerpt from the book:

The Economist featured Brazil in its issue of November 14, 2009. According to the final words both of the lead editorial and the special report, “Its take-off is all the more admirable because it has been achieved through reform and democratic consensus…What make the country so exciting at the moment is that, thanks to its new found stability, Brazil’s better self now has a much greater chance of prevailing.”

This advance was neither continuous nor without occasional good fortune. At times, the challenges facing the new civilian regime seemed beyond its capability to respond. Nor did the “New Republic” begin with a tabula rasa. The past did not just disappear; rather, its influence gradually eroded over time, as reforms were implemented and a new generation exerted its influence.

For more information on Starting Over: Brazil Since 1985, check out our website.

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Throwbook Thursday – Beyond Tiananmen

On June 3, 1989, soldiers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) raced into the center of Beijing with orders to recover “at any cost” the city’s most important landmark, Tian’anmen Square, from student demonstrators.  Twenty five years ago this week marked the anniversary of the Tian’anmen Square massacre, an event which affected U.S.-China relations for over a decade.  We published Beyond Tiananmen: The Politics of U.S.-China Relations 1989-2000 by Robert Suettinger back in 2003.  In it, Suettinger discusses decision-making processes that affected relations between China and the United States between 1989 until the end of the Clinton presidency in 2000.  Here’s an excerpt that describes some of the post-massacre sentiments, and hints at the China of today:

            Time has healed many of the wounds of those terrible days of June 1989. The dead have been laid to rest, if not accounted for or forgotten; the wounded have been treated and healed. Most of those arrested and imprisoned in the massive roundup that followed June 4 have completed their sentences and been released. Students have turned from the youthful pursuit of democratic ideals to the pursuit of advanced degrees and lucrative jobs in China’s growing private sector, much of it foreign funded.