Public Libraries Excellence, education and innovation The DREAM Act Some states say yes to the DREAM Mind the Gap The nexus of policy and scholarship Next Gen Nonproliferation Training the best and brightest to stop the spread of WMDs
Spring 2012 CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK vol. 6/no. 4
Working-CS5.5.indd 1 5/8/12 11:53 AM Preventing Afghanistan from Becoming a Narco-State
by V ARTAN GREGORIAN, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Editor’s Note: Vartan Gregorian, former president and professor emeritus of history at Brown University, is the author of The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics of Reform and Modernization 1880-1946, which, when it was published in 1969 by Stanford University Press, was hailed as the definitive history of the rise of modern Afghanistan. The book will be reissued in November 2012 with a new introduction by the author who, over the years, has continued to study the turbulent developments in Afghanistan. In this essay, he addresses one of the most pressing problems currently facing that country and its people.
The year 2014 is These challenges are arising in the midst of a global eco- fast approaching and nomic slowdown that is making it difficult for even those na- with it, the end of the tions rich with resources to chart a reliable course for their fu- allied forces mission ture. Economic uncertainties have added to the growing call in Afghanistan. At in the U.S. and other NATO countries to end the allies’ pres- the close of that year, ence in Afghanistan—and hence, the enormous cost in terms as President Obama of lives lost and dollars spent—even sooner than planned. For PHOTO BY MICHAEL FALCO con firmed in his re- Afghanistan itself, which despite some $18 billion in U.S. aid cent speech from Bagram Air Force Base, the U.S. and NATO alone over the past decade2 remains one of the poorest coun- will hand over responsibility for the security of Afghanistan tries in the world on the UN´s Human Development Index to its own forces. But in the meantime, events on the ground (registering 174th out of 178 countries), the economic outlook are conspiring against some of the long-term policy goals remains bleak. Add in a growing Taliban insurgency against that the allied nations who committed troops to Afghanistan the allied powers along with ethnic, religious and tribal con- had hoped would bring peace and stability to that country. flicts and tensions as well as interference from neighboring The recent burning of Qur’ans as well as the massacre of countries such as Pakistan, Iran, and India who support their civilians, not to mention U.S. troops urinating on enemy proxies inside Afghanistan and what’s brewing is a recipe for corpses, posing for photos with the remains of Taliban insur- disaster on many fronts, particularly in regard to the Afghan gents and similar inflammatory actions have contributed to economy once the U.S. and NATO have largely departed. anti-American and anti-NATO sentiments in Afghanistan as Though in his speech from Afghanistan announcing a well as in neighboring countries, especially Pakistan. Given pact that spells out the U.S. relationship with Afghanistan these developments, President Karzai, in an effort to prove over the next decade President Obama promised U.S. aid to his nation that above all he is an Afghan nationalist and in developing the Afghan economy, no specifics were given guardian of Afghan sovereignty, has often been forced to and no plan was announced. Hence, there is little reason to publicly distance himself from America, making demands believe that the economic situation in Afghanistan will con- such as that U.S. forces be confined to their bases and with- tinue to be anything but precarious. Indeed, according to draw completely from Afghanistan by the end of 2013. In official Afghan sources, 80 percent of Afghanistan’s national addition, the Afghan government has insisted that NATO budget is constituted by international aid from 62 different forces stop “night raids” on suspected insurgents’ hideouts, donor countries, more than a dozen large international orga- which recently resulted in an agreement that should give nizations, and about 2,000 international and national NGOs. Afghan authorities veto over controversial special operations There is no assurance that these countries and organizations raids. For its part, the Pakistani parliament has demanded a will continue their assistance over the next ten years. In halt to all U.S. drone flights over border areas that provide light of all these factors, the economic chaos that is likely to safe haven and supply routes for the Taliban.1 Further, the descend upon Afghanistan in the absence of either a stable Pakistani government has blockaded the flow of U.S. mate- central government or the realistic prospect of a peaceful riel supplying American troops in Afghanistan. (Continued on page 49)
Reprinted from US News & World Report, May 2, 2012. http://tinyurl.com/75dx9jh Spring 2012 CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK vol. 6/no. 4
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2 Today’s Public Libraries: Public Places of Excellence, Education and Innovation 10 Mind the Gap: Why Policymakers and Scholars Ignore Each Other, and What Should be Done About It 18 Next Gen Nonproliferation: Training the Best and Brightest to Stop the Spread 18 of WMDs 28 Creating New Designs for New Schools 33 Philanthropy’s Most Celebrated Award 34 The DREAM Act: Some states say yes to the DREAM 44 Recent Events 34 46 Foundation Roundup 48 The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb 52 International News Coverage: A Vanishing Species?
About the cover: The Salt Lake City, Utah, public library, designed by Moshe Safdie. Photo by Andy Cross, The Denver Post.
A Note About This Issue
We are particularly creasing numbers of immigrants—and even B. Steinberg, on how policymakers and aca- proud to bring you this new ways of reading books. We also have demics do—and do not—successfully inte- edition of the Carnegie an article about the DREAM Act, which is grate their ideas about pressing international Reporter because it fo- meant to help undocumented students access challenges. An article by Karen Theroux, the cuses on many of the is- higher education. This type of legislation Corporation’s staff writer, examines how a sues that Carnegie Corporation of New York may have failed on the national level but is new cadre of young, thoughtful, and highly is deeply concerned with. The Corporation’s gaining traction in many states where citi- trained specialists are confronting the ques- mission, which is the legacy of our founder, zens, governors and others have concluded tion of how to stop the spread of weapons of Andrew Carnegie, is to “promote the ad- that educating young men and women who mass destruction. In addition, the president of vancement and diffusion of knowledge and have a stake in the progress of American the Corporation, Vartan Gregorian, considers understanding,” and there is perhaps no society and are committed to the nation’s how to prevent Afghanistan from devolving institution so representative of that ideal than future is a worthwhile goal. Education, par- into the chaos of a narco-state that is mortgag- a public library. The Reporter’s lead story ticularly new designs for new schools, is ing its future on the trade in opium poppies. focuses on how America’s public libraries also highlighted in an interview with Leah Of course, there are other features in these are not only the treasure houses of knowl- Hamilton, Carnegie Corporation Program pages as well. We welcome you to enjoy edge that are foundational to the strength of Director, New Designs for K-16 Pathways. them all. our democracy but are also evolving to meet In terms of our work in the realm of inter- the 21st century challenges of new tech- national peace, we are featuring an essay by E LEANOR LERMAN, Director, Public nologies, new library patrons—including in- two noted experts, Francis J. Gavin and James Affairs and Publications
Working-CS5.5.indd 1 5/8/12 11:53 AM ANDY CROSS, THE DENVER POST
The main section of the Anythink Brighton (Colorado) library is seen though multicolored glass panels in the children’s area. The building is the first “carbon neutral” library in the U.S.
TODAY S ’ by DANIEL AKST Libraries: Public Places of Excellence, Education and Innovation
In our digital age, public libraries are not only thriving but serving new purposes and new populations.
Working-CS5.5.indd 2 5/8/12 12:13 PM nowledge was hard to come many reasons, but the most important both materially and intellectually. It’s by in the 19th century, when have to do with a couple of ideas that an idea redolent of Ben Franklin and Andrew Carnegie began fund- might sound archaic to modern ears, Samuel Smiles, Horatio Alger and even ing libraries all over America. People perhaps because in reality what they Dale Carnegie. didn’t have much money, schooling are is enduring. We’re supposed to know better, was limited, and leisure for learning The first is the notion of place, a somehow, today. The idea of progress was scant. thing the Internet was supposed to have isn’t so universal any more. But if you Today, of course, things are differ- obliterated. Yet a funny thing happened think self-improvement is dead, or ent. The average American is awash in on the way to the digital future: place is only the kind of thing people do at information, more and more of it pour- kept mattering. It turns out that people the gym nowadays, you need to visit a ing from the bottomless cornucopia of often need somewhere to go, especially public library or two—particularly in a the Internet, that life-changing simula- people who aren’t affluent enough to neighborhood full of new Americans. crum of the universal library scholars live in big houses. People with large They need a place to go where they can and science fiction writers fantasized families might need some peace and pursue the mission of improvement, about for so long. As almost everyone quiet, or a change of venue for study which after all is what made them come knows by now, it’s vast, ubiquitous and that is removed from the television to this country to begin with. always available. and the refrigerator. People who live I live part of every week in New Yet in the first decade of the 21st alone—and their ranks are increasing York’s borough of Queens, in the century, as the Internet was reaching daily—might just want a little company neighborhood of Flushing, and I defy into almost every arena of American while they read. An ideal place for all anyone to visit the big public library life, libraries were bustling. Library these folks should be safe, convenient there, a short walk from the end of the visits per capita rose by 24 percent. and most of all public—a place where number 7 subway line, without coming Circulation was up by about the same. you don’t have to buy anything yet can away a little misty-eyed at the scene Nor are physical libraries about to dis- stay as long as you like. Libraries are inside. Flushing has a vibrant Asian appear any time soon, at least judging the very definition of such locales, and population, and if you visit almost any- by the evidence literally on the ground. our unending need for this place that time after school you’ll find the place On the contrary, not only has the num- isn’t home, work or café accounts for a packed with Asian-American kids hit- ber of libraries grown, but since 1990 lot of their persistence. Library patrons ting the books. These young people this country has witnessed a remark- themselves will tell you that. After she have computers, cell phones—a full able renaissance in library construc- was laid off by Home Depot, Shamika complement of technology. But they tion. Many communities have built Miller visited the public library in modern new library facilities, some of Tracy, California, almost every day Daniel Akst is an author, journalist and them designed by the likes of Michael during 2008 to look for work. As she former trustee and treasurer of the one- Graves, and Rem Koolhaas and Moshe told the Wall Street Journal, “There’s room Tivoli Free Library, which anchors Safdie. Other libraries, such as the something about the library that helps its tiny community in New York’s Hudson White Tank Branch Library in Arizona you think.” Valley. He’s written on the subject of have become leaders in using “green The second reason libraries per- libraries twice before for the Carnegie technology”; the Anythink Brighton sist is the notion of improvement, Reporter over the years, exploring the Library in Colorado is the first carbon- something that has been an article of difficulty future generations may have positive library in the U.S. and is actu- faith among librarians and their civic in deciphering our digital texts and the ally able to contribute energy to the backers for as long as there have been shape library lending may someday take local power grid. libraries in this country. We Americans when most of it occurs electronically. He Despite the Internet, it seems, were early proponents of universal is the author of two novels and two non- libraries persist—and even thrive. education and individual initiative, and fiction books found in many libraries, and Given the wealth of information and we long ago recognized the importance his articles and reviews have appeared in reading material at our fingertips at of giving people a chance to make the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, all times, it’s fair to ask: why should their lives better by gaining knowl- Wall Street Journal, Wilson Quarterly and that be? Why do people still want— edge and cultivating their minds—in many other publications. He is a colum- and need—public libraries? There are other words, improving themselves nist and editorial writer for Newsday.
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 3
Working-CS5.5.indd 3 5/8/12 12:14 PM also have books. And they’re not fool- such as a teen Jeopardy challenge ers but in communicating with patrons. ing around. This is a big, multi-story (and judging from what I saw in the And they are using the tools of the building, and when I last stopped in, on library, that competition will be tough). digital revolution—the very ones that a Saturday afternoon, there was nary an A weekend performance combining were supposed to make librarians obso- empty seat in the house. Congolese dance with tap and urban lete—to do a better job for the public, Librarians no longer do a lot of fusion was on the agenda in the audito- for example by promoting commu- shushing, a young staff member at the rium. Other branches of the sprawling nity discussions online, offering help information desk told me, and so the Queens Library system offer programs on the Web and using Twitter to keep library offers a quiet room for those for just about everyone, from toddlers patrons informed. bent on intensive concentration. But as to job-seekers to retirees, in just about In New York City, in Chicago, in I walked among the tables in the rest every conceivable language—includ- Los Angeles and so many other places of the facility, you could hardly tell the ing, of course, programs aimed at new that are magnets for immigrants, librar- whole place wasn’t a quiet room. There Americans and, since this is New York, ies provide reading material in a host
Librarians have more training nowadays, not just in using computers but in communicating with patrons. And they are using the tools of the digital revolution— the very ones that were supposed to make librarians obsolete—to do a better job for the public.
were kids everywhere, yet little noise. programs on the rights and obligations of tongues, not to mention instruction Everyone was immersed in study. And of tenants. in the English language and workshops they had chosen to study in the library. Visiting the Flushing library helped on how to become a citizen. They still Public libraries were my introduc- me realize that libraries persist because provide books, of course, but they also tion to the world of ideas, and to the the marketplace, with all its many provide Internet access for those who possibility of life as a writer, so noth- splendors, provides no good alternative lack a connection, a computer or even ing could be more thrilling than seeing to these comforting institutions where a home. In smaller communities, they all these aspiring young scholars hard you can sit and think without a penny remain cherished civic and cultural at work. What a useful corrective to the in your pocket. Libraries also persist spaces, anchoring sometimes tattered drumbeat of pessimism that besets us because the idea of improvement per- main streets and serving as a destina- from the media. sists—and because libraries continue to tion for children after school and the Yet there is more to this library meet the needs of their patrons, perhaps elderly after a lifetime of work. This than eager students—a great deal more. even better than they have in the past. idea of improvement—of helping peo- There is a monthly support group— Library layouts have been evolving in ple to make their lives better through conducted in Mandarin—for families recent years to accommodate differ- knowledge, just as Andrew Carnegie struggling to care for a loved one with ent groups of patrons—just as they did sought to do through his vast interna- Alzheimer’s disease. There are courses years ago, to accommodate children. tional library-building program—is in Microsoft Word for Spanish speak- Librarians also have more training what ties together all the things librar- ers. There are youth-oriented programs, nowadays, not just in using comput- ies do today.
4 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 4 5/8/12 12:13 PM And during hard times, librar- kids nourished by the food lunch pro- dents got on assignments and tests. ies do a pretty wide range of things. gram during the week. Like so many Library staffers agreed to do some out- Several public libraries, following the libraries, the one in Gainesville goes rageous stuff when the meter hit vari- lead of San Francisco’s Main Branch, far beyond providing food for thought. ous benchmarks—including dressing have hired social workers, for instance, At the Columbus, Ohio Metro- up like Lady Gaga or taking pies in the face from kids, who’ve had to study in order to earn the right to throw them. Always useful, pub- lic libraries are an invalu- able haven in hard times. Predictably, they were thronged as a result of the Great Recession. Library visits hit 1.59 billion in 2009, an all-time record. Many patrons were drawn to free Internet access, often for job-hunting, and then discovered what a great deal the library is for all sorts of diversion and enlighten- ment. Some unemployed patrons reported going to the library daily as a kind of office. Cash-strapped THE WASHINGTON THE POST/GETTY IMAGES WASHINGTON
Library patrons participate in a seminar about downloading digital books to libraries found that career- their mobile devices for free at the Reston, Virginia branch library. oriented books flew off the shelves and Internet- connected computers were to help them deal with the homeless, politan Library, meanwhile, job cen- oversubscribed—as were popular titles many of whom depend on the near- ters have opened at all 21 branches to such as Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” est public library for everything from help patrons cope with the recession series. At the Randolph County Public Internet access to daily ablutions. The through resume instruction and the Library in Asheboro, N.C., a near- Greensboro, N.C. public library started like. The library also brought in experts stampede of new patrons driven to the providing haircuts and blood pres- in employment, entrepreneurship and library by hard times wore out the car- sure screenings to these needy visi- business development. In 2010 alone pet. Recessions in 1987 and 2001 saw tors. In Gainesville, Fla., the Alachua the program helped 44,000 people. Its a similar upswing in library patronage. County Library District has coped with web site offers links to job sites, and Despite cutbacks in funding—and the declining in-person access to govern- for younger patrons, there’s homework need to become career counselors and ment services by forming the Library help at every branch. At the Hilltop even consolers of jobless patrons, har- Partnership, a facility containing both branch, which offers classes in Eng- ried librarians coped. a library and various community ser- lish as a second language and “going The dedication of librarians all vices. By this means the library has beyond Google” in using the Internet, across this land is one reason that made itself into a gateway for local res- among other services, there was a spe- Carnegie Corporation, in conjunc- idents seeking health and legal services, cial incentive for student performance: tion with The New York Times and the rent and utility subsidies, counseling Sarah Wright, who runs the Hilltop American Library Association, bestows and tax help, not to mention book and homework center, set up the “A Meter” the “I Love My Librarian Award” to clothing drives and weekend food for to track the number of top grades stu- 10 librarians each year who are nomi-
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 5
Working-CS5.5.indd 5 5/8/12 11:54 AM nated and selected for service to their of state aid and the inexorable rise of percent since 2009 with about the same communities, schools and campuses.* expenses, then the numbers often trans- number of staff—everyone is doing Commenting on the 2011 winners, late to stressed staffs, fewer materials, more and getting paid less.” Carnegie Corporation President Vartan and reduced service hours.” To compensate, libraries are work- Gregorian said, “Libraries are the trea- Big city libraries have been hit ing hard to become more efficient. But sure house of civilization. Librarians are hardest. Libraries serving a popula- they’re also looking for new sources of our guides to this treasure house. With tion of one million or more reported revenue, some of which sound as if they their help, we can translate the over- whelming flood of information gener- ated by our hectic, complex world into true knowledge and understanding.” The idea that public institutions can help us improve our lives has fallen into disrepute in some quarters. Critics of government programs point to unin- tended consequences and mounting deficits. The financial crisis of 2007- 08 has taken its toll on cultural insti- tutions across the board. Funding for public colleges and universities has plunged, newspapers have shrunk or in some cases vanished thanks to a radical reduction in advertising revenue, and despite strong public support for librar- ies, their budgets have been mauled. As state and local governments have tight- ASSOCIATED PRESS ASSOCIATED ened their belts, libraries have been A citizenship class at the East Elmhurst Branch of the Queens, New York forced to curtail hours and services public library. during an economic downturn that left millions of Americans less able to afford books and more in need of job- that staffing was cut by a third in the might change the free and egalitarian training guidance and other employ- preceding year—a brutal reduction. nature of these places. “It was from my ment-related help. Staffing was cut by a fifth in commu- own early experience,” wrote Andrew Just when Americans needed librar- nities of 500,000 to 999,999. San Jose Carnegie in his autobiography, “that ies most, in other words, services were has built four new branch libraries that I decided there was no use to which slashed. Library Journal’s annual it can’t afford to open. Smaller library money could be applied so productive budget survey, published in January, systems have fared less badly, but even of good to boys and girls who have good painted a grim picture. “Most libraries there, harried librarians must juggle an within them and ability and ambition to have still not recovered from the mas- ever-growing workload, with predict- develop it, as the founding of a public sive cuts inflicted since the financial able effects on morale. Donna Howell, library in a community which is willing crisis of 2008,” the magazine reported, the director of the Mountain Regional to support it as a municipal institution.” “and when this depressed starting Library System in Georgia, told the The whole point, in fact, was to point meets with the rapid evaporation magazine, “Library use is up about 25 give the have-nots a chance to improve
* Carnegie Corporation does not have a specific program focused on supporting libraries in the U.S. However, in keeping with Andrew Carnegie’s belief in the importance of libraries in providing access to education for all citizens as well as in helping to strengthen American democracy, the foundation does, from time to time, fund specific library-related efforts such as the “I Love My Librarian” awards. Another example is a 2011 grant of $5 million—given in recognition of the Corporation’s Centennial—to the three New York City public library systems: the New York Public Library, Queens Library and Brooklyn Public Library to help enhance the libraries’ ability to serve the public in general and the city’s 1.1 million public school children in particular. Previous support has included $1 million to help some 800 small and rural libraries across the country to receive the fifty-volume Library of America great books series and $4.5 million in memory of the 9/11 victims, to support the book collections at the New York Public Library and at the Brooklyn and Queens libraries. In addition, the Corporation also recently concluded a decade-long program of assisting in the development of public libraries in South Africa.
6 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 6 5/8/12 11:54 AM their lot through learning. Yet to gen- They are publicly run, even if they’re 16,700 bricks-and-mortar public librar- erate revenue, some libraries are offer- operated by a not-for-profit asso- ies have a future. Books and other ing patrons first dibs on new releases ciation, as many are, and they have a textual matter are fast abandoning ink or flexible due dates—for a fee. In universal purpose, part of which is to and paper in favor of electronic stor- Hayward, California, the library offers promote democracy through access age, distribution and consumption. You patrons a menu of plans reminiscent to knowledge. The public, correctly, may love the feel of a book in your of Netflix. For $2.99 a month, library perceives them as equal-access educa- hand, but the future of books is in all users get to check out three items at a tional institutions. Library taxes enjoy likelihood digital. And that raises ques- time and keep them as long as they like, overwhelming public support, too. And tions about libraries. Will they merely with no due dates. Pay $8.99 per month aside perhaps from firefighters, few serve as repositories and gatekeepers and you get up to 10 items at a time on public servants are more popular than for human knowledge encoded in ones the same no-fines principle. If another librarians, who must now work harder and zeroes? Will there be any need for patron wants to use an item checked than ever to cope with greater demand the buildings we now think of when
In New York City, in Chicago, in Los Angeles and so many other places that are magnets for immigrants, libraries provide reading material in a host of tongues, not to mention instruction in the English language and workshops on how to become a citizen.
out under the “Fines Free” program, and diminished resources while trying someone mentions “library?” Can they the library says it will buy another. to decide what kinds of compromises function if they cease to be primarily Other libraries are selling sponsorships they should make to keep their cher- dispensers of books? to businesses to keep the doors open, or ished institutions afloat. Since libraries serve an important inviting for-profit test-prep companies When libraries close, the formerly role as our collective memory, it’s to give classes. Some libraries go even employed librarians suffer, of course, only sensible that we turn to history further, outsourcing operations to a for- but so do the patrons. Thanks to budget for some answers. And what the record profit library company that markets its cutting, moreover, libraries aren’t open shows is that libraries have always ability to run library operations for less. as much as they used to be. Overall, in struggled with the problem of pur- These measures aren’t necessarily 2008, libraries were open just shy of 60 pose—and they were never intended so bad, and the motivation is under- hours a week on average. In 2011 they to be mere dispensers of books. The standable, given that library fund- were down to just 49 hours. That hurts, publicly supported libraries that we ing from public sources has been cut because as much as anything else, librar- know today trace their roots back to sharply. But these efforts could under- ies really are places to go—something the middle of the 19th century, when mine the precious idea of a library as especially evident in crowded immi- they sprang up as extensions of the an egalitarian public institution where grant neighborhoods such as Flushing. relatively new public primary schools. money doesn’t matter and buys no Yet with the digital revolution well They were intended, in other words, extra privileges. Public libraries are under way, it’s worth asking at this as both educational and civic institu- different from subscription libraries. juncture whether America’s roughly tions, offering a way for grown-ups to
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 7
Working-CS5.5.indd 7 5/8/12 11:54 AM educate themselves at a time when not This in turn broadened their pur- (funded by Carnegie Corporation) many attended secondary school. pose. For example, they began not just called The Public Library—a People’s Almost from the outset, there was admitting children, but creating special University. These efforts were never tension between the idealism of librar- departments for them. The public at very successful; for one thing, commu- ians, who saw their role as one of pub- large wanted entertainment as much as nity colleges offered all kinds of adult lic uplift, and the desires of patrons, enlightenment, yet the democratization learning opportunities, and for another, who wanted free access to popular fic- of the library also provided an opening most library patrons weren’t interested tion. Some librarians took comfort in for librarians to go well beyond hand- in signing up for classroom education. the notion that such readers, sucked in ing out the latest literary love story. In the 1960s and 1970s, libraries con- by such light reading, would advance Reference departments, for example, ducted aggressive outreach programs to to more enlightening works, and no were created in the 1890s, putting extend their services beyond their often doubt some did. But librarians had little trained librarians and library resources middle-class clientele. Some libraries choice but to supply it, since accepting at the disposal of the citizenry. also struggled to reinvent themselves
How libraries will fit into the future of books remains unclear…but given public expectations and the important role libraries already play, it’s a good bet they’ll be involved, whatever the future holds.
public support meant bowing, at least Infused with missionary zeal, for the dawning computer age—as per- to some extent, to public tastes. librarians in the early 20th century real- haps they are still doing. The spread of public support for ized that libraries could be important Yet even with the Internet at their libraries was a crucial development in cultural institutions, especially in towns fingertips, Americans still need—and which Andrew Carnegie played a major and cities where culture was otherwise want—their public libraries, even if role. Beginning in 1886, Carnegie (and scarce. Carnegie libraries, for instance, only as a place to access the Internet. later, Carnegie Corporation of New were often the biggest and most impor- Most of us, though, want and expect York) spent $56 million to create 1,681 tant public buildings around, and many much more from our libraries, and public libraries in nearly as many U.S. contained meeting rooms that made it that’s reflected in every measure of communities, plus 828 more elsewhere easy for them to hold classes, lectures, public attitudes toward them. Consider in the world. In order to get Carnegie concerts and exhibitions. Many librar- that homes near libraries sell for higher funding, communities had to agree to ies in out-of-the-way places became prices. Two-thirds of American adults spend on annual maintenance 10 per- the center of social life as well as a say they visit a library at least once cent of the initial cost of the library. crucial entry point for local residents to annually. Last year voters approved a This meant a tax, one people were will- access culture and the arts—roles that remarkable 87 percent of library operat- ing to pay, but one that invested them persist to this day in small town librar- ing ballot measures, suggesting that tax- in the library whether they used it or ies across America. payers overwhelmingly believe they are not. Libraries became, more than ever Inevitably, libraries tried adult edu- getting their money’s worth from these before, truly public institutions. cation, spurred in part by a 1938 study venerable and much-loved institutions.
8 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 8 5/8/12 11:54 AM So for now at least, the American course, is lending books, to say noth- one user at a time, and some publishers people want their libraries. The ques- ing of videos and other material—all place restrictions on how many times tion then is, what will be the role of the wonderful stuff reductively known a given eBook can be loaned out. The the library in the digital tomorrow? nowadays as “content.” And public digital revolution is rattling the entire Susan Hildreth, a former top librarian libraries are well on the road to lend- publishing ecosystem, wiping out in Seattle and for the state of California ing that content in digital form, which bookstores and threatening publisher profit margins. How librar- ies will fit into the future of books remains unclear. But given public expectations and the important role librar- ies already play—account- ing for something like 10 percent of print-book sales, for example—it’s a good bet they’ll be involved, what- ever the future holds. Libraries have real chal- lenges ahead in balancing the needs of traditional read- ers against the many other cultural and civic functions that libraries can fulfill. But they also have advantages: as popular books in digital for- mat have grown more afford-
BOSTON BOSTON GLOBE GETTY IMAGES VIA able, and virtually the entire Sign at the reference desk of the Brookline, Massachusetts public library library of cinema is available for streaming at minimal cost, libraries can begin to who is now director of the federal will surely be the main form in which free themselves from the role of pro- Institute of Museum and Library it is consumed a decade or two from viding entertainment already amply Services, has thought about these now. OverDrive, a leading distributor supplied by the marketplace—a role issues and offers a sensible vision for of eBooks for libraries, reported that in librarians have long been uneasy about. what’s ahead. “I see three big goals for 2011 users checked out more than 35 Instead, librarians can focus on libraries,” she writes. “Provide engag- million digital titles, while 17 million their unique capabilities as repositories, ing learning experiences, become com- titles were put on hold. organizers and guides to knowledge. munity anchors, and provide access to Much remains unsettled in this They can provide a focal point for their content even as the devices for access- brave new world; theoretically, after all, communities, as well as a necessary ing that content change rapidly.” a single library owning a single digital refuge. And they can carry forward the As we’ve seen, libraries are already copy of every book could lend them all faith in improvement that has sustained working hard on providing engaged simultaneously to every library patron them all along. By upholding their great learning, and have been doing so for anywhere in the world. Of course, this tradition of public service, libraries will decades. As to their role as commu- would be the end of books sales as we continue to win public support—and, it nity anchors, well, that goes back more know them—and might well strangle is hoped, public dollars. It’s a great bar- than a century. Which leaves us with off literary production, since writ- gain for society, and one likely to keep the matter of access to the materials of ers would have no way to get paid for libraries in business long into the digi- culture. In the popular mind the best their work. Right now libraries usually tal future. known mission of the public library, of are only permitted to lend an eBook to
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 9
Working-CS5.5.indd 9 5/8/12 11:54 AM by FRANCIS J. GAVIN AND JAMES B. STEINBERG
MIND the GAP Why Policymakers and Scholars Ignore Each Other, and What Should be Done About it
Editor’s Note: One of the issues that Carnegie Corporation’s International Peace and Security Program seeks to address is how the knowledge generated by America’s academic community can be linked to the U.S. foreign policymaking process. In this article, two noted experts, Francis J. Gavin, Director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas and the Tom Slick Professor of International Affairs at the LBJ School, and James B. Steinberg, Dean of The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and former high-ranking U.S. foreign policy official, take on the question of how academic research can best contribute to the development of sound foreign and international security policy and, in cases when such scholar- ship might otherwise muddy the waters, what can be done to remedy that effect.
In recent months, the U.S. for- debate, fueled in part by a blizzard eign policy debate has focused with of articles, op-eds and cable network increasing intensity on how to deal appearances by academic scholars as with Iran’s nuclear program, and in well as former government officials particular, whether, and under what cir- and professional pundits. Some of these cumstances, the U.S. or Israel should contributions are highly rhetorical, but
use military force to prevent Iran from others purport to draw on academic COURTESY OF SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY COURTESY SASHA HAAGENSEN 1 acquiring a nuclear weapon. Any deci- research and theory. Given the level of Top: Francis J. Gavin, Director sion by a U.S. president to authorize scholarly activism, and the willingness of the Robert S. Strauss Center the use of force is a weighty one, but of the scholars to go beyond profes- for International Security and Law at the University of Texas in the case of Iran the decision either sional journals to enter into the public and the Tom Slick Professor of to act or acquiesce is especially diffi- arena, the issue of how to deal with International Affairs at the LBJ School. cult and consequential, and will have Iran poses in a very stark way a broader a profound and lasting effect on world issue that has increasingly preoccupied Bottom: James B. Steinberg, politics and American foreign policy both scholars and practitioners—just Dean of The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs for years to come. how useful is academic research in at Syracuse University. The issue has gained increasing areas of national security and interna- prominence in the national political tional relations to policymakers—and
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Working-CS5.5.indd 10 5/8/12 11:54 AM if, as our own experience suggests, that regime, inflame anti-American senti- but the one you will never read on contribution is at best limited, and often ment throughout the region and unleash the blogs or hear on any cable news even misguided, what can or should be a wider military conflagration? network—is that we simply cannot done to remedy the deficit? The potential consequences of any know ahead of time, with any usable Closely examining the Iran prob- of these scenarios are not limited to the degree of certainty, what the answers lem is useful because too much of the region around Iran. How would key to these questions will be, and there- debate over the utility of academic global actors such as Russia, China fore what optimal policy will turn out social science in the area of interna- and various Western European allies to be. Why? The answer is that none of tional affairs is highly abstract and respond, and how would our choices af- the tools that social science academ- prone to assertion instead of analysis. fect our long-term relations with them? ics labor so assiduously to develop and And even more important, it tends to What would be the effect of particular refine are capable of providing predic- gloss over the real-world complexities choices on other countries contemplat- tive outcomes with a usable degree of and uncertainties that are so sharply ing a decision to build nuclear weap- certainty. In their desire to achieve the illustrated by the dilemmas that policy- ons? What impact would U.S. actions rigor of their natural science counter- makers face in dealing with Iran. have on our decades-long global strat- parts, most social science academics In order to answer how academic egy of inhibiting proliferation by ex- have developed a profound aversion to research and theory might guide pol- tending our own nuclear deterrent to the inherent uncertainty and contextual icy choices on Iran, one would need our nonnuclear allies? The sum of the specificity that plagues strategic policy to understand both the immediate and actions of multiple participants, acting formulation and hew to the notion that long-term consequences of the policy and reacting to constantly changing cir- the theories they work with cannot the United States chose. This, in turn, cumstances, in time creates an infinite usefully make the transition from the requires an assessment of plausible sce- number of plausible but unknowable fu- “laboratory” to the real world. What narios that might emerge from compet- tures, some good for the United States, Steve Coll recently called the “cru- ing policy choices. If the United States some bad and many indeterminate. cible between uncertainty and risk” is chose not to bomb Iran, would countries Needless to say, the answers to not unique to U.S. decision-making in the region eschew their own nuclear this highly incomplete list of extraor- about Iran.2 Making global policy—as weapons and work with the U.S. to bal- dinarily important questions are criti- opposed to punditry—is difficult and ance against and contain a nuclear Iran? cal to any judgment on the costs and unforgiving. Or would Iran’s nuclear capability drive benefits of the different policy choices. This is, of course, not a novel obser- neighboring states to “bandwagon,” or The academics who have offered their vation. Nor does it offer much relief to ally with Iran, or seek their own nuclear unqualified opinions on what should the overworked, overstressed policy- weapons, undermining U.S. influence be done are—explicitly or implicitly— makers facing momentous decisions while destabilizing the region? And claiming to be able to answer these she or he cannot avoid, or encourage if the United States did successfully questions with enough confidence to the highly trained scholars and analysts strike, what are the chances such mili- affix the stamp of academic legitimacy who sense that their efforts are utterly tary action would lead to an overthrow to their prescription. ignored by the policy community in of the current regime and its replace- Yet, the experience of both authors Washington. But properly understood, ment with a government both friendly of this article (James Steinberg is a for- there are important lessons that can to the west and willing to forego mer senior policymaker; Francis Gavin help increase the utility of academic nuclear weapons? Or could a military is an historian of U.S. foreign policy) social science to international relations strike provide a lifeline to an unpopular convinces us that the “right” answer— practice and lead to better policies.
1 For a sense of how much is out there, look at the activity after “Time to Attack Iran,” an article by Matthew Kroenig, a Georgetown University professor, was published in Foreign Affairs. (See “Time to Attack Iran: Why a Strike Is the Least Bad Option,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2012.) Within weeks, three essays in reply from academics/experts were published in Foreign Affairs alone: Alexandre Debs and Nuno P. Monteiro, “The Flawed Logic of Striking Iran;” Colin H. Kahl, “Not Time to Attack Iran;” and Jamie M. Fly and Gary Schmitt, “The Case For Regime Change in Iran.” Kroenig’s article was in many ways a response to an earlier set of Foreign Affairs articles. This all highlights the at-times insular, “inside baseball,” nature of these debates. (See Eric S. Edelman, Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., and Evan Braden Montgomery, “The Dangers of a Nuclear Iran: The Limits of Containment;” James M. Lindsay and Ray Takeyh, “After Iran Gets the Bomb: Containment and Its Complications,” March/ April 2010. The Council on Foreign Relations, which publishes Foreign Affairs, published a sample of “expert” suggestions in “Ask the Experts: What Would Iran Do with a Bomb,” by Micah Zenko, February 21, 2012 (http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2012/02/21/ask-the-experts-what-would-iran-do-with-a-bomb/#more-1977). This is only a sample of what has appeared on the Council of Foreign Relations’ Web site. Peruse similar journals/Web sites, such as The National Interest and Foreign Policy, and you will find many more expert predictions and recommendations. This does not include items that appeared on opinion pages, in the “blogosphere” or on news networks. 2 Steve Coll, “Comment, Table Talk,” The New Yorker, February 6, 2012, available at: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/02/06/120206taco_talk_coll.
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Working-CS5.5.indd 11 5/8/12 11:54 AM Forecasts and predictions are of little demonstrated in Expert Political worry; nuclear weapons always provide use to a policymaker seeking optimal Judgment, a 20-year study that looked deterrence and stability and are there- outcomes in the face of radical uncer- at over 80,000 forecasts about world fore no threat to U.S. interests. Another tainty and immeasurable complexity. affairs, self-proclaimed authorities are tells us that a nuclear Iran will become Rather than assume away the problem little better at making accurate predic- emboldened, aggressive and perhaps with artificial simplifications, what tions than monkeys throwing darts at even share its weapons with terrorists. policymakers crave is help imagining a dartboard. According to Tetlocks’ These assessments are made, it should alternative scenarios and multiple out- research, knowing a lot about an issue be pointed out, with almost no access looks, while developing strategies to can actually make you a worse politi- or insight to the calculations and delib- mitigate the downside risks and maxi- cal forecaster than knowing very lit- erations of the policymakers in Iran mize upside benefits as they jump into tle.3 And recent research casts doubt responsible for their nuclear program.5 an unknowable future. on some of the core assumptions that Such binary choices—“either-or We believe that if different types of underlie important strands of political choices,” which are the standard fare of expertise—from across the social sci- science and economic theory, which academic hedgehogs—provide far less ences, history and “strategic studies/ frequently form the basis for policy to policymakers than the ivory tower international relations” community— prescriptions—for example, that politi- realizes. Consider the case of NATO were brought together with practitio- cal leaders can be assumed to be utility enlargement, one of the most conten- ners, in an environment that encouraged maximizers, or that the internal compo- tious and consequential policy debates honest debate and collaboration and sition and history of states are largely of the 1990s. Like the Iran question not point-scoring, the benefits could be irrelevant in predicting how they will today, this issue brought out the aca- enormous. If participants were encour- behave in response to external events. demic heavyweights. On one side were aged to be candid about the limits as Ironically, those experts who make the “realists” who warned that enlarge- well as the insights of what their dis- the most bold and confident predic- ment was a direct and unwise challenge ciplines can contribute to understand- tions, based on singular views of how to Russia’s security interests, risking a ing the consequences of policy choices, the world works—for example, the new and dangerous Cold War. On the it would be possible to achieve both international system is anarchic and other side stood liberal international- greater coherence and humility in our war prone, civilizations clash, dicta- ists, who believed that NATO’s security foreign policymaking and the process tors should never be negotiated with, blanket, in combination with member- would be greatly enhanced. This would democratization and market economies ship in the European Union, would be far more useful to decision-makers will end war, etc.—are both the most consolidate democracy and economic than the one-off predictions, historical sought after for their judgments and the reform in Central and Eastern Europe, analogies and binary choices that are most likely to be wrong. These “parsi- avoid a dangerous security vacuum currently offered by many experts. monious theorists” or “hedgehogs,” as in Europe’s heart and lead to a more the political philosopher Isaiah Berlin peaceful continent. Each side was dis- Call Off the Monkeys once dubbed them, are not scarce when missive of the other, seeing little room Shouldn’t experts—scholars, pun- it comes to providing advice to states- for compromise or nuance.6 dits, analysts and others trained to men on any number of critical foreign What did the policymakers do? understand international relations—be policy issues.4 We see this in the cur- Statesmen, unlike academics, do not able to help us make these difficult rent debate over the consequences of a have the luxury of “betting” on one predictions? In fact, as Philip Tetlock nuclear Iran. One school tells us not to theory or the other, and in this case,
3 See Philip Tetlock, Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005). See also Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner, “Why Most Predictions Are So Bad,” Forbes, March 17, 2011, available at: http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/17/why-predictions-bad-leadership-managing-forecast. html. 4 Isaiah Berlin, The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy’s View of History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970). In this work, Berlin suggested that foxes [are people] who know many things; hedgehogs know one big thing. 5 For a classic example of how academics frame the policy questions surrounding nuclear proliferation in a binary manner, see Scott Sagan and Kenneth Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed, (New York: Norton, 2002). 6 Using terms like “folly” and “flawed logic” in the title of your article to describe your opponent’s position is hardly conducive to respectful, productive debate. For several examples, see Michael E. Brown, “The Flawed Logic of NATO Expansion,” Survival (Spring 1995): pp. 34–52; Karl Heinz Kamp, “The Folly of Rapid NATO Expansion,” Foreign Policy (Spring 1995): pp. 116–29; Amos Perlmutter and Ted Galen Carpenter, “NATO’s Expensive Trip East: The Folly of Enlargement,” Foreign Affairs, January/ February 1998. One piece that is quite fair lays out the different perspectives the major international relations theories frame, explains key issues like the NATO debate and recommends mixing and matching theories when appropriate. It is by Stephen M. Walt, “International Relations: One World, Many Theories,” Foreign Policy, Spring 1998, pp. 29–35, available at http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/S6800/courseworks/foreign_pol_walt.pdf.
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Working-CS5.5.indd 12 5/8/12 11:54 AM borrowed the better elements from both makers and was ultimately of little use. no guarantee that using a more recent theories, while adding elements no The heavyweight battle between real- historical incident—for example, the academic had considered. The ensuing ists and liberal internationalists was erroneous intelligence about weapons strategy enlarged NATO while keeping not, as advertised in the academy, the of mass destruction in Iraq that led to the door open to Russian membership. “main event.” an eight-year, trillion-dollar American New structures, such as the Partnership military intervention—would be for Peace and the Organization for Lessons of the Past? any more helpful in making policy Security and Co-operation in Europe, What about looking to history for toward Iran. were created to transcend the Cold lessons? Pundits and policymakers Even more sophisticated and War divide. Interestingly, the policy in- both commonly explore the past to find nuanced uses of history are not without novation came not from the academy, examples of policies that can guide cur- their difficulties. When thinking about but from practitioners and the think- rent decision-making. While at first the consequences of a nuclear-armed tank world. blush this seems wise, it is not fail-safe. Iran, some historians have pointed Was the policy a success? As Zhou Four decades ago, the historian Ernest to how the Johnson administration Enlai purportedly said about the French May warned against the tendency for responded to the nuclearization of the revolution, “it is too soon to say.” To policymakers and analysts to employ People’s Republic of China in October
Pundits and policymakers both commonly explore the past to find examples of policies that can guide current decision- making. While at first blush this seems wise, it is not fail-safe.
be sure, the worst predictions of both simple but misleading analogies from 1964. After weighing the potential ben- camps have not been realized, and the past to justify difficult policies.8 efits and costs of a preventive strike, scholars have not, for the most part, Would allowing the aggressive and the United States accepted and actually anticipated the challenges that have dangerous regime in Iran to acquire downplayed the significance of China’s emerged. The charge made at the time nuclear weapons be akin to another nuclear capability. Mao’s China— by the distinguished diplomatic his- “Munich,” the wartime conference which had been reckless abroad and torian, John Lewis Gaddis, that the where British Prime Minister Neville ruthless at home—did not become Clinton administration’s policy “vio- Chamberlain infamously capitulated to more dangerous as an atomic power. lated every one” of the core principles Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s outrageous In fact, in less than a decade after its of good grand strategy while positing demands? Or would a dangerous mili- nuclear test, China had become a de his belief, shared by most academ- tary action halfway across the world facto ally of the United States, and a ics, that NATO enlargement was “ill- bog us down in another “Vietnam,” a crucial partner in the Cold War rivalry conceived, ill-timed, and above all quagmire of a war that saps American with the Soviet Union. It is hard to ill-suited to the realities of the post- blood and treasure not justified by imagine such an alliance if the United Cold-War world,” seems, in retrospect, national interest? In both cases, the States had decided to strike in 1964. questionable at best.7 The key, how- simplistic use of lessons from the Does this argue against striking ever, is to not argue who was right or past obscures and distorts more than Iran? Not necessarily. The Johnson wrong, but to highlight how the polar- it reveals, and may be misleading for administration’s decision not to strike ized academic debate did not address those trying to make a decision about China can only be understood in a many of the key concerns of policy- whether or not to strike Iran. There is larger and long-since-forgotten con-
7 John Lewis Gaddis, “History, Grand Strategy, and NATO Enlargement,” Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, Volume 40, Issue 1, 1998, p. 145. Of course, diplomatic historians had no monopoly on being wrong about NATO. John Mearsheimer—whose prestige among political scientists equals that of Gaddis among historians—suggested, among other things, that giving a unified Germany nuclear weapons was the best way to minimize the instability, conflict and danger of great-power war in Europe that would inevitably ensue at the end of the Cold War. See John Mearsheimer, “Back to the Future: Instability in Europe after the Cold War,” International Security, Summer 1990, Vol. 15, No. 1. 8 See Ernest May, “Lessons” of the Past: The Use and Misuse of History in American Foreign Policy (New York: Oxford University Press); also Richard Neustadt and Ernest May, Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers (New York, Free Press, 1998).
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Working-CS5.5.indd 13 5/8/12 11:54 AM text: an important shift in U.S. strat- a resurgence of nationalism and even Walt Rostow argued that the Johnson egy aimed at managing the complex militarism, as it had during the interwar administration could make “U.S. mili- and interconnected issues of global period. In the end, U.S. policies to slow tary power sufficiently relevant to the nuclear proliferation, relations with the spread of nuclear weapons were situation in Southeast Asia,” to elimi- the Soviet Union, the war in Southeast quite effective, as there are far fewer nate the impulse of states in the region Asia, and the volatile issues surround- nuclear states in the world today than to acquire their own atomic weapons.13 ing the political and military status anyone in 1964 predicted. Furthermore, If the United States abandoned South of Germany. the most alarming forecasts about how Vietnam, it was feared, America’s allies What is often forgotten in the story countries like West Germany and Japan might lose faith in our promises to pro- is that the same policymakers who would react to their nonnuclear status tect them and respond by seeking their eschewed preventive strikes against were, fortunately, wildly off the mark. own nuclear weapons.14 A nuclear tip- China in the fall of 1964 made several The fall of 1964 also saw these ping point that might start with Japan other related decisions they consid- same policymakers decide to esca- could spread throughout East Asia to ered even more momentous. First, they late U.S. military efforts in Vietnam.10 include Australia, South Korea and made a bold decision to work with their One of the reasons for escalating in Indonesia.15 Unchecked, proliferation Cold War adversary, the Soviet Union, Vietnam was demonstrating to nonnu- pressures could move to other regions
Policymakers know that to assume the worst is to foreordain it and that even if efforts to manage the U.S.- China relationship may ultimately fail, they will have a hard time explaining to future generations why they didn’t even try.
to aggressively pursue a global nuclear clear countries—Japan, South Korea, of the world, and even lead to pressure nonproliferation regime.9 Most con- Taiwan, Indonesia, Australia, India, on West Germany to nuclearize, threat- troversially, this policy shift included and yes, West Germany—that the ening the stability of Central Europe. prohibiting some of our closest allies United States would defend vulnerable Examined on their own merits, two from acquiring atomic weapons. Many nations, even if they were threatened of the policies—the decision not to experts both within and outside of by a nuclear-armed state or its proxy, in launch a preventive strike against China government worried this could be a this case, China and North Vietnam.11 and the decision to cooperate with the potentially catastrophic mistake. It As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Soviet Union to limit the spread of was foolish, many argued, to think Defense for International Security nuclear weapons—might be judged cooperation with the Soviets was pos- Affairs, Henry Rowen, wrote at the great successes, while the third—the sible, nor was it prudent to try to pre- time, “A U.S. defeat in Southeast Asia U.S. military escalation in Vietnam—is vent sovereign states, particularly our may come to be attributed in part to the seen as a disaster. But can they really friends, from possessing their own unwillingness of the U.S. to take on be examined apart from one another? If deterrent. Denying modern weapons North Vietnam supported by a China Vietnam is understood at least in part as to the Federal Republic of Germany, that now has the bomb.”12 U.S. State a function of the Johnson administra- some experts predicted, could lead to Department Policy Planning Director tion’s successful efforts to encourage
9 Francis J. Gavin, “Blasts from the Past: Nuclear Proliferation and Rogue States Before the Bush Doctrine,” International Security, Winter 2005, pp. 100–135. 10 For the best account of how this policy developed, see Frederick Logevall, Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001). 11 Report by the Committee on Nuclear Proliferation, January 21, 1965, Johnson Library, National Security File, Committee File, Committee on Nuclear Proliferation, Report (Final, 12/21/65), Box 8. 12 Henry Rowen, “Effects of the Chinese Bomb on Nuclear Spread,” November 2, 1964, National Security Files, Committee on Nonproliferation, Box 5, LBJL. 13 Memo, Rostow to Rusk, “Nuclear Proliferation and the Crises in South-east Asia and the Atlantic,” November 4, 1964, RG 59 Department of State, Records of Policy Planning Council, NARA, p. 1. 14 This argument is made by Matthew Jones in his book, After Hiroshima: The United States, Race, and Nuclear Weapons in Asia, 1945-1965 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 401–450. 15 Report by the Committee on Nuclear Proliferation, supra at 12.
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Working-CS5.5.indd 14 5/8/12 11:54 AM nuclear nonproliferation, seek détente The Iran nuclear challenge is but health, energy, cyber-related issues, and cooperation with the Soviets, and one example of how the academic nuclear arms control and the future of manage the German question, might policy debate often shortchanges the international institutions, to say nothing the policy make more sense (if being real-world policy problem. Consider, of relations with crucial allies, neutrals still no less disastrous in its conse- for example, the case of U.S.–China re- and potential adversaries in the region quences)? And since all three policies lations. Policymakers would be grate- and beyond. A choice on each of these were crafted by the same policymakers ful for useful knowledge as they face issues influences and alters the calcula- in the same administration at the same an issue of extraordinary complexity tions on other issues, through a com- time, doesn’t that reveal the difficulties and consequence. What does the ivory plex, never-ending interactive process. inherent in assessing U.S. foreign pol- tower offer? There are, to be sure, use- And of course, neither camp pays much icy? The point here is not to judge any ful, fine-grained studies that examine attention to domestic political factors of these decisions, or justify the war in the political, cultural, demographic shaping policymakers’ choices. Vietnam (quite the contrary), but only and economic trends in China. The In approaching U.S. policy toward to highlight how misleading it can be to work that generates the most atten- China, policymakers do not have the cherry-pick particular policies without tion and acclaim, however, is again luxury to view the world through the a greater understanding of the complex, the soundings of the hedgehogs. Once simplistic framework of the academic horizontal connections between seem- again, the realists do battle with the hedgehog. They know that to assume ingly unrelated issues, linkages that are liberal internationalists. the worst is to foreordain it, and that rarely recognized by those outside the At the extreme, the realists argue even if efforts to manage the relation- world of the top decision-makers. that the security competition between ship may ultimately fail, they will have Consider the question of U.S. delib- China and the U.S. is inevitable, regard- a hard time explaining to future genera- erations over a nuclear Iran. Certainly less of what today’s policymakers on tions why they didn’t even try. Yet they there are other, interrelated policies, either side decide to do. Because these also know that relying upon globaliza- both in the Middle East and world- decisions can’t bind future generations, tion’s beneficent invisible hand ren- wide, that would be enormously influ- the only rational policy for the United ders them hostage to ill fortune, which enced by a U.S. decision to strike or not States to adopt is to prepare for confron- explains the powerful instinct to hedge. strike. Pundits may examine the issue tation.16 The liberal internationalists, on None of this means that the practitio- close at hand, in isolation, while poli- the other hand, ignore the lessons of the ners have the better answers—only cymakers have to think about how their first half of the 20th century and argue that they face different imperatives, decisions will reverberate over time that interdependence has made mili- and the academic debate, as currently and on issues seemingly unrelated to tary conflict outdated and unthinkable. constructed, offers little help in how the theocracy in Tehran, such as global Neither side spends much time assess- to navigate the complex, difficult and energy prices, the war in Afghanistan, ing the implications that contingent, consequential choices they must make. the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, unpredictable events, such as an envi- North Korea’s nuclear capacity, the ronmental catastrophe in China or a A Proposal for Change strength of the global nuclear nonpro- complete meltdown of the global finan- We suspect that one of the reasons liferation regime, the credibility of our cial markets, might have on U.S.–China the academic debate is so often un- existing extended deterrence commit- relations, because their “parsimonious” helpful is because, unlike the situation ments, relations with China and Russia, theories tend to exclude all other vari- policymakers face, experts rarely face and the trajectory of the “Arab Spring,” ables. Policymakers understand, in any consequences if they are wrong. just to name a few. No assessment of a way that eludes most experts, that As Tetlock’s study revealed, these what is the “right” policy toward Iran there is no such thing as a “unitary” prognosticators and pundits are rarely can be made without acknowledging policy toward China, but a complex held accountable for their errors. On these complex, uncertain connections, “mélange” of choices on critical, inter- the contrary, scholars’ reputations and and the near impossibility of predict- related issues including human rights, identity are deeply intertwined with ing how these factors will interact and international financial and monetary their theoretical bent, which is the ne unfold in the months and years to come. policy, climate change, global public plus ultra for academic respectability in
16 For an example of this view, see Robert D. Kaplan, “Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things),” The Atlantic, January/February 2012, accessed at: http:// www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/01/why-john-j-mearsheimer-is-right-about-some-things/8839/ .
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Working-CS5.5.indd 15 5/8/12 11:54 AM most social science disciplines. Experts political experts, especially from the other’s, making an effort to match par- have no incentive to demonstrate hu- ubiquitous hedgehogs that dominate ticular knowledge with specific issues. mility or admit what they do not know, the digital age. Yet these “second best” A somewhat similar effort was, of nor are they encouraged to show em- policies are often less likely to lead to course, tried once before—President pathy to decision-makers facing mo- disaster than the bold but untested rec- Eisenhower’s Solarium exercise—with mentous decisions under extraordinary ommendations of prominent experts. great success.19 Imagine a comparable pressure. Indeed, their ability to com- As Adam Gopnik recently pointed out if broader and deeper endeavor, incor- mand the precious geography of the in his assessment of American crimi- porating many of the innovations that op-ed page usually turns on the ability nal justice policies, “Epidemics seldom have emerged since 1953, including to make categorical, rather than contin- end with miracle cures.” Oftentimes, game theory, scenario planning and gent assertions. “merely chipping away at the problem detailed historical case studies. Policymakers and elected officials, around the edges” is the very best thing How would this exercise be dif- on the other hand, are not only lam- to do; keep chipping away patiently ferent than several other, worthwhile basted in public if a decision turns out and, eventually, you get to its heart.”17 efforts to, in the words of Alexander poorly and potentially face the loss of Is there a way that experts could George, “bridge the gap” between their jobs, they also carry the often- contribute more constructively to poli- international relations theorists and for- heavy personal burden of responsibil- cymakers eager for any idea or sets eign policy practitioners?20 Three core ity for a failed policy. Understanding of ideas that can help them make bet- principles, often lacking from these the different environments that the ter policy choices? During a recent otherwise erstwhile efforts, must be expert and the decision-maker oper- workshop hosted by the University present if the exercise is to succeed. ate in—the first where error has little of Texas, historians, strategists and or no consequence, the latter where current and former statesmen gath- Principle One: In ter dis ci plinarity the political and personal costs of mis- ered to find answers.18 One big idea This is, of course, everyone’s takes can be astronomical—is critical emerged: singular theories, models and favorite buzzword inside the academy, to understanding why expert ideas have historical analogies, in isolation and but the fact is, few in the ivory tower less influence on decision-making than unchallenged, are of little value to poli- actually embrace the full meaning and might be ideal and how to improve the cymakers. But various theories, models consequence of the concept. Why? The utility of the interaction between the and histories taken together and in con- division of higher education into sin- two communities. versation with each other, and which gular disciplines has led to an obses- The truth is, as every experienced are tailored to recognize the realities sion with methods and “tools”—be policymaker knows, there are rarely faced by policymakers, could poten- it game theory, statistical methods or “magic bullets,” or simple solutions tially provide quite a bit of insight. textual analysis—which is inherently at when facing radical uncertainty and an How? Imagine a mixed group of odds with the practitioners’ “problem- unknowable future in a complex inter- experts and statesman, meeting off-the- focused” interest in exploiting what- national environment. Confidence is record, temporarily suspending their ever tool or method sheds light on the unwarranted, overconfidence is dan- desire to predict, blog or be on televi- issue at hand. The idea of problem- gerous and simple, binary choices elu- sion, spending a day or two intensely driven research and teaching was once sive. This explains why policymakers imagining and debating alternative an impetus behind the creation of pol- often prefer to “muddle through,” buy scenarios that might emerge from a icy schools, but these are often looked time or seek a compromise between U.S. decision to bomb or not bomb down on by the disciplinary priesthood, extreme policy options, if only to Iran. Experts and policymakers would which works hard to persuade the best decrease the downside risk of any deci- be forced to surface their assump- and brightest future scholars that their sion. These are, unfortunately, the very tions, and test their theories, models professional future depends on their positions most likely to draw fire from and historical analogies against each ability to make a mark through theo-
17 Adam Gopnik, “The Caging of America,” The New Yorker, January 30, 2012, accessed at: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/01/30/120130crat_atlarge_ gopnik?currentPage=all. 18 See http://www.strausscenter.org/strauss-news/university-of-texas-inaugurates-new-multidisciplinary-program-in-history-strategy-and-statecraft.html. 19 For accounts of the Solarium exercise, see Robert R. Bowie and Richard H. Immerman, Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000); and Marc Trachtenbeg, “A ‘Wasting Asset’: American Strategy and the Shifting Nuclear Balance, 1949–1954,” in History and Strategy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991). 20 Alexander L. George, Bridging the Gap: Theory & Practice in Foreign Policy (Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, 1993).
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Working-CS5.5.indd 16 5/8/12 11:54 AM retical contributions to an individual tion is moving in the right direction or ognize when a policy has gone bad and discipline, rather than through policy- not. In other words, scholars could pro- change course quickly. oriented research or eclectic models of vide help with “signposts” to analyze Statesmen would not be the only explanation. This is a tremendous waste whether the underlying assumptions ones to benefit. Such an exercise could of intellectual firepower. And within are valid and the policy is on track, sensitize experts to the inherent dif- the policy schools themselves, there is and tools to avoid type 1, or false posi- ficulties, the trade-offs and the unin- still a strong bias toward quantitative tive, and type 2, false negative, errors tended consequences of making U.S. methods and modeling whose utility when interpreting real-world evidence. foreign policy. This might reduce the in the international affairs context is The hedgehog tendency toward “cry- shrillness and polarization that often marginal. If the best minds could go ing wolf” or excessive skepticism is of mark such debates over important, con- beyond collaboration to truly multidis- little use, and must be left at the door of tested issues, and make expert knowl- ciplinary theories—perhaps something any exercise. edge more useful and accessible. The like a “unified field theory”—their very process of working together in this work would better mirror, and be of Principle Three: A seat at the table fashion would potentially do far more greater use, to policymakers. There are Academics often ask to be invited to increase the levels of understanding examples of this kind of pathbreaking into the decision-making process, and between the “expert” and policy worlds
The truth is, as every experienced policymaker knows, there are rarely “magic bullets” or simple solutions when facing radical uncertainty and an unknowable future in a complex international environment.
work being done in the applied sci- we believe that under the conditions than the many well-intentioned pro- ences, but international relations theo- we lay out, having scholars involved grams out there seeking to “translate” rists have, up to now, largely scorned could be very beneficial. But by the academic work for a policy audience. such an approach. same token, decision-makers have to If both pundits and policymakers be allowed into the often-inscrutable alike acknowledged the impossibil- Principle Two: Embrace “second world of the ivory tower, and help with ity of knowing what the future brings, best” theory the designing of curricula, academic while being willing to both admit Policymakers do not operate in an programs and the development of and forgive honest mistakes, it could idealized world where initial condi- research agendas. Cooperation cannot increase both our humility and our flex- tions can be perfectly specified, and be a one-way street. ibility, leading, perhaps, to better, more troublesome, unquantifiable vari- What would be the payoff of effective policies. While such a process ables can be ignored or simplified into “bridging the gap” exercises that may not tell us whether bombing Iran “dummy” variables. Decision theory embraced these principles? Not only or refraining from doing so is “right,” is well and good, but as some of the could novel policy ideas emerge; a rig- it will better prepare all concerned most innovative scholars have repeat- orous vetting of contrasting, alternative for unexpected, unintended and chal- edly shown, decision process is at least futures would act as a sort of de facto lenging consequences that will surely as decisive. It is no accident that the contingency planning should a particu- result, regardless of which policy is best of the scholars are those who have lar policy choice eventually turn out to chosen. Given the enormous long-term also been involved in practice. And as be wrong. Policymakers who had gone stakes of the choices before our presi- important as good ideas are at the front through this process, removed from dent, it is the least that policymakers end of policy, what practitioners really the political pressures and groupthink and experts can do. need are ways of assessing the con- of the Beltway, might learn in advance stant stream of “real-time” evidence to what she or he should do if something determine whether the policy in ques- goes awry, and be more willing to rec-
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 17
Working-CS5.5.indd 17 5/8/12 11:54 AM NONPROLIFERAT Training the best and brightest to stop the spr e
From the detonation of the first of the Cold War era has dropped off, pared are students at the James Martin atomic bomb in 1945, to the bombard- and experts are leaving the field after Center for Nonproliferation Studies ment of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to a lifetime’s work to curb nuclear arms. (CNS), part of the Monterey Institute the Cold War buildup of enough nukes Which prompts us to wonder: Who will of International Studies in California. A to destroy civilization several times take over when the time comes to pass grantee of Carnegie Corporation with over—efforts to control nuclear weap- the torch? offices in Washington, D.C. and Vienna, ons that began well over sixty years ago What’s needed is a new cadre of Austria, the Center is the world’s larg- and have persisted ever since. Today, highly trained specialists to combat the est nongovernmental organization rogue states and terrorists have re- spread of weapons of mass destruction. dedicated to nonproliferation educa- placed global superpowers as the great- There are some extraordinary young tion. Through coursework, research est and most complex threat. Yet the people ready to assume that role, and and firsthand experience, CNS builds heavy investment in nonproliferation many of the most promising, best pre- students’ understanding of why states
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Working-CS5.5.indd 18 5/8/12 11:54 AM Several hundred students earned a for his small start-up in 1989. He began Certificate in Nonproliferation Studies with a Soviet Nonproliferation Visiting between from CNS between 1999, the Fellows Program for a handful of prom- year the Center was established, and ising young Soviet journalists, scien- 2010, when it launched the country’s tists and scholars, few of whom knew first MA degree in Nonproliferation much about the issue. “Until we got our and Terrorism Studies, which enrolls center up and running no one was doing an average of 100 students per year. this work,” Potter says. “From the start “Although the total number of students we built our own curriculum.” Twenty- trained at CNS may pale in comparison two years later, with graduates in every with graduate programs in other areas, corner of the world, he’s justly proud of it has had an outsized role in seeding the “magnificent international commu- the nonproliferation field in the U.S. nity of young—and now also somewhat and beyond,” notes Stephen Del Rosso, aging—nonproliferation specialists we Program Director for International have helped create.” Peace and Security. “CNS has become “Education is simply peace- the principal pipeline for building exper- building by another name,” former tise in the field, and linking research and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan policy—objectives that inform much of said. Experts throughout the field ac- the work supported by the Corporation’s knowledge its vital importance, Potter grantmaking in nuclear security.” stresses, and have even agreed to “Education and training are abso- make an education action item part of lutely essential to the nonproliferation the international Treaty on the Non- field, but generally neglected as a means Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to combat the spread of nuclear weap- (NPT). So he finds it frustrating that ons,” says Patricia Moore Nicholas, the many foundations and national gov- AREN HEROUX by K T Carnegie Corporation project manager ernments still prefer quick fixes for who oversees the CNS grants as part of complex problems and look for demon- the foundation’s strategy for promot- strable indicators of success. “Unless ing nuclear security. “We develop and you invest now you have no possibility nurture junior and midcareer nuclear of changing mindsets and creating an A TION specialists through grants that support international community,” he stresses. networks, education and on-the-job “One is hard pressed to demonstrate the training. It’s part of a focus on indi- impact of the approach in one year or r ead of WMDs vidual human capacity building,” she two or even four to five years.” explains. “Our approach is to pick out Potter’s knack for detecting talent talented people and give them the sup- is one key to the program’s achieve- pursue nuclear, chemical and biologi- port they need.” Why CNS? “The direc- ments. He insists on recruiting only cal weapons and what can be done to tor, Bill Potter, is building tomorrow’s the “best and the brightest” for work halt and reverse their spread. Graduates global community of nonproliferation on the world stage. “There are differ- enter the workplace equipped with a experts today. He pioneered nonpro- ent ways to determine potential,” he practical action plan for reducing the liferation education and is planting the explains. “Academic excellence mat- dangers posed by WMDs, ready and seeds for 25 years from now.” ters, but there has to be an element of able to make a difference. Small won- In its idyllic setting on the California passion too. It’s very, very important. der the center’s alums occupy key po- coast, the Center offers the best pos- sitions throughout the field—in policy sible environment for researching and Karen Theroux is an editor/writer in the analysis, diplomacy, science, journal- analyzing nonproliferation issues, away Corporation’s public affairs department ism and education—often shifting spe- from the pressures of New York and with many years’ experience in educa- cialties as the years pass. DC. Potter chose Monterey as the site tional publishing.
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Working-CS5.5.indd 19 5/8/12 11:54 AM If you don’t have a passion for issues, in sync with the president’s assertion ended up as chair. He connected me you’ll burn out.” This zeal may account that “moral leadership is more power- with the ambassador of Chile who needs for the number of alums still working ful than any weapon.” Global citizens help during prepcom. It just happened.” in nonproliferation years later. “The still in their twenties, they’re ready to Umayam speaks for all CNS stu- easy thing is training,” Potter says. advance the cause of peace, and come dents in describing Potter’s arms con- “Sustaining is much more difficult.” Yet to Monterey for classes, fellowships trol simulation class as the turning many do stick with the field—so many and internships in policy, technology, point in her educational experience. in fact they’re proud to have picked up foreign languages, trade, law, analysis, In this one-semester course, students the nickname “Monterey Mafia.” negotiation—virtually everything they role-play representatives of a country “I can’t go to a meeting anywhere need to master for a career in nonpro- (not their own) at mock bilateral or in the world without bumping into my liferation. Their life stories and ideas multilateral treaty negotiations. Potter students,” Potter says. He finds them in for the future give rise to renewed op- says he can only describe what happens Vienna, Geneva, Tokyo, even Beijing, timism about the peace-building com- during the simulations as alchemy. where the Center has trained over 40 munity’s continuance, and its power to “I really don’t know what takes over junior diplomats from the China mis- solve this problem in time. the students,” he says. “They develop sion. Potter says he’s often asked how Born in the Philippines, Maria empathy—the capacity to see with the he’s able to sleep at night, working Lovely Lumabi Umayam moved to eyes of others. We also include junior in what some consider a dismal field. Los Angeles at age 11, then to Portland diplomats from various countries in the “The students here have such idealism where she attended Reed College. Her mix; they’re fairly experienced but you and energy and that provides a glimmer dream was to become a spoken word can’t tell the pros from the students.” of hope,” he says. “It’s building this poet, until she encountered “a really Potter thinks the simulation exercise, community of young people who have great political science professor” and a technique he developed early on as a increasingly shared values about the changed her major and her life plans. teaching assistant, appeals to students work we’re doing and the need to find A college thesis on the arms race led to because it’s not just an academic exer- common ground. That’s what keeps me an internship at the Stimson Center in cise but an opportunity to interact with in the business.” Washington, D.C. and eventually to a real policymakers. search for the right graduate program “The best thing about the simu- Peace-builders in Training in international security—which is lations is that they are as real as pos- “Young people can lead the way in how she landed at Monterey and CNS. sible,” Umayam says. They give overcoming old conflicts,” President “International security seemed like you students an opportunity to try out vari- Barak Obama said, spotlighting the should need connections,” Umayam ous approaches—pushing, thinking, critical role the next generation must says, “and mine was definitely a cold challenging, questioning. Participants play. It was his first foreign policy search. But this place is accessible and must develop a willingness to listen to speech, delivered in Prague, Czech they embrace talent even at a young others as well as a willingness to chal- Republic, promising to “seek the peace age. As a 24-year-old that’s something lenge, she says. “Being approachable is and security of a world without nuclear I appreciate.” the key to negotiations,” Umayam has weapons.” One year later the president Bristling with enthusiasm, Umayam learned. “Yet this doesn’t happen at the returned to Prague to sign the New describes her experiences at the Center. policy table, but during smaller gath- START Treaty, a strategic arms control A few minutes into the conversation erings, where people connect. When I agreement with Russia significantly re- she casually mentions that she’ll be decided to chair, I did not know how an ducing both countries’ nuclear arsenals, part of the Chilean delegation at the ambassador is supposed to be, but after in a ceremony with President Medvedev. first Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) a while you get into the tone of it. That agreement resulted from the Preparatory Committee (prepcom), to “The breakdown is 50/50 knowledge kind of high-stakes deal-making cov- be held in Vienna in April 2012 (a meet- and diplomacy,” she says, “which to me ered in CNS classrooms, where training ing that prepares for the NPT Review is the art of knowing when not to speak. hones both practical skills and political Conference scheduled in 2015). How Another thing I have learned at CNS is viewpoints. Despite varying nation- did she manage that? “I signed up for Dr. that you can be a fantastic politician, but alities, diverse life experience and dis- Potter’s nonproliferation arms control if you don’t know the science you will tinctive goals, CNS students all seem treaty simulation,” she explains, “and get your policy wrong. You don’t have
20 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 20 5/8/12 11:54 AM to be a nuclear physicist or engineer, but wanted to do something to contribute you need to know the basics. You need to the clock not reaching midnight. to know about production, weaponiza- Growing up, I always had the idea that tion, how a nuke program may be devel- the region I lived in was very unique. oped. If you want to understand policy I saw it as a hotspot. The year that I you have to get molecular.” sensed the most volatility was during Another interest of Umayam’s is the the 2000 Palestinian uprising. But then way women in international security with Mohamed El Baradei winning the interact, which she notes they do differ- Nobel Peace Prize during my first year ently than men. “Now in nonprolifera- as an undergrad in the U.S., I also saw Maria Lovely tion we have Rose Gottemoeller (acting how he contributed to international Lumabi Umayam under secretary of state for arms control peace and it was an inspiration. and international security) and a number “At Monterey you cannot stereotype of female figures. It’s a testament to the anyone,” Kamel says, “and it makes rise of women,” she says. “As an aspir- you appreciate everyone.” Students ing policy practitioner, I’d like to see benefit from the school’s relationships what I can do as a woman and a woman all over the world. An alum who had of color. Even if there are women in the interned at a Jordan think tank made field, there are few U.S. women of color it possible for Kamel, who had never representing our policy. These are the been anywhere in the Middle East out- different levels it challenges me to think side Egypt, to spend a summer work- about. It’s very cool.” ing in Jordan. Then, through Monterey Karim Kamel is a 27-year-old Institute’s International Professional research associate at CNS from Cairo, Service Semester (IPSS) program, he
Karim Kamel Egypt. He attended the American landed an internship in Vienna with the University in Cairo, then received his Commission for the Comprehensive B.A. from San Jose State with a major Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization in political science and a minor in biol- (CTBTO). “Vienna is such a global- “You can be a ogy. His manner is breezy, his expres- ized place,” he says, “and I got to meet sion intense. “Nonproliferation lies in some of the international icons of disar- fantastic politician, the intersection between science and mament, even Ambassador Tibor Tóth, policy,” Kamel says, “and that’s ex- CTBTO’s executive secretary.” but if you don’t actly what I want to do. Coming from Returning to California for his know the science you the Middle East, I’m trying to accom- final semester, Kamel participated plish something that would enhance in a monitoring class run by Dr. will get your policy security and make it more sustainable. Patricia Lewis, deputy director and Verification takes a lot of understand- scientist-in-residence at the Center, wrong. You don’t ing of science, but you also have to ad- who served for 10 years as the direc- have to be a nuclear dress the dogma of nuclear deterrence tor of the United Nations Institute for and the role nuclear weapons play in Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in physi cist or engineer, the security perception in the region.” Geneva, Switzerland. “We went over Kamel’s concern with nukes began the final 2010 NPT document, word by but you need to know in childhood. “I was six years old, word like lawyers. How thorough is it? the basics…. If you watching a news show called This Day What does it mean? Can we hold coun- in History. They were talking about the tries accountable? The problem with want to understand atomic doomsday clock, and ‘this day’ the documents is that they aren’t writ- policy you have to was the day when it had come closest to ten coherently,” Kamel contends. “For midnight. I really thought the dooms- instance, noncompliance is not specifi- get molecular.” day clock would come to an end and I cally defined. So these loose concepts
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 21
Working-CS5.5.indd 21 5/8/12 11:54 AM may bring some benefits, but also experience played a role in her intense many problems. My assignment was reaction to events at the World Trade to examine the Middle East section. I Center. “Because of my father’s job in tried to design a tool by which we can research, I lived in Seattle and Portland measure progress there and maybe as a young child,” she explains. “I have affect things for the better. sweet memories of America. I was in a “I came to the U.S. alone and my local kindergarten. I loved Walt Disney whole family is still in Egypt,” Kamel animation. I loved eating, so I remem- says. “Ultimately I’ll be trying to start an ber the colorful snacks, the way chil- NGO in Egypt for nuclear disarmament, dren do. Memories of the U.S. are a once I can accumulate the necessary very significant part of my story. Sayaka Shingu expertise to launch such an ambitious “These memories are important project. I want to tackle the concept of because when I came back to Japan, I nuclear deterrence; I think it’s security realized that in some very basic ways, through coercion. I see danger at every I was different from other children. I level with the idea that this is some- was not able to speak Japanese so flu- thing sustainable. Plus, it’s a waste of ently and my pronunciation was some- resources to maintain nuclear weapons. times wrong. I hadn’t studied writing. If we could actually use those resources, At times this led to bullying. People in we could solve the millennium goals by Japan are very conscious of difference 2015. I’m very passionate about this.” and there were repercussions to my Twenty-five-year-old Sayaka having lived in the U.S. It doesn’t have Shingu, a native of Hiroshima, Japan, a negative impact now. I am Japanese says she can’t help being familiar with but I have only positive feelings about
nuclear-bomb-related issues. “For ex- this country.” Steven Anderle ample, during elementary school days, It was as a teen that Shingu’s we were told to write a short essay unique ties to the United States began about the bomb. My mother took me to influence her vision for the future. “I to a park to see a ‘bomb tree.’ We read considered what I could do for bilateral about the tree together and then I wrote relations between the United States and the essay. Our everyday life was always Japan.” She decided that the first thing related to these issues.” Shingu studied she could do would be to learn about politics and nuclear disarmament at the her own hometown and how life there University of Tokyo, then came to the was affected by being the first city in United States on a Japanese government the world to undergo a nuclear attack. scholarship, and has just completed her Then she started to take part in nongov- first semester at the Monterey Institute. ernmental organizations and civil so- Shingu speaks in a soft voice and ciety study groups that promote peace chooses her words with care. “To be and educate the public about the dan- Karen Hogue honest, I was not quite so interested in gers of nuclear weapons. “Gradually I this issue until 2001, when images of noticed that learning about my history 9/11 were being shown on CNN,” she coming from a bombed city is quite says. At that time I was quite shocked important,” she says, “But I wondered, ents were affected. Although they were sitting in front of the TV screen at how can we overcome this tragedy and victims, fortunately they did not suffer home in Hiroshima. I witnessed the prevent it from ever happening again?” that much, although one aunt did pass scene but could not do anything to Shingu decided to enroll in Tokyo away due to the bomb. During my un- help. So that was when I started think- University to gain another perspec- dergraduate years, having experienced ing about what I might do for the world tive. “Mine is the third generation of daily life in one of the bombed cities or society.” Shingu feels her early life survivors. Both sets of my grandpar- was not a critical part of my identity.
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Working-CS5.5.indd 22 5/8/12 11:54 AM But on August 6th, every TV station tions of incoming students and when he quarks are ripped apart.” It wasn’t until and newspaper’s content is very differ- sees potential, tries to get them inter- her third year that she had her most ent from any other day. Then, people ested in nonproliferation. He offered me memorable experience—two months who come from a bombed city realize a research job, and I took it. It was the teaching nuclear chemistry and phys- we have a very particular worldview. right move,” he says. “Nonproliferation ics, at a school in India on the border “I’m still trying to distinguish be- is a small community but there are a of Nepal. “It was a volunteer program tween the Hiroshima, Japan and the lot of opportunities. So few places are where if you found your own experi- United States perspective. The most teaching students to focus on this sub- ence the university would support it,” important way I can learn is to talk ject so graduates from here have an ad- she says. “There were so many stu- face-to-face with American citizens. vantage in the job market.” dents, so much to do. It was emotion- Because I’m now a diplomacy trainee, Anderle has honed his nonprolif- ally and physically draining.” my next step is the ministry of foreign eration skills working on a number of After graduation Hogue spent four affairs. After these two years of study I relevant research projects as well as years in the navy teaching at the Navy would like to improve communication updating content on the Nuclear Threat Nuclear Power School in Charleston, between our two countries, especially Initiative Web site (NTI.org), an assign- South Carolina. “The navy offers huge in nonproliferation. That will be my ment he considers “very important.” An leadership opportunities at an early task, to contribute to understanding.” internship at the Lawrence Livermore age,” she says. “Nothing else com- Laboratories nuclear weapons facility pares.” Hogue taught 500 student train- Globetrotters with a Purpose gave Anderle a chance to work on a ees and ran a division of physics. “It While some CNS students can trace Department of Energy next-generation was a wonderful four years,” she says. their interest in the nonproliferation safeguards initiative. As part of the pro- “But the gender breakdown among stu- field to an early life experience or dra- gram to train young professionals in dents was about 15 percent women, matic turning point, for others the notion International Atomic Energy Agency and about 10 percent of enlisted per- grows over time—an aspect of coming (IAEA) safeguards, he had attended a sonnel. Undergrad engineering was of age while seeing the world. One one-week intensive course on policy even worse! Now, in my nonprolifera- such is Californian Steven Anderle. for students from around the world. He tion classes it’s almost 50/50—a better After graduating from UCLA with a then worked with a China expert from ratio. Being here is a real change.” degree in political science, Anderle the intelligence division and he is now Even early in her college years wasn’t ready for grad school. Instead writing an honors thesis on the effect Hogue envisioned a career that would he went to China and taught English for of Chinese nuclear activities. “China “involve the human factor. I’m an en- two years, then spent a third year work- has actually stopped producing fissile gineer who likes talking to people,” ing as a law proofreader. “My job was material for its weapons,” he explains, she says, “which might be unusual. making sure documents sounded like “but for nuclear power needs they are I wanted to utilize my training doing a real person wrote them. I spent day going through a huge buildup. I’m ex- something that directly affected people. after day reading law at the computer. ploring the implications of such a rapid CNS is one of only a handful of pro- After that I was ready to come back.” industry expansion.” grams that try to blend the tech side When Anderle applied to Monterey Second-year CNS student Karen with the policy side,” Hogue explains. Institute of International Studies, it Hogue comes from San Antonio, “A couple of people I worked with said wasn’t with the idea of studying nonpro- Texas. She spent her undergraduate the ‘Monterey Mafia’ were taking over liferation. “It was the international as- years at Texas A&M, one of very few the policy world and that finalized my pect of the school that appealed to me,” women majoring in nuclear engineer- decision to come to California.” he says. “MIIS is such an international ing. “I wanted all sorts of awesome During her second semester, Hogue campus. People who come from or have experiences,” she says. But her first took Potter’s simulation class and agrees lived in another country have a different college summer job had Hogue work- with fellow students that it’s a uniquely kind of openness. The empathy for other ing at a nuclear power plant in South valuable experience. “Doing treaty ne- people’s points of view is very strong Carolina, and the next one doing gotiations in that setting teaches many here.” Anderle enrolled as a conflict res- nuclear physics research—sitting more aspects of nonproliferation than olution student, then was recruited for a behind a computer working on interna- a lecture class can. Everyone gets into job at CNS. “Dr. Potter scans applica- tional experiments “where protons and the mindset of their own country,” she
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Working-CS5.5.indd 23 5/8/12 11:54 AM says. She represented Mexico, and says, the first was at the Lawrence Livermore “I felt like I was really the country…. I National Laboratory helping to develop started out with a tech background and a theoretical HEU (highly enriched ura- a bit of policy experience. From the nium) down-blending verification re- simulation training I learned enough gime between India and Pakistan. about the policy debates to participate Bufford describes herself as a big- in a ‘Nuclear Scholars Initiative’ project picture person, who won’t be content to in a nuclear think tank where there were “help only one village.” With the UN, 21 participants along with high-level Bufford’s negotiation skills could po- speakers. That convinced me: this is tentially bring stability to a much larger definitely the right place for me to be.” area, she believes. While enrolled at Jessica Bufford At age 23 Jessica Bufford is liv- Austin College in northeast Texas she ing her dream with a six-month intern- traveled to Ukraine, Estonia, Russia, ship in the United Nations Office of Bolivia and Peru, and spent a term at the Disarmament Affairs, WMD branch. “I Sorbonne, in Paris, so her global per- was in Model UN in high school and we spective is understandable. At Monterey covered lots of disarmament issues,” Bufford discovered negotiation is some- Bufford says. “Even back then I started thing she enjoys, and could be good at. building up knowledge and vocabulary. She started out as a conflict resolution But now, to actually work with the UN student, then participated in the START is a dream come true. I’m doing for simulation. “I really went for it,” she real what I pretended for years.” Her says. “And I started to realize I had skills assignments include analyzing WMD in diplomacy, and passion. I was inter- developments and trends, conducting acting with ambassadors and I wanted to
research and analysis, drafting brief- know, ‘How do I become you?’ I real- Jonathan Ray ing papers, and attending meetings in ized this is what I’m meant to do. “ advance of the 2012 NPT Preparatory Nashville native and China spe- Committee. cialist Jonathan Ray is in his “It’s all the nuts and bolts,” second semester at the Center for Bufford says. “Vocabulary is half the Nonproliferation Studies. A fascination says. But the real highlight was being field, and not common vernacular. with Asia is something he “fell back- in China. He studied crisis manage- Nonproliferation can be like navigating wards into,” as Ray puts it. At first, after ment in Nanjing, where “it was all a minefield. My coursework prepared 9/11 he thought he should learn Arabic. in Chinese, talking with the profes- me for this, and I’ve used it already.” “But after taking class with a really sors and other students,” then volun- Looking ahead to a future of in- good professor, it dawned on me that we teered in the arms control program in ternational communication, Bufford need to work on trade issues with China. the Institute of International Studies praises the language component at For that I needed two things: to improve at Tsinghua University. “Fukushima Monterey as well as the interdisciplin- my Chinese and to specialize in nu- happened when I was in China,” Ray ary aspect. “There are many oppor- clear nonproliferation.” Ray says when recalls, which gave rise to interesting tunities to talk to people from other he tells people about being at CNS he discussions on Japan’s versus China’s backgrounds,” she says, “and to get stresses that “what drew me here wasn’t approach to nuclear power. new ideas and make connections.” just Monterey. It could have been any- Studying overseas is a blessing that Over three semesters she has had only where and I would have applied.” comes with its own challenges, he says. three classes with American professors. After graduation from Cornell, “Culturally, one of the most fundamen- “The rest have all been experts from Ray took a two-year language fellow- tal concepts is the importance of face. Argentina, India, Russia, Greece—all ship, spending the first year at Brigham I had heard about it ad nauseum but over the world,” she says. The UN as- Young University. “It was intimidating never really appreciated it. For instance, signment is Bufford’s second internship because three out of four students had the real discussions happen at a lower since starting at CNS in January 2011; already served missions in Taiwan,” he level because people at the upper level
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Working-CS5.5.indd 24 5/8/12 11:54 AM would never speak ill of each other. Security and Nonproliferation. He’s as- ample is when CNS brings foreign dip- Something as subtle as tone of voice signed to the Office of Regional Affairs, lomats in to study issues and then takes would be quite different depending on which he explained is divided into dif- them to Washington, D.C. at the end of whether you’re talking to the director ferent regions of the world. “Ours cov- the program. They’re not always very or to an assistant who had to get things ers a total of 10 countries east of India. I senior officials, but they’re people we done,” Ray explains. “Also in that line, started here six years ago, immediately haven’t been exposed to and they answer Track II diplomacy that mixes different after graduating from Monterey, and questions about how they do their jobs, kinds of people together is really where have just reached country number eight. which benefits both sides. There have things get done. You can get someone to It’s only a matter of time until I see all been times when the only chance we say something off the record that they 10, including North Korea.” have to talk to China has been through wouldn’t say otherwise. China has some A native of Tucson, Mahaffey says these things that Monterey has set up. very different ideas than the U.S. where ending up in the teaching program in You can see the impact on someone who arms are concerned,” Ray adds. “Their Japan was “a random chance.” Like has been through the program. That cul- policy emphasizes very long term plan- many CNS students, he has an interest- tural sensitivity really, really helps.” ning. That sometimes clashes with the ing story to tell. During World War II, Anya Erokhina is a recent gradu- U.S. because we want quick action. his grandparents were involved with the ate of the Monterey Institute with a de- “I love studying China and nonpro- Manhattan Project, his grandmother as gree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism liferation both; as soon as I feel I under- secretary to the director, Leslie Grove, Studies. Her experiences as a grad stu- stand one thing, two more questions pop and his grandfather as a radio opera- dent at the Center, plus internships at the up. My main interest is export control tor on B29s flying daily missions over Naval Post Graduate School, Lawrence issues, and I’ve taken a course that cov- Japan from the same base as the Enola Livermore National Labs and the UN ered money laundering and international Gay. When Mahaffey married a woman Office for Disarmament Affairs led di- law, and a workshop on international from Nagasaki, both sets of grandpar- rectly to her current spot as a Nunn– trade and shipping, which looked at the ents attended their wedding. “Her fam- Lugar Fellow at the Defense Threat fundamentals of Arms Control and se- ily had been on the ground while mine Reduction Agency in Washington, curity in East Asia.” Ray says his main was in the air,” he says. “When they met D.C.—where the mission is safeguard- focus is on the nuclear dual-use issue— at the wedding, my grandfather said, ‘I ing the United States and its allies from civilian and military. “One example know exactly where that was…’” weapons of mass destruction. “You might be ‘spark gaps’ that are used in Mahaffey’s time at Monterey have to lock up your phone when you a medical device to get rid of kidney included editing “FirstWatch come to the office,” Erokhina says to il- stones, but can also be used to ignite a International,” a weekly summary of lustrate the sensitive nature of her work. nuclear weapon. When you sell those everything being written about WMD Erokhina was born in Moscow, grew you have to be aware of who is buying.” issues. He also did a fellowship at CNS up in California and Idaho and speaks headquarters in Washington, D.C. and Russian, Spanish and Arabic. “It’s a big Alums in the Trenches another at the UN. But what he valued plus to have more than one language,” Graduates of the Center for most was the international composition she says. “Russian is especially impor- Nonproliferation Studies maintain their of the school itself, which he termed tant in nonproliferation where you want advantage well after their careers are amazing. “Only half the enrollment to be speaking with someone on their underway. A good example is Charles is American. In nonproliferation and own terms. Two things I loved about Mahaffey, who came to the Monterey other policy programs, a third of the Monterey and CNS are that the lan- Institute after working six years as a course work had to be done in a foreign guage component is forced on you and teacher near Nagasaki, Japan. “I en- language, so you really had to come in that you’d better work your butt off,” rolled just a year after 9/11,” Mahaffey with advanced knowledge. My favorite she laughs. The START simulation is a explains. “I was worried about nuclear class was the nonproliferation review case in point. “It was held at the same weapons, and wanted to do something conducted all in Japanese.” time the negotiation was really going on. to assure that humanity would never see Years later, “I’m still very heavily We had access to colleagues with years them used again.” Now Mahaffey is a se- involved with CNS,” Mahaffey adds. of experience in the field, even speak- nior foreign affairs officer with the State “They continue to partner on a lot of the ing to Rose Gottemoeller on Skype and Department’s Bureau of International work we do in East Asia. One good ex- getting the ins and outs of international
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 25
Working-CS5.5.indd 25 5/8/12 11:54 AM negotiation. It was the best experience Rissanen graduated from Monterey there on a fellowship in 2010 and got a ever, being thrown into the fire.” Institute in 1999 and has been in Vienna full-time contract in 2011. “As an action Transitioning into the work world since 2007. In between she worked officer, I get requests for information, was “surprisingly easy,” Erokhina says. for the Finnish mission in Geneva and talking points, memos, etc., from NNSA, “Because we focus less on theory and for an NGO, and was doing consult- along with interagency requests,” more on practical applications and hot ing work when she got the IAEA offer. Dunlop explains. “I have to make sure topics of the day, it prepared me to enter Working for different stakeholders and all answers are timely and correct. I also an office… to speak the language, un- intergovernmental bodies has been good write regular monthly reports.” derstand the variables. On some level experience, she says, because “they all It’s not the career Dunlop might there’s so much more I’m learning and have their own role in this business have envisioned for himself as a col- I’m gaining a greater appreciation that and you can understand because you lege student at Case Western, where he I didn’t have as a student. But because have been there. I agree 100 percent majored in music with plans of becom- of the foundation from Monterey, I’ve that one of the advantages of the CNS ing a teacher. But when his certification never felt at a loss.” program is that it is very practically ori- exam was graded incorrectly, prevent- Vienna-based Jenni Rissanen is a ented. Employers say it is always easy ing him from getting a teaching job nonproliferation strategy analyst for the to hire people from Monterey because after graduation, he signed up for the International Atomic Energy Agency you don’t have to reorient them from Peace Corps and spent two years work- (IAEA). The agency is run by a team an academic to a practical approach.” ing with Mayan communities in Belize. of 2,300 multidisciplinary professional Rissanen says another advantage is “It’s hard to leave the Peace Corps and and support staff from more than 100 that they are prepared for a multicul- come back to work in a typical office. countries. They come from scientific, tural environment. “It’s the principle of It sparks a passion to make the world technical, managerial and professional geographical representation in the UN a better place. You get to know people disciplines, and are based mainly at the system that there should be people from from other countries and develop ‘big Vienna headquarters. “My particular every country to make a truly interna- picture’ aspirations,” Dunlop says. position is a little unusual,” she says, “in tional workforce. Once you come and Those aspirations led him to the sense that most of the staff are techs. work in such an agency you surrender Monterey Institute. With its academic My job is in the division of concepts your passport. You are now an interna- program, two internships, and a gradu- and planning—the think tank of the de- tional civil servant and your mission is ate assistant position at the Center, he partment—and I work mostly on stra- to serve the international public good.” was highly prepared to enter the field. tegic planning. It can be very abstract. One of the ongoing challenges is “There’s absolutely a direct line from But what we do here has a tremendous that at the agency there are only 23 Monterey to the job,” Dunlop says. “It’s impact on what’s done in the field.” percent women in the professional cat- regarded as a pipeline for graduates to Rissanen is from Finland, and egory. “We are definitely underrepre- go straight to work in nonproliferation. went to college in the United States. sented, she says. The higher up you go It’s the opposite of the ivory tower. She’s always been oriented to interna- the worse it gets.” Another challenge is “One cool thing is the way the tional studies, so choosing Monterey that you must take a very long perspec- Center could draw smart, talented peo- Institute was a natural, she says. “The tive, she says, because you don’t see ple from all over, then when we would program there appealed to me because immediate results. Or you might not meet them they were always very ap- it was so uniquely focused on WMDs. see any results at all. “It’s when they go proachable,” Dunlop says. “During the Like many people in the field, I come wrong that we notice things are happen- simulation class Ambassador Linton from a military family; my father was ing. But we know when there’s a low Brooks [former head of NNSA] spent a UN Peacekeeper. I lived in Syria and point, things will go up again. You have a whole day with us. What a great ex- Israel as a young child and went to a to be a little optimistic. It takes patience perience—at NNSA he’s a legend and UN school. I recall writing an essay at to be in this field, and determination.” a hero. One class in particular—the age 12 or so about nuclear weapons. Sean Dunlop is a program analyst “Nuclear Renaissance” class—was right Growing up during the Cold War in a for the Office of Nonproliferation and at the intersection of policy, technology country right next to the Soviet Union, International Security at the Department and international relations. Taking this I was scared by some of the threat per- of Energy’s National Nuclear Security course helped me get a summer intern- ceptions at that time.” Administration (NNSA). He started ship sponsored by the Department of
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Working-CS5.5.indd 26 5/8/12 11:54 AM “Academic ‘Critical Issues Forum,’ the first pro- tions dedicated to nuclear security and gram to assist in teaching high school nonproliferation. Opened in 2011 with excellence matters, students about nonproliferation.” support from the Austrian government, “There’s no other organization that this new center is dedicated to further- but there has to be deals with nonproliferation for this ing international peace and security by an element of age students,” says Masako Toki, CNS providing independent expertise to or- education project manager, a Monterey ganizations, professionals and the pub- passion too. graduate originally from Kobe, Japan. lic—including young people. Through “We work with teachers, which is very conferences, training programs and on- It’s very, very important, and design the curriculum so going research, it will build a network important. If you students systematically develop critical of institutions to foster dialogue and co- thinking. We have participants from operation. don’t have a American high schools and Russian “The Vienna Center can serve passion for issues, schools in all ten formerly closed cities the IAEA in important ways,” says where their families were involved in Carl Robichaud, a program officer in you’ll burn out.” nuclear development. It’s so important Carnegie Corporation’s International for them to learn all about nonprolifera- Peace and Security Program. “The tion, security and safety. We’re start- IAEA plays a critical role but doesn’t Energy at Lawrence Livermore National ing to involve Chinese high schools have the necessary level of support.” Lab that dealt with safeguard issues. Our and hope to have students from the Institutions in New York, Washington, coursework focused on the resurgence Middle East. We’re also reaching out to DC, or Geneva benefit from the pres- of interest in Asia right now to build nu- schools in Japan. A passion for nonpro- ence of an independent analytical sector clear reactors for power: Will that have liferation is common among Japanese in those cities, but the lack of such orga- implications for nonproliferation?” children; it’s a very personal issue for nizations in Vienna means the IAEA is As for long-range plans, Dunlop’s everyone there.” comparatively underserved. The Vienna hoping his position with the Department Students collaborate on investigat- Center should increase the international of Energy could be a springboard for an ing the scientific, economic, political dialog there while further advancing the extended career in public service. “I and ethical aspects of nonproliferation Monterey Institute’s global presence would like to work for the government and security issues so they can develop and outreach. “And it’s a natural fit for for about 10 years, learn more about the informed opinions on such complex top- Monterey because a significant number big picture, and then try for a position ics as WMDs, terrorism and other crucial of their graduates already go to work in an international organization,” he international issues of the time. A new at the IAEA or the Comprehensive says. “All with the goal of someday liv- topic is chosen each academic year. As Nuclear-Test-Ban Organization, which ing in a nuclear weapons free world.” this is being written, plans are underway is also in Vienna,” Robichaud points for the Spring 2012 Student Conference out. International diplomats also stand Expanding the Mission in Vienna, Austria, in conjunction with to benefit from the new center, which Although graduate education is the the 2012 Nuclear Nonproliferation can provide them with critical training CNS focus, Bill Potter sees no reason Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee. on nuclear issues. “Diplomats in Vienna why high school students can’t get in- The conference will begin with a ses- have a broad portfolio. Many of the volved. “Fifteen years ago I was invited sion led by Yukia Amano, a former visit- people responsible for making impor- to speak about the spread of weapons of ing scholar at Monterey who is Director tant decisions in this area lack a strong mass destruction at a local civic group General of the International Atomic background in nuclear issues,” he says. where several high school seniors were Energy Agency (IAEA). “Improved understanding of these is- in the audience,” he recounts. “When It makes sense that the new sues can help countries to move beyond the talk was finished, the young peo- Vienna Center for Disarmament and block politics and toward shared solu- ple approached the podium and said, Nonproliferation, operated by CNS tions.” ‘We’re about to graduate; how come (with Carnegie Corporation support), is we haven’t been told any of this?’ In setting up shop close to one of the most Read more about CNS news, programs response in 1997 we developed the important intergovernmental organiza- and publications at cns.miis.edu
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Working-CS5.5.indd 27 5/8/12 11:54 AM reating Leah Hamilton New Designs or New
Editor’s Note: Since it was founded a century ago, Carnegie Corporation Susan King: My first question of New York has been dedicated to advancing education and educational is simple. What does “new designs for opportunities. Today, one important element of the Corporations’ work schools” really mean? What we’re focuses on identifying and supporting both knowledge development and Leah Hamilton: used to imagining when we think the scaling up of education reform projects and organizations where the about school is the schoolhouse where greatest gaps and threats to student success are found. Those strate- students go at a certain time every gies include emphasizing innovations that help underprepared second- morning and spend a certain amount ary school students ready themselves for graduation and college, or that of time sitting at desks—25, 35 stu- accelerate secondary and postsecondary learning, including higher stan- dents with a teacher, going through dards, better-quality data and effective instructional and design remedies some kind of learning experience that is teacher delivered. That’s what most for the low expectations, weak curricula and other inadequacies of many people experienced themselves and so urban schools. Below, Leah Hamilton, Carnegie Corporation Program that’s what we think about culturally Director, New Designs for K-16 Pathways, discusses how new designs as school. What we also know, how- for schools can help achieve those goals. She is interviewed by Susan ever, is that concept was designed for King, former Corporation Vice President, External Affairs.* a different time to prepare students for a different economy, where you could ∗ In January 2012, Susan King began serving as the dean and the John Thomas Kerr Distinguished Professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. graduate with a high school diploma
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Working-CS5.5.indd 28 5/8/12 11:54 AM and get a job that was stable and paid a of engaging learning resources, while we’ve focused the work here at the wage that allowed you to support your- supporting teachers and other adults to Corporation. We believe the Common self and potentially, a family. do their best work with students. Core Standards create a tremendous SK: You could become part of the For all of that to be possible, opportunity for this. middle class with a high school degree schools must be designed to be good SK: And it involves all students, at that time. No longer? partners, or what we would describe as not just some students succeeding. LH: Yes, that would be the excep- more porous institutions. That means LH: That’s right. tion now. We haven’t recognized how they need to innovate in human capital, SK: Would you say that, in a way, static the structure of school has been use of time, money and certainly tech- that’s what philanthropy is at this time and so our first hurdle is to convey the nology, and to continuously strive to in America? It’s a driver for change in notion that schools have to be designed answer the question of how can we best how schools work? to accomplish something new, support- deliver content and build the skills of LH: Philanthropy can support ing all students to college and career- students so they are able to apply what research and other efforts to help ready standards in a knowledge-based they learn to meet new challenges in us, as a country, understand to what economy. Saying “new designs” is the world. In order to implement these degree our education systems around saying, first of all, that schools are ideas, school systems have to think the country are or are not working designed, and that if they’re designed differently about how money flows and for whom. Philanthropy can sup- they can be redesigned. You can through a system and how governance port new ways of thinking about solu- change them to be and do something is structured. All of that is part of the tions, and implementing solutions that different. It opens up a whole area that New Designs work here at Carnegie. respond to the problems that surface is very exciting because we can create SK: It is exciting when you talk when we have a good understanding different roles for people, decide how about that, and explain the ideas in a way of what is actually happening in the people can really understand. United States and globally. I also think For instance, people used philanthropy can support efforts to to go to a record store and innovate in education that are informed buy a vinyl record. Now, the by advances in fields outside of edu- whole way people get music cation and in other countries around Schools is totally different. That’s the the world. And philanthropy can and way you are talking about should take risks that others can’t. school, that it has to be done SK: And in this time of change, is to use time differently, and how to use in a totally different way. But there are it really clear how to fix schools? Or is assets inside and outside of the school economic rewards that accrue to busi- it a time of experimentation to under- differently. That means both that what nesses that drive the kind of change stand how to make fixes? teachers do will change and that valu- music has undergone with the iPod and LH: I think we’re in a time of rapid able actors in the teaching and learning similar technological advances. What is innovation. There has been tremendous experience will include others as well driving school to change? progress in individual schools, school as formal teachers. For example, they LH: That’s a great question. You’re networks and at the state policy level could come from science institutions, right, there isn’t a profit motive that is and there are certainly pockets of excel- health institutions or youth develop- making everyone cohere around a new lence around the country—but that, in ment organizations in the community. vision for our education system. So we a way, is the problem. We have iso- Valuable learning experiences for stu- have to tap into something that is per- lated examples of school reforms that dents also don’t have to be limited to haps more powerful, that’s driven by work: a school network getting it right inside the schoolhouse walls. Students our values, and an interest in keeping for a particular group of students, or a can build and apply knowledge and our democracy robust and our economy district with a dynamic leader and the skills through internships and service strong. And I think part of the problem political will to make a lot of change projects that can count toward their is that there hasn’t been a consistent and do something dramatic in a district. academic progress requirements. And and sustained force to drive schools to But we haven’t seen major change that technology can be used as a powerful change across, and along, that coher- results in high achievement for all stu- bridge to connect students to all kinds ent vision. And so that’s part of how dents that has been sustained across an
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Working-CS5.5.indd 29 5/8/12 11:54 AM entire state, consortium of states or the new design. We are asking the ques- LH: Early. It depends how you whole country yet. And so part of what tion, how do you stimulate a portfolio think about it. We have had lots of we’re trying to do is say, why not? Why of designs? You know that you have a examples of new school designs, or doesn’t innovation travel? And if we good portfolio of designs if all students new designs within systems that have can understand why it doesn’t travel, are meeting or exceeding college and made dramatic changes for students. how can we support efforts that are career-readiness standards and experi- None have gone far enough, but they about innovation at scale to begin with. encing success in college, work and life. have definitely shown that this can be SK: Of course every state has con- SK: Until now, there have been done. Innovation has happened, both trol of its own school system, so this is many standards around the country, within some charter networks, and not easy. right? Different ways of saying this is a within districts. LH: It is not easy, and that’s why successful student. SK: What I also want to hear your we include new designs for schools and LH: That’s why we’re in such thoughts about is the innovation in the systems. When you think about school an exciting time. States have come way teachers teach and students learn. reform, you think of just the school as together and opted in to a common set I understand that there’s promise in the unit of change, or you think about of expectations for student learning. the research but not clear results. Tell the classroom as the unit of change, They are saying to the country that they me what this innovation looks like and or the teacher. Some people think the want their students to be a part of this how we’re experimenting based on students need some change! But we effort to set high expectations that align what we know. believe that we have to understand to their students’ ability to do well in LH: We use the term “Next that there are systems set up around work and life and college. And they are Generation Learning” to capture our schools that are about setting expectations, providing sup- ports, how money flows, who States are committing to the hard work has authority to make deci- sions, how accountability for performance is assigned, and required to do school differently and get how communities are engaged or not engaged. And that needs a dif ferent result for their students. And work too, since this system was created to support the schools that is an incredible breakthrough. that were designed for another era and a different goal than the one we have now. committing to the hard work required thoughts on that innovation idea. It’s And so some of these questions to do school differently and get a dif- saying, let’s imagine that school is not around governance structures are not ferent result for their students. And that 25 to 35 students in front of a teacher just about things like, should we invest is an incredible breakthrough. for big chunks of time, and that stu- in districts or just go outside and invest SK: I see it as almost revolution- dents don’t move on to the next grade in charters? Or, is the state the right ary that governors said, “We have more because they’ve spent a certain amount entry point? The real question is about things in common than things that sep- of time in a classroom. Let’s imagine how we can drive scalable innovation arate us.” That’s a breakthrough from that we have a really great understand- when we have such a fragmented sys- the way school systems have been run ing of what we want students to know tem and such distributed decision-mak- in the past, right? and be able to do. And then we have ing power. And we are exploring that LH: Huge. It’s a huge advance on lots of different ways for them to get through grantmaking as well. the policy front. Now we’ll be able to there. And we have a really diverse stu- SK: How will you know if you’ve say what is successful. Because we’re dent population in this country, which gotten to that new design? using the same standard across states. means we probably need multiple LH: It’s all about student learning. SK: If it’s on a ruler, one to twelve, methods to support students on their There’s never a one-size-fits-all solu- where do you think we are in this new learning progression to a high standard. tion so we’re not looking for the one design kind of movement? It means different paths for different
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Working-CS5.5.indd 30 5/8/12 11:54 AM students to a common high standard. tion of things: the opportunity for a SK: What does that mean? One tool that has not been used well student to spend the time she needs to LH: It means that no one wants to in education is technology and I really master content and to get the supports promote innovation for innovation’s want to emphasize that when we talk from adults who know the student as a sake, that all this is in the service of about Next Generation Learning and learner and as a person. helping kids make progress toward a our hopes for what technology can help SK: The critics say you don’t have higher standard that truly aligns with us do, it’s in no way saying we think any research to prove that technology is being college ready, engaging in some that technology alone is the answer. going to improve students’ outcomes. kind of postsecondary learning that will It’s not simply that students should LH: What we do have is a lot tie to a job or link to some role that a just have really great online content of research that shows what we’re student wants to play in life. But we that they interact with on their own and doing now isn’t working for most don’t have great systems across states move forward, because school serves kids. Technology enables new tools. or within states to really know how well multiple purposes. Part of the role of It doesn’t exist alone as something to students are doing at any point in time school is social, part of that is develop- be researched, but rather what is done along that learning progression and ing the capacity to work in teams and with it to improve learning. even as they complete requirements in on projects over a sustained amount of SK: So to those who say don’t the K-12 systems around the country. time. We’re at the beginning of under- do anything until you have proven Even now, because there’s been standing what really great, meaningful, research, you say you don’t make some misalignment of standards to that productive integration of technology change at your peril, is that it? college readiness bar, we have lots of looks like and what the school design LH: I think you accept the status students who graduate from high school around that looks like. And what the quo at your peril. And so I would ask, but who end up in remediation in col- roles for teachers and leaders look like. “What else are you doing to get a better lege. So clearly, we haven’t been great That work is really in its early stage. result?” We must get better results. at matching up expectations for teach- But what you want to accomplish SK: Okay, so we’ll have a little ing and learning with implementation with this Next Generation Learning schoolhouse, it will look like some- and student performance outcomes. And concept is allowing students to move thing we had before, but there may be I think there’s a lot that we can learn, through a learning progression at their all sorts of new people in those rooms. as a field, about how student learning own pace, getting as deep into con- LH: We’ll have a new idea of the progresses and what helps which kinds tent as they need to get. And having schoolhouse. of students get better in the places they as many opportunities as they need to SK: And it won’t just be the hierar- need to get better. That means making apply what they learn and to have the chy of a principal, a bunch of teachers student performance data more visible, dexterity to acquire knowledge, inter- and an athletic coach. There’s going to and also more available to research and act with content and operate in the real be people who come into school with development efforts. and changing world. different skills, is that the idea? That’s SK: It means giving a wide group SK: So the gifted student could a pretty radical way of thinking about of people awareness of how students be in the same classroom with the less school. How soon could that happen? are really doing in the classroom. gifted student, but both of them could LH: I think it’s happening in small LH: I want to clarify that the goal progress if they had some technology bits and pieces now. I think how soon is not to ensure that Leah’s grades are that would help them move at their rate, it could happen at scale depends on a attached to Leah and made public to the under the auspices of the same teacher. few things. It depends on getting new, world. That’s not what we’re talking LH: Right! There are models that more and better tools so that the content about. It’s some way of understanding have students doing much more inde- you can access through technology is as how students like Leah are doing across pendent work, just with the help of good and as rich as it needs to be. And I many different contexts and geogra- technology and there are models where think you have to have some brave folks phies. And it’s also about learning when the classroom work is mostly teacher who are willing to take on the challenge students like Leah engage with some led with some enhancements in tech- of redefining the roles for people in kind of intervention, what those stu- nology. What works best for which schools, which is not easy to do. And I dents are able to accomplish. It means students we don’t know yet. But what think we have to get really good at mak- teachers won’t have to invent what to I imagine is that it will be a combina- ing student performance transparent. do when they come into contact with a
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 31
Working-CS5.5.indd 31 5/8/12 11:54 AM student like Leah, for example, because SK: What turned you into a school LH: Yes, and it was an amazing someone has already figured out what to reformer? Did you always want to be a experience. I had tremendous men- do when they come into contact with a teacher? tors. Because it was a system that was student like her. We have grantees that LH: No. I did teach in special edu- changing so rapidly, and because it was are really digging into that kind of learn- cation, however, right after college. I such a large system, I was able to work ing, so this is the way that innovation is then went to business school and also on lots of different facets of the prob- taking place: it’s like I’m going to figure did an MSW. And while I was in my lem. I ended up working on a multiple out this piece of it and see what I can field placement in graduate school, I pathway strategy, which was about help the field understand about what this was placed in a program for students designing new schools and programs piece is and then someone else needs to who needed to repeat the ninth grade. for the students like the ones I’d gotten build on that and say, oh, you’ve made It was part of a community-based orga- to know when I was in my field place- some progress on that question so I want nization that was serving students from ment experience. Students who had to wrap what I’ve done around that and one of our very large dysfunctional mostly experienced failure in school. now we have a bigger, clearer picture high schools in the Bronx. And my role SK: Did that turn you into an and a little bit more of the puzzle. This there was a social work role. So I was op timist? Because there’s an awful lot iterative innovation can happen much doing case management and running of people who find it hard to believe more rapidly in the context of com- groups, also supporting the teachers in there are answers to these huge mon standards and good information on the classroom. And to be honest, I saw school problems. student performance, and technology from the inside how poorly we were LH: It did turn me into an optimist enables that process. doing for these young people. because I saw that when you bring So, for instance, research is being SK: In preparing them for the the right people together and you give done on how students progress through world and preparing them for math or them the support they need, they figure middle school math content. And it English and so forth, right? it out. It was a challenging experience means that researchers are looking at LH: Absolutely. And so the idea of and very, very difficult, but I was com- everything from, does this student do that program was, you go to this pro- pletely inspired by it. better on this topic if it’s being taught gram for a year after you haven’t been SK: It’s a pretty interesting combi- by direct instruction by a teacher in successful in high school. Somehow, nation. You have an MBA and a social a large group, direct instruction by a something gets transformed in you as a work degree and turn into a school teacher in a small group, if they’re doing young person, so that you can go back reformer. But it’s appropriate, in a way. some practice online and then having a to your school that is very dysfunc- A social worker who cares about how group, or if the work is done online but tional and do better. It just didn’t strike children progress, their social welfare, in a game context? That’s the level of me as logical. and a business person who’s thinking sophistication we can get to. We’re not The more I was there the more I about entrepreneurial new ways of orga- there yet, but that’s what’s possible. thought, why are we taking the kids nizing things, of building businesses. SK: I think some lay people would out and trying to change the kids? Why LH: Not many in my class at probably say, I thought teachers already aren’t we changing the school? At that Columbia Business School had any knew all that kind of information about time, reforms were really heating up interest in going into public service, how people learn. in New York City. The New York City but what I saw was the opportunity to LH: Well, I think good teachers school system was saying, we’re going do something entrepreneurial within know a lot. But I also think the demand to work on new designs for the schools government. It doesn’t have to be this for teachers to be able to differentiate to meet the needs of the students that either/or. We need to carve out space what they do for each individual student we have in this city. And we’re going for entrepreneurs to do their work in when they’re working with so many is a to meet their needs first and the adults’ schools and other public institutions. big demand, and in that respect, we’ve needs will come after. And it was so It’s an essential infusion of energy and made the teaching job really hard. And compelling; I couldn’t not join the New perspective, and diverse thinking. so part of this work is about how can York team. we help teachers get a better result by SK: This is the team that served not making them do so much of that under then-chancellor of New York differentiation by themselves. City schools Joel Klein?
32 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 32 5/8/12 11:54 AM Philanthropy’s Most Celebrated Award
n October 20, 2011, winners Clockwise from top left: Vartan Gregorian with the 2011 Carnegie Medal of the Carnegie Medal of of Philanthropy recipients. Thomas H. Kean, former New Jersey governor and chair of the 9/11 Commission, with Alice Greenwald, 9/11 Memorial Philanthropy were honored O Museum director, at the memorial site during a visit by medalists and at a ceremony at the New York Public Corporation trustees. Michael Bloomberg, New York City mayor chats with Library, emceed by Judy Woodruff, Pamela Omidyar during a reception he hosted for the medal recipients. Two great grandsons of Andrew Carnegie: Kenneth B. Miller, honorary chairman Senior Correspondent of the PBS News- emeritus, Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, and William Thomson CBE, Hour. Recipients included: the Crown honorary president, Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. Gordon Brown, former Family; the Danforth Family; Fiona and prime minister of the United Kingdom, shares a word with Vartan Gregorian at the business meeting of the more than 22 Carnegie institutions, held at Stanley Druckenmiller; Li Ka-shing; Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. For additional photos Fred Kavli; the Lauder Family: Evelyn and information about the medal go to http://www.carnegiemedals.org/. and Leonard Lauder, Jo Carole and Ronald Lauder; Pamela and Pierre Omidyar; the Pew Family; and the Pritzker Family. Together they represent a wide spectrum of philanthropic endeavors, ben- efiting scientific research, the arts and culture, religious free- dom, education, health and medicine, world peace, allevi- ation of poverty, social justice, the environment and more. The Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, now in its 10th year, is awarded biennially in recognition of ex- ceptional and sustained records of phil- anthropic giving as well as important and lasting impact on a field, nation, or on the global community. Awardees are selected by an international commit- tee comprising representatives of seven major Carnegie institutions. “We are honored to bestow the 2011 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy on truly extraor- dinary individuals and families who, like Andrew Carnegie, believe in dedicating their private wealth to the public good,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 33 A student attends a Senate hearing on the DREAM Act.
THE DREAM ACT Across the U.S., states are signing o
by ABIGAIL DEUTSCH
n 2000, former Texas representative Rick Noriega, a Democrat, met an undocumented Nicaraguan immigrant named Rosendo Ticas. The young man wanted to attend college and become an airline mechanic, but—unable to afford the international-student Ituition rate that illegal immigrants were charged—Ticas was mowing lawns instead. After conducting a survey in his district, Noriega found so many others in Ticas’s position that he filed a bill for what would become the Texas DREAM Act, legislation that permitted undocumented Texas residents to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.
34 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 34 5/8/12 11:55 AM CT: GETTY IMAGES g on to the Dream
Such students soon converged on mous vote.” Yet the response to the the 1970’s, Texas stopped providing the state capitol, according to Austin’s measure has not been unanimously state funding for undocumented public Statesman newspaper. “The committee positive. State lawmakers have fought school students. In response, a Texas room was packed, and the committee to revoke the policy, and constituents school district charged each undocu- didn’t leave until way past midnight and politicians alike have harshly criti- to hear every story from every one of cized Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Abigail Deutsch is a writer based in these kids,” Noriega said. “And I can Republican, for supporting it. New York. Her work appears in The tell you there wasn’t a dry eye in the The question of whether—and Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco committee room. They passed it out of how—to finance the education of ille- Chronicle, Bookforum, The Village the committee that night on a unani- gal immigrants is hardly new. During Voice, and other publications.
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 35
Working-CS5.5.indd 35 5/8/12 11:55 AM mented child $1,000 a year to attend A second clash over education for vide a pathway to permanent residency school. Four immigrant families chal- undocumented immigrants occurred for non-citizens between the ages of lenged the policy, risking the depor- in California in the early 1990’s. 12 and 35 who arrived in the United tation that might result from public Proposition 187, designed to cut off ille- States as minors, lived in America for attention, and won. gal immigrants from public education five years before the enactment of the In the Supreme Court decision for as well as other social services, did not bill, demonstrated good character, and Plyler v. Doe (1982), Justice William survive the scrutiny of the federal court. either joined the military or attended J. Brennan argued that such children, Over the past decade, a third drama college. According to a 2010 study “already disadvantaged as a result has been playing out on the national by the Migration Policy Institute, stage. The Urban the DREAM Act would help 38% of Institute esti- the nation’s 2.1 million young immi- Texas mates that 65,000 grants—an estimated 825,000 people. governor— undocumented The White House has argued that and former Republican students graduate the DREAM Act would contribute to presidential from high school military strength by drawing recruits, candidate— each year. Many improve America’s position in the Rick Perry supported of them came to global market by educating workers, the Texas the United States and boost the national economy by DREAM Act. as young children increasing taxable income. Opponents after their parents of the federal law have countered that decided to ille- America shouldn’t reward lawbreakers gally immigrate. with citizenship and that such a policy Attempting to would only encourage more illegal GETTY GETTY GE IMAGES change their sta- immigration. They feel the influx of tus often means foreigners has weakened the economy, a risk of depor- and will continue to do so. Some, com- tation to home ing from another angle, criticize the of poverty, lack of English-speaking countries that some hardly remember, relatively small number of immigrants ability, and undeniable racial preju- and a wait of ten years before they can to whom the policy would apply: dices…without an education, will reapply for citizenship. what of older people, or those who become permanently locked into the Thanks to Plyler v. Doe, such stu- can’t finish high school for one reason lowest socioeconomic class.” Public dents can attend public school for free or another? education, he argued, “has a funda- through twelfth grade. Yet after they Carnegie Corporation of New mental role in maintaining the fab- graduate from high school, their fates York supports efforts that focus on ric of our society. We cannot ignore are unclear: they can’t legally work comprehensive immigration reform, the significant social costs borne by and often cannot attend college, since including the DREAM Act. Remarks our Nation when select groups are state universities tend to consider Geri Mannion, Carnegie Corporation denied the means to absorb the val- undocumented students foreign nation- Program Director, U.S. Democracy and ues and skills upon which our social als for tuition purposes. (The differ- Special Opportunities Fund: “While order rests.” He predicted that failing ence can be enormous: in Florida, for we are all very supportive of DREAM to educate undocumented immigrants instance, state residents pay $5,700 a students, there is a concern that if you would increase the costs of welfare, year, whereas out-of-state students pay provide relief to particular groups of unemployment, and crime. “It is thus $27,936.) Even if they finish college, undocumented residents, you’re delay- clear,” he wrote, “that whatever sav- work limitations mean they can’t apply ing the inevitable”—broader reform ings might be achieved by denying their degrees in traditional ways. that would also assist those who these children an education, they are Out of this quandary sprang 2001’s have overstayed their visas, married wholly insubstantial in light of the federal DREAM Act (an acronym for Americans without adjusting their sta- costs involved to these children, the Development, Relief, and Education tus, and otherwise fallen into immigra- State, and the Nation.” for Alien Minors), which would pro- tion’s legal gray areas.
36 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 36 5/8/12 11:55 AM The DREAM Act has repeatedly policy that treats American-born chil- state demographer, writes in the San failed in Congress, most recently in dren of undocumented parents as non- Antonio Express-News: “Education 2010. The dissent over the DREAM citizens for the purposes of in-state pays. You see that very clearly in any Act reflects, among other things, the tuition eligibility. On the other—partly data. If [people] are better educated complicated role immigration plays in inspired by the federal DREAM Act— they will make more money. If people the American consciousness. On the several states have followed Texas’s have more money, they spend more one hand, it’s central to our national example in passing laws that increase money. They generate more sales tax. self-concept: as David Kennedy writes access to higher education for undocu- They generate more expenditures for in the Atlantic, we tend to perceive mented immigrants. These measures the private sector.” immigrants as “the main-chance-seek- are often called “state DREAM Acts,” That education would not only help ing and most energetic, entrepreneur- but unlike the proposed federal legis- immigrants integrate into American ial, and freedom-loving members of lation, they cannot provide pathways society; it would also improve their Old World societies. They were to citizenship. America’s performance in worldwide drawn out of Europe by the irresistible Supporters of such laws emphasize, markets, which—like the American magnet of American opportunity and as Democratic Senator Rodney Ellis did economy—relies more heavily on liberty, and their galvanizing influence in a Houston Chronicle op-ed, that such skilled labor than ever before. Indeed,
The DREAM Act has repeatedly failed in Congress, most recently in 2010. The dissent over the DREAM Act reflects, among other things, the complicated role immigration plays in the American consciousness.
on American society made this country students illegally entered the United education has become such a touch- the greatest in the world.” Yet we have States “through no fault of their own.” stone in immigration policy partly a long history of fearing immigrants And they argue, in an echo of Justice because it’s grown increasingly neces- as well, particularly in our own age— Brennan, that the United States would sary to newcomers’ economic advance- and particularly if that age features an gain from rewarding high-achieving ment over the years. While immigrants economic downturn. Then, Kennedy students. arriving in the late 19th and early 20th proposes, we might perceive them as What would the nation gain? Again centuries could provide their families “degraded, freeloading louts, a blight like Brennan, advocates emphasize with a route to the middle class via the on the national character and a drain on civic values, suggesting that education assembly lines of American factories, the economy.” And in the 21st century, informs immigrants about municipal today’s immigrants encounter an eco- and in the long aftermath of a reces- institutions and grants them the means nomic landscape comparatively devoid sion, immigrants have been entering to support themselves, helping them of such opportunities. Rather, skilled not only traditional havens like New avoid lives of crime. Incarcerating labor is in demand. York, California, and Florida, but also immigrants, they point out, costs far Even when it comes to people who Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, less than educating them. cannot work legally? The Washington and other states unaccustomed to Others focus on more general Post argues that undocumented im- absorbing newcomers. economic benefits—not just to immi- migrants do hold jobs, and it’s only a Reflecting this historical ambiva- grants, but also to the nation as a whole. matter of time until Congress “grants lence, statewide education laws of all As Rice University professor Steve amnesty to undocumented immigrants kinds have cropped up across the coun- Murdock, who has worked as both head with deep roots and clean records here.” try. At one extreme, Florida adopted a of the U.S. Census Bureau and Texas Providing education to current and fu-
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 37
Working-CS5.5.indd 37 5/8/12 11:55 AM ture American workers is, according to Others disparage state reform access is explicitly prohibited in that argument, in the American interest. because they believe it might delay Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, and And given that Plyler v. Doe guar- national reform. Senator Andrew Rora- Indiana, according to the National antees free public schooling through back, a Republican from Connecticut, Conference of State Legislatures. twelfth grade, capping that education voted against that state’s DREAM Act, In states that already offered in- would represent a wasted investment, not because he feels undocumented stu- state tuition to undocumented stu- argue supporters like scholar Ilan dents deserve no breaks. Rather, he told dents, such as California, the so-called Stavans—not only financial, but also Danbury’s News Times, “in the long “DREAM Acts” have added perks. emotional and intellectual. run, I believe it decreases pressure on California’s 2011 DREAM Act allows Such thinking has inspired several Washington to afford these young peo- undocumented students to apply for technology leaders to support initiatives ple all of the rights of citizenship. When both private and state aid for their that help undocumented students attend we [pass statewide measures], it lets degrees, to the chagrin of the political college and pursue work. The Wall the federal legislators off the hook.” He opposition. Another bill permits them Street Journal reports that members added: “We should all be demanding to serve in student governments and of the Silicon Valley technology com- that our federal legislators give some receive the same fee waivers and grants munity—such as Jeff Hawkins, who real and permanent status to these young for doing so that citizens enjoy. invented the Palm Pilot, and Laurene people who are here through no fault of In Illinois, in-state tuition had Powell Jobs, widow of Apple cofounder their own . I believe these young people been available since 2003. Its 2011 Steve Jobs—are helping fund efforts should be able to vote, have a driver’s DREAM Act made it the first state to like Educators for Fair Education, a license and hold elected office, but none offer a private scholarship fund for
“We should all be demanding that our federal legislators give some real and permanent status to these young people who are here
through no fault of their own.” —Andrew Roraback (R) Connecticut
nonprofit that provides scholarships and of that will happen at the state level.” undocumented students, good at both guidance to undocumented students. (Some—such as The New York Times private and public colleges in the state. “We think Congress’s inaction…is dev- in a 2011 editorial—have advanced the Run by a volunteer commission, the astating for these students and tragic for opposite argument, suggesting that state “Dream fund” enables 95,000 gradu- the country,” Ms. Powell Jobs said. legislation would strengthen the case ates of Illinois high schools to apply for Detractors cite several problems for federal reform, providing “a pow- scholarships and to avail themselves with in-state tuition programs for erful rebuke to poisoned immigration of Illinois’ college tuition savings pro- undocumented students. They con- politics at the national level.”) grams. Additionally, the bill encourages demn the notion of giving seats at While most of the new state poli- guidance counselors at high schools state schools to undocumented immi- cies differ slightly from one another, and colleges to inform undocumented grants rather than to legal residents, they generally enable in-state-tuition students of their opportunities. Free pointing out that they “displace legal access for students who have lived to taxpayers, the Illinois Dream Act students from other states who could a certain number of years in the passed with little commotion, accord- pay more,” according to a Washington state, finished high school or earned ing to the Chicago Tribune. Post article about Maryland’s DREAM a GED, and pledged to pursue citi- For all the opportunities this legis- Act. They emphasize that, at least as of zenship. Such legislation has taken lation provides, the disconnect between now, undocumented immigrants cannot effect in Texas, California, Utah, New state and federal policies creates a work. And, like critics of the national York, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, peculiar situation: high-achieving DREAM Act, they question showing New Mexico, Maryland, Nebraska, undocumented students, welcome on favor to lawbreakers. Connecticut, and Rhode Island, but college campuses, can be subject to
38 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 38 5/8/12 11:55 AM California Governor Jerry Brown, right, signs AB 130 Dream Act bill on the back of Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, left, at the Martin Luther King Library at the Los Angeles City College on July 25, 2011, in Los Angeles. ASSOCIATED PRESS ASSOCIATED
deportation if they catch the notice of the issuance of these new directives.” that it’s possible, that I’m human, that the U.S. Immigration and Customs In the meantime, Obama has deported I have the same capacity and the same Enforcement (ICE). Such was the expe- record numbers of illegal immigrants: body parts as any other person.” rience of a freshman at the University nearly 400,000 people per year over the Religious leaders have formulated of Rochester who had earned several past three years, reports CNN. In 2011, similar arguments on behalf of undocu- Advanced Placement credits, a $20,000 just over half the deportees had crimi- mented immigrants. In his article “No merit scholarship, and a spot on the nal records; most of the others, accord- Person Is Illegal,” Donald Kerwin of soccer team. An illegal immigrant from ing to the administration, had recently the Center for Migration Studies writes: South Africa, he was arrested at a bus immigrated to the country. “The Catholic Church’s rejection of station the first day of his freshman The possibility of arrest—and the terms like ‘illegal alien’—whose use year and detained for almost a week, fact of being undocumented more gen- seems a point of pride to many—is wrote Chris Connell in International erally—take their psychological tolls on not a quibble or a semantic point. It’s Educator. A high school valedictorian students. “In the DREAM Act debate, a line-in-the-sand point. People can who had a full scholarship to Harvard break the law, but God’s children can- was jailed for a day while attempting but rarely do they talk about what hap- not be illegal, any more than there can to fly to Boston from his home in San pens in our heads, what happens when be illegal mothers, or illegal fathers, or Antonio. And a nursing student at City you are called an illegal, what hap- illegal brothers and sisters.” College of San Francisco spent two pens when you have an identity that In an article for the New York months in detention. you don’t want,” wrote an undocu- Times Magazine, Pulitzer-Prize win- President Obama and other officials mented student in a guide published ning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas have directed ICE to target criminals by Educators for Fair Consideration. “I described the arduous mental conse- rather than law-abiding college students. always have to tell myself that I can do quences of being “illegal.” An undoc- Yet according to a November 2011 it because there is always something in umented Filipino immigrant, Vargas study by the American Immigration the back of my head that does not allow only learned of his status when a Lawyers Association, “The overwhelm- me to easily view myself on an equal Department of Motor Vehicles clerk ing conclusion is that most ICE offices platform with someone else who has refused to give him a learner’s permit, have not changed their practices since already made it. I constantly tell myself explaining that his green card was fake.
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 39
Working-CS5.5.indd 39 5/8/12 11:55 AM His response was to convince himself as undocumented: she said she“felt eral DREAM Act. “He got depressed that, if he worked hard enough, he alone, though she knew she was not.” real bad,” one of Luna’s older brothers, would “earn” citizenship—a notion in That sense of isolation wasn’t Carlos Mendoza, told The Guardian. keeping with the philosophy behind the helped by her fear of travel, common “Every one of us, we all get depressed. federal DREAM Act. among illegal immigrants. “We reli- Some of us can handle it, some of us Work he did, joining the staffs of giously avoid airports and anything can’t. Joaquin couldn’t.” several national publications. “But resembling a terminal because of the “Jesus,” he wrote in his suicide note, I am still an undocumented immi- risk of being deported or getting caught “I’ve realized that I have no chance in grant,” he wrote. “And that means up in an Immigration and Customs becoming a civil engineer the way I’ve living a different kind of reality. It raid,” she explained. “The immobil- always dreamed of here...so I’m plan- means going about my day in fear of ity that accompanies being undocu- ning on going to you and helping you being found out. It means rarely trust- mented can feel, at times, paralyzing.” construct the new temple in heaven.” ing people, even those closest to me, Because of that immobility, she didn’t The reaction of DREAM Act sup- with who I really am. It means keep- see her family during her four years of porters suggested a general identifi- ing my family photos in a shoebox college. “The thought of detention and cation with Luna’s plight. In Austin, rather than displaying them on shelves forced removal still sends shivers down college students held posters that read in my home, so friends don’t ask about my spine,” she said. “It’s the ultimate “I am Joaquin,” reported The New York Times. A senior at Texas A&M A photo of University and Joaquin Luna the coordinator of (right) hangs on the wall as his the Texas Dream older brother Alliance told the Diyer Mendoza Times: “We can walks around his house. Mendoza all share in that said his brother pain and that killed himself because of his angst that he felt legal status at that moment, and the lack of because we’ve all passage of the federal Dream been there.” Act. Given the ASSOCIATED PRESS ASSOCIATED deep discourage- ment of being unable to legally work after col- them. It means reluctantly, even pain- nightmare—to be detained without jus- lege, what motivates undocumented fully, doing things I know are wrong tice, to be permanently separated from immigrants to seek college degrees? and unlawful.” The bravery of four your family and loved ones, to be ban- Cristina Jiménez, the managing direc- students who walked from Florida to ished to a country you have literally no tor of the United We Dream network, Washington, D.C., to advocate for the memory of.” pinpoints gratitude for parents’ sacri- federal DREAM Act encouraged him to Perhaps the most extreme example fices, as well as parents’ devotion to “come out.” of this psychological toll is the suicide their kids’ education and to the attain- An undocumented Yale student of Joaquin Luna, an 18-year-old who ment of a better life. “Immigrants explained to The New Journal, an had immigrated to the United States come to the U.S. for a better life, for undergraduate publication, how this as an infant. While causality in sui- freedom and different civil rights,” she code of secrecy affects college students cides is necessarily tentative, his fam- said. “That narrative drives our per- like her. Fearing deportation, students ily believes he killed himself because spective for how to see our lives and generally avoid discussing their status, of his despair regarding his immigra- ourselves within this country, because and thus can rarely identify one another tion status and the failure of the fed- we’re always driving to be better, to
40 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 40 5/8/12 11:55 AM get ourselves more educated—driving attain residency for progress.” status. I’ll go to In a June Students also feel that education college with the 2011 essay in The New seems permanent, she explained: no hope that right York Times matter what one’s professional situ- before I get my Magazine, Pulitzer Prize ation is, knowledge won’t disappear. B.A. or my mas- winning “Whether I’m deported or not, whether ter’s, the DREAM journalist and my life will be difficult because of my Act will pass. I immigration reform activist status or not, education is something think everyone Jose Antonio that no one can take away,” she says. has that hope.” Vargas wrote that he is an She also indicates “a level of faith Yet that hope “undocumented that drives a lot of the youth—faith that has not yet been immigrant.” tomorrow the DREAM Act will pass, or realized, leaving ASSOCIATED PRESS ASSOCIATED that an opportunity will come your way.’’ undocumented In this sense, the specter of the fed- college graduates eral DREAM Act prompts support for with few options.
Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, an undocumented Filipino immigrant, convinced himself that if he worked hard enough, he would “earn” citizenship—a notion in keeping with the DREAM Act.
the statewide initiatives—and inspires The guide published by Educators for tion status for small-business owners undocumented students to pursue edu- Fair Consideration sheds light on how and independent contractors. It recom- cation. Carlos Amador, who works for undocumented immigrants can apply mends tutoring, promotions, computer the UCLA Labor Center as the project their college educations despite those programming, child care, and party coordinator for the Dream Resource limitations. It explains that employ- planning as examples of independent Center and does advocacy and organiz- ers must demand proof of citizenship contractor work, and reminds read- ing with the Dream Team Los Angeles, status—a problem for would-be work- ers: “You are not required to discuss cites that very hope as his motivation ers without papers—and recommends your immigration status with any of for attending college. When he discov- internships as a way to join a workplace your clients.” ered the barriers he would encounter as without being formally employed. It Such a path seems to work well an undocumented student, he felt dis- also advises on how to handle sensi- for some. The guide offers testimony couraged, he says. But grateful for his tive conversation topics, counseling from undocumented graduates who parents’ sacrifice, he was “motivated that graduates who are unsure whether have gone on to find work, including and wanted to become a professional, to disclose their status file an applica- a small business owner. “One of the a conscious and responsible member tion “and once you have amazed them, greatest opportunities you can look of my community and society,” he then you can discuss the possibility of forward to is working for yourself,” explains. After learning that the federal not getting paid or getting paid through she says. “You should be creative with DREAM Act required college atten- other means, all without having to dis- what you do and not end up in a dead- dance, he enrolled, figuring that “once close status.” end job. If you work for yourself, you the DREAM Act passes I will have The guide also points out that laws do not have to wait seven years to get that, I will be ready—I will be able to often don’t require proof of immigra- promoted. It’s all a matter of personal-
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 41
Working-CS5.5.indd 41 5/8/12 11:55 AM ity. Ask yourself, what type of lifestyle through life after graduation. “Right Inzunza argues that such politiciza- do I want to live? Keep in mind that the now, I’ve been out of school for two tion will make DREAM Act activists skills you’ve learned getting through years,” she said, “and I’ve been able to better citizens, assuming they get the college are transferable to starting your find internships aligned with my inter- opportunity. “We’ve been here for so own business.” ests. I’ve been able to develop myself long and are so aware of our political Yet other contributors to the guide professionally even if just through vol- realities,” she says, adding that students feel more pessimistic. After explain- unteer work, and that wouldn’t have like her “got involved and became part ing that he didn’t apply to jobs he happened if I hadn’t gone to college.” of the political process, lobbying for knew would be unattainable because College also provides a political the first time, talking about the legisla- of his status, a University of California, education. “Though we have a lot of tive process for the first time. Those are Berkeley graduate became a tutor. young high school students who are people who will benefit from the bill— “Even though my jobs are not related undocumented as part of the move- they will be committed because they’re ment, the main core is college students, aware of the work it took to get there. even people who have papers end up and I think oftentimes in high school They became aware of the political working in jobs not related to their we don’t get as political as is neces- process at an early age, and they know sary to be a full civic participant in this what it takes. We would assume they limitations, the only reason I am doing society,” Amador says. In college, on would be great citizens.” this is because of my legal status.” the other hand, students “start thinking Some feel that such political activ- Many undocumented graduates critically and learning tools,” gaining ity marks undocumented students’ best pursue the same jobs they would have exposure by learning that their citizen chance at effecting change. Cornell without attending college: the Yale stu- classmates are able to vote, by meeting Law School adjunct professor Stephen dent mentioned above works in restau- peers engaged in various social move- Yale-Loehr compares this struggle rants and at laundromats. In a phone ments, and by studying history, politi- to the civil rights and environmental interview, Fabiola Inzunza—who grad- cal science, and other relevant subjects. movements, writes Connell. Agitation uated from University of California, The DREAM Act struggle has led around both issues led to the Civil Los Angeles, and now works on policy to politicization even without the help Rights Act of 1964, the Environmental for the Dream Team Los Angeles— of educational institutions. “Within the Protection Act of 1970, and other mile- describes the struggles of a friend movement, people have realized that stones. “The Dream Act students have whose efforts to work in the chemistry it’s important for all of us to be involved been very good at mobilizing and field failed because lab jobs are often in the policymaking process, and that marching and advocating and doing federally funded. After working as a means everywhere, at every level,” sit-ins,” Yale-Loehr tells Connell. waitress, she found a job in community says Jiménez. “Most of our people have “Although it’s a painful process that organizing. “There was a lot of depres- started working on the DREAM Act, takes a long time, I think that is their sion around that,” Inzunza says. “She and then become aware of other chal- best chance of making significant at one point stopped believing things lenges in their communities too. We’re changes, rather than just sitting back were going to change, so she had to creating very involved citizens who are and hoping that somebody’s going to update her expectations. I think a lot of critical of government, and other ele- do it on their behalf.” folks go through that if they’re not able ments in their communities—environ- Yet not everyone considers this tac- to continue pursuing jobs or passions.” ment, schools, teachers, even LGBTQ tic smart: Michael Olivas, who helped Graduates’ contentment seems to vary issues.” Within families, she adds, compose the Texas DREAM Act, coun- by field, she added. politically active youth become liaisons sels students against civil disobedi- If college can’t provide these stu- between their parents and their com- ence, Connell writes. “They are still dents with traditional job opportunities, munities. “We become known as the deporting people—students, military what does it give them? On an emo- people who tell you what’s going on; spouses, and others with no record tional level, Amador says, it promotes a we do education in our families. So the of criminal behavior,” Olivas points sense of community familiar from high transformation that we as individuals out. “I keep begging students, ‘Please school. Inzunza emphasized that she’d have gone through is transmitted to our don’t out yourself.’ In the civil rights been able to forge networks that helped families, and that spreads to the com- tradition that this is in, they all want her both finish college and maneuver munities, and the impact there is huge.” to be Martin Luther King writing let-
42 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 42 5/8/12 11:55 AM Illinois Governor Pat Quinn celebrates with students and supporters after signing the Illinois Dream Act into law on August 1, 2011. ASSOCIATED PRESS ASSOCIATED
ters from Birmingham jail. But Martin young people, and now you see a very now it includes students, workers, and Luther King wasn’t deported when he concrete narrative—you see it in the engaged community members. was released from jail.” media, in the public. People know, These positive developments ame- The fear of deportation has dimin- these are young people who came with liorate the discouragement that has ished, Jiménez explains, both because their parents, they’re undocumented, resulted from both the failure of the DREAM activists have successfully they work hard to go to college, they federal Dream Act in 2010 and ongo- stopped some deportations and because can’t work—all the pieces of that story ing struggles at the local level. “When the administration has declared that that are highlights, people know about, Obama was elected in 2008, there was undocumented students are not a pri- so the narrative and story have become lots of hope in the air,” says Inzunza. ority for deportation. More subtly, she so critical in helping American public “He had supported the Dream Act as and Amador point out, the development understand the issue, and by now peo- senator and made it seem like some- of the movement has itself lessened ple know what the story and obstacles thing he could easily manage. But concern: “people are no longer scared are.” Sharing experiences empowers that’s not the case, and we know now because we’ve built a movement of others to do the same, says Jiménez, what the climate is.” young people, and people don’t feel further diminishing fear. “But we’re gaining little battles,” isolated, they see a community around Perhaps the brashest advertiser of Amador says, “at college campuses, them that will rally for them and pro- illegal status was the late Cinthya Felix, or from community-based organiza- tect them,” Jiménez says. an activist who died in a car crash. Her tions or churches or businesses, or at This visible community results vanity license plate read: “Illegal.” the state level from the governor. Even partly from the movement’s embrace The statewide DREAM Acts, in though the national political atmo- of storytelling as a central technique. addition to agitation around national sphere doesn’t allow for the federal Such sharing normalizes the undocu- legislation, have influenced the broader DREAM Act, there’s a lot of hope for mented experience among illegal and perception of immigrants in other ways, undocumented immigrants, especially legal residents alike, and Amador Inzunza says. She credits DREAM Act the younger generation.” calls it “the most powerful tool that activism, and college attendance, with we have.” Previously, he says, there expanding the image of the immi- was “no narrative for undocumented grant beyond its usual stereotype;
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 43
Working-CS5.5.indd 43 5/8/12 11:55 AM RecentEvents
dren, youth and adults. A unique feature is the library’s early childhood development section for children up to age six, known as Funda Udlale in the local language, where caregivers are encouraged to bring children for reading and activities while adults Original art work learn about child development. commissioned for the The historic Johannesburg Freedom from Fear Award. Public Library, also funded by Carnegie Corporation, re-opened Freedom from Fear in February 2012 as a model Community College Northwest, Winners 21st century institution. It now Gary, Indiana; Saundra Ross- Fifteen “ordinary people” were offers greatly improved facili- Forrest, North Avondale Branch commended for extraordinary ties and services to children, Library (Birmingham Public acts of courage on behalf of im- many of whom attend schools Library System), Birmingham, mi grants and refugees at the first without libraries, according to Alabama; Martha Ferriby, Freedom from Fear Awards on former Carnegie Corporation Hackley Public Library, June 18, 2011 at the Netroots African Libraries program offi- Muskegon, Michigan; Dr. Rhonda Nation conference in Minneapolis, cer Rookaya Bawa. “The library Allison Rios Kravitz, Sacramento Minnesota. The award was cre- contributes to the country’s long- City College, Sacramento, ated by philanthropic leaders Geri Caroline Kennedy term efforts to promote social, California; Venetia V. Demson, Mannion of Carnegie Corporation economic and educational oppor- DC Public Library, Adaptive and Taryn Higashi of Unbound Temple University Harrisburg, tunities in a way that will have a Services Division, Washington, Philanthropy as a way of “paying Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. positive effect on disadvantaged DC; Elizabeth “Betsy” Long, forward” $10,000 they received Delivering the keynote address, populations,” Bawa said. Doby’s Mill Elementary School as co-recipients of the 2009 Caroline Kennedy paid tribute to Media Center, Lugoff, South Robert W. Scrivner Award for the vital role of libraries and li- Saluting Librarians as Carolina; Jennifer O. Keohane, Creative Grantmaking, presented brar ians, saying, “Libraries are no Community Leaders The Simsbury Public Library, by the Council on Foundations. longer hushed reading rooms but Ten outstanding librarians Simsbury, Connecticut; Jennifer Friends and colleagues contrib- busy social hubs for the exchange were recognized for service to U. LaGarde, Myrtle Grove uted additional funds to meet a of life skills and information. their communities, schools and Middle School, Wilmington, $100,000 challenge grant from They have become community campuses as winners of the 2011 North Carolina; Michelle the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The centers in the very best sense— I Love My Librarian! Award. Luhtala, New Canaan High 15 winners received $5,000 each places where we build commu- The winners are (l. to r., above): School Library, New Canaan, and a commissioned art piece. nity and weave together lives and Barbara K. Weaver, Ivy Tech Connecticut; Rebecca Traub, The awards were administered dreams.” The awards are a part- and produced by Public Interest nership of Carnegie Corporation Projects (PIP). of New York, The New York Times and the American Library New Libraries Open in Association. Each winning librar- South Africa ian received a $5,000 prize. The Harare Library, which serves the Cape Town community Revisiting the of Khayelitsha, opened to the Responsibility to public in June 2011, to an over- Protect whelmingly positive response. Marking the tenth anniversary Considered vital for providing of the Responsibility to Protect access to information as well (R2P), a full-day conference as community violence preven- was held on January 18, 2012 in tion programs, the library was Councillor Anele Gabuza, Ward Councillor; Alderman Patricia New York City, sponsored by the underwritten by the national and de Lille, Executive Mayor of Cape Town; Tade Akin Aina, Stanley Foundation in partner- provincial governments, with Program Director and Rookaya Bawa, former Program ship with Carnegie Corporation Carnegie Corporation-provided Officer, Carnegie Corporation; Dr. Ivan Meyer, Member of of New York and the MacArthur funding for collections for chil- the Executive Council for Cultural Affairs and Sport. Foundation. The day’s discus-
44 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 44 5/8/12 11:55 AM The book was launched February 1, 2012 at a panel discus- sion hosted by the IIE in New York City. Speakers included Olugbemiro Jegede, Secretary General of the Association of African Universities; Brian O’Connell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape; Teboho Moja, Professor of Higher Education at New York University; and Allan E. President Vartan Gregorian Goodman, president and CEO Leland Melvin, NASA Associate Administrator for with Secretary General of IIE. In addition to inspiring Education, addresses the audience as Michele Cahill, Ban Ki-moon tales of professors, university Carnegie Corporation and Anthony Carnavele (right) and Stacy Shusterman, Samson Energy Company and John administrators, and students, the sions, featuring expert inter- Ratliff, Maryland office of the Governor (left) look on. book details how PHEA’s sup- national panelists, traced R2P port helped to catalyze social and through past experience and and announced a multi- million economic development in African contemporary realities. UN dollar commitment from private higher education. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon companies to support the effort. delivered the keynote address, Carnegie Corporation spear- which stressed the importance of Science Invades the headed this work, and Michele global and regional cooperation. White House Cahill, Vice President, National “In 2011, history took a turn for A science fair in February Program, and Program Director, the better,” the Secretary General 2012 offered an ideal opportu- Urban Education and Talia said. “The responsibility to pro- nity for President Obama to meet Milgrom-Elcott, Program tect came of age; the principle some promising young science Officer, Senior Manager STEM was tested as never before. The students and to announce a $100 Teacher Initiatives attended the results were uneven, but at the million plan to train new educa- science fair at the invitation of end of the day, tens of thousands tors in Science, Technology, the White House. of lives were saved. Engineering and Math (STEM). To watch videos from the A nationwide shortage of teach- A Force for Change in ers in these vital subjects threat- Education Secretary Arne event go to http://www.youtube. STEM Education Duncan. ens U.S. global competitiveness, com/watch?v=0gWqwaX3Rno Representatives of more than according to the country’s busi- 115 organizations gathered America, especially the highest ness and education communities. Transforming African at Google’s Washington, DC need schools.” The president asked Congress Higher Education offices on February 21, 2012 for To date, 16 donors have for $80 million to support new A new, color a summit of 100Kin10 partners pledged $25 million toward this Department of Education grants photo-filled and supporters. All have com- work—funding that is available for colleges that provide innova- book published mitted to bold, measurable plans to 100Kin10 partners through tive teacher-training programs, by the Institute to recruit, train, hire, develop, a registration and proposal of International and retain 100,000 new, excel- process. “The partners’ com- Education (IIE) lent STEM teachers in the next mitments to increase the supply recounts the decade. Secretary of Education of excellent STEM teachers is impact of the Arne Duncan addressed the testament to their ability and Partnership summit, urging the organiza- willpower,” said Michele Cahill, for Higher Education in Africa tion’s partners—who range from Co-Chair of the Opportunity (PHEA) and examines issues and museums to universities, teacher Equation and Vice President for actions shaping the future of the residencies to school districts, National Programs, Carnegie continent’s colleges and universi- non-profits to high-tech cor- Corporation of New York, which ties. Weaving Success: Voices porations—to “raise the bar on is coordinating the funders’ of Change in African Higher Science student Joe Hudy STEM education to dramatically collaborative. “But many more Education offers an in-depth and President Obama increase the number of talented, innovative and audacious orga- look at innovation across African shoot a marshmallow from inspiring and diverse STEM nizations must join if we are to campuses and national boundaries. the gun Hudy created. teachers in every school in reach our goal.”
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 45
Working-CS5.5.indd 45 5/8/12 11:55 AM FoundationRoundup
for the past 24 years. Eighty-five to building leadership and man- percent of their fellows remain agement skills in community- in the social sector in leadership based arts organizations. The positions after their fellowships initial project provided excellent Department of Justice, 1,220 Applications have ended. learning in professional develop- MacArthur Foundation Submitted for Open Each BMA Fellow will receive ment training as well as in the Provide $2 Million Society and Echoing Green a $70,000 stipend in start-up value of collaborative funding to Support Juvenile Black Male Achievement cap ital as well as technical by foundations sharing common Justice Reform Fellowship assistance over 18 months to interests. Building on the success In a new private-public part- In December 2011 the help them launch and build their of and knowledge gained during nership, the U.S. Department Open Society Foundations and organizations. The stipend will that project, five of the founda- of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Echoing Green announced a new enable them access to technical tions renewed their support for Justice and Delinquency fellowship program for individu- support, pro bono partnerships, the project in 2008. Prevention (OJJDP) and the John als dedicated to improving the and other benefits. During this second phase, D. and Catherine T. MacArthur life outcomes of black men and For more information on ArtsLab offered training and Foundation are jointly providing boys in the United States. It is the Open Society Foundations, consultation services to nine $2 million to support innova- the first fellowship program of please visit: www.soros.org. selected arts organizations in the tive and effective reforms in its kind that targets social entre- For more information on metropolitan Minneapolis-Saint treatment and services for youth preneurs who are starting up Echoing Green, including a Paul area and seven in north- involved in the juvenile justice new organizations in the field of roster of BMA Fellowship western Minnesota. Like the first and child welfare systems. black male achievement. By the Semifinalists, please visit: www. phase, the program was consid- “We need to do what’s close of the application period echoinggreen.org. ered highly successful, and has right for America’s children,” five weeks later, 1,220 applica- been lauded for strengthening the said Melodee Hanes, acting tions had been submitted. skills and resiliency of Minnesota administrator of OJJDP. “We’re proud to support inno- arts leaders and organizations. “This partnership supports vators working to transform the ArtsLab is now initiating a state and community efforts lives of black men and boys and two-year peer learning commu- to protect youth from harm, their communities,” said Shawn ArtsLab: Five Foundations nity program that will promote hold them accountable for Dove, manager of the Open Renew Support for shared learning and strengthen their actions, provide for Society Foundations Campaign Leadership and Strategy the organizational infrastructures rehabilitation and improve for Black Male Achievement. Development Program of 16 organizations. In addition public safety. In this tight Open Society Black Male for Arts Nonprofits to the peer learning, and with economy, creatively partnering Achievement (BMA) Fellowships To bolster community vibrancy significant support from the with a private organization will be awarded in spring 2012 and cultural life, five major arts Bush Foundation, ArtsLab will such as MacArthur maximizes to up to eight fellows who are funders have renewed support for also launch an idea exchange—a reform, while stretching limited generating big, bold, new ideas in Arts Midwest’s ArtsLab, a $1.9 professional affinity group—to public dollars.” OJJDP and the the areas of education, family and million, multiyear venture. Sup- gather the mentors, educators MacArthur Foundation each will work, such as initiatives related port for the program is provided and leaders who support arts provide a total of $1 million over to fatherhood, mentoring, college by the McKnight Foundation, organizations in their leadership two years to four organizations preparatory programs, communi- F. R. Bigelow Foundation, Mardag and management development. to support juvenile justice reform ty building and supportive wage Foundation, the Saint Paul “ArtsLab is a proven and power- in four target areas. These work opportunities. Fellowships Foundation and Bush Foundation. ful tool for developing coura- organizations will in turn offer may also be awarded for efforts “Artists and the organizations geous community leaders,” noted states and local governments in the areas of communications that serve them are essential to Catherine Jordan, director for training and technical assistance and philanthropic leadership. the fabric of our communities,” Advancing Solutions at the Bush to improve mental health “The pioneering efforts of said Kate Wolford, president Foundation. “We are excited services for youth, reduce social entrepreneurs have real of the McKnight Foundation. about the opportunity to support racial and ethnic disparities in and long-term systemic impacts “ArtsLab has demonstrated its ArtsLab in its work to connect the juvenile justice system and on society,” said Cheryl L. ability to extend the reach of art- and support leaders with new better coordinate treatment and Dorsey, president of Echoing ists and our arts and culture sec- resources for facilitating com- services for youth involved in Green. “We’re excited to be tor, and hence our quality of life munity conversations that lead to the juvenile justice and child partners in this new fellowship in our region.” change in their communities.” welfare systems. The targeted program focused on black male ArtsLab was launched in 1999 For more information on reforms include: achievement.” as a pilot project undertaken col- ArtsLab or the McKnight Mental Health Screening Echoing Green has run a laboratively by six major funders Foundation please visit: and Risk/Needs Assessment: social entrepreneur fellowship seeking to learn better approaches http://www.mcknight.org. The National Youth Screening
46 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 46 5/8/12 11:55 AM and Assessment Project at the For more information about “Often, the scale of a non- The foundation (www.SNF. University of Massachusetts OJJDP, please visit www.ojjdp.gov. profit isn’t up to the scale of org) is one of the world’s leading Medical School will provide For more information about the the problem it seeks to address. international philanthropic orga- technical assistance on the use MacArthur Foundation, please Often, great programs get stuck nizations, making grants in the of evidence-based tools for case visit www.macfound.org. in the day to day and cannot areas of arts and culture, educa- planning to reduce out-of-home make the leaps required to tion, health and medicine, and placements and recidivism. affect real change,” says Craig social welfare. The foundation Mental Health Training Reigel, managing director of funds organizations and projects for Juvenile Justice: The NFF Capital Partners. “At a that exhibit strong leadership and National Center for Mental time when nonprofits are facing sound management and that have Health and Juvenile Justice at an uphill battle to solve our the potential to achieve a broad, Policy Research, Inc. will pro- New Report from nation’s social problems, philan- lasting and positive impact. The vide comprehensive adolescent Nonprofit Finance Fund thropic equity allows nonprofits foundation also seeks to actively development and mental health Finds Philanthropic Equity to build the businesses required support projects that facilitate training for juvenile correctional Puts Nonprofits on the to implement effective business the formation of public-private and detention staff to improve Path to Sustainability models, scale impact and create partnerships as effective means their ability to respond to youth The Nonprofit Finance Fund lasting change.” for serving public welfare. with mental health needs. (NFF) has released an updated The NFF performance report The organization’s purpose Disproportionate Minority report of its ongoing comprehen- measures the comprehensive and philosophy, which focus on Contact Reduction: The Center sive philanthropic equity cam- philanthropic equity campaigns vital issues in Greece as well for Children’s Law and Policy paigns, which, on average, have for which multiyear data are as the rest of the world, are will provide technical assistance nearly tripled revenue and grown available. Among NFF Capital intended to complement rather on evidence-based strategies to program delivery by 370 percent Partners’ nine multiyear cam- than replace the work of state measurably reduce racial and for participating nonprofit orga- paigns, business model revenue and institutional organizations. ethnic disparities within the nizations since 2006. excluding philanthropic equity Funds will be made available juvenile justice system. The impact presented in investments has expanded by only to grantees that have the Juvenile Justice and Child NFF Capital Partners’ Portfolio $63 million compared to pre- capacity and ability to utilize Welfare System Integration: Performance Report provides campaign baselines. This growth them effectively. The Robert F. Kennedy concrete evidence of the value of allows organizations to sustain “The crisis is rapidly reversing Children’s Action Corps will philanthropic equity investments, their programs over time. decades of economic growth,” provide technical assistance which are typically significant, To view the full report, please stated Andreas C. Dracopoulos, on implementing effective multiyear investments made by visit http://nonprofitfinancefund. co-president and member of the practices to reduce recidivism a nonprofit organization to cre- org/capital-services/2011-portfolio- Stavros Niarchos Foundation and out-of-home placement ate sustainable growth. Since performance-report. board. “Our commitment is to and to improve correctional 2006, NFF Capital Partners has those most in need but is also alternatives for youth in the supported 18 campaigns for phil- a promise to future genera- juvenile justice system, with a anthropic equity, totaling $326 tions. Not only do we intend to history of maltreatment. The million in financial investments. The Stavros Niarchos offer immediate relief by fund- partnership will build upon Philanthropic equity acts as Foundation Commits ing social welfare and health the MacArthur Foundation’s an early-stage investment in an $130 Million to Help Ease programs, but we will invest in Models for Change initiative organization for investors seek- the Adverse Effects of the educational programs that should that seeks to create successful ing social, rather than financial, Current Crisis in Greece help ensure that the current crisis and replicable models of juve- returns. With the infusion of this The Board of Directors of the does not condemn future gen- nile justice systems reform. one-time growth capital invest- Stavros Niarchos Foundation, erations. We hope that today’s OJJDP and MacArthur selected ment that is distinct and separate concerned with the socioeco- announcement will inspire many these four organizations because from annual revenue that pays nomic crisis in Greece, has other organizations and individu- they helped develop, field test and for program and operating costs, committed up to $130 million als that can and must help to do evaluate effective best practice nonprofits can focus on build- (€100 million) over the next the same.” models included in the Models for ing their organizations to better three years to help ease the For more information on this Change initiative. The MacArthur address the social problems they adverse effects of the deepening foundation and their work please Foundation has invested more seek to solve. Using transparent crisis. This decision comes visit: http://www.snf.org/. than $100 million in promising and shared reporting systems, on the heels of a $1.9 million juvenile justice reforms since the expectation is that the fund- (€1.5 million) grant supporting 2004. For more information on ing will be used to transform an a series of pilot programs Models for Change please visit organization in a way that sticks, addressing the country’s mount- www.modelsforchange.net. allowing them to grow and build. ing social needs.
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 47
Working-CS5.5.indd 47 5/8/12 11:55 AM The PARTNERSHIP: FIVE COLD WARRIORS and THEIR QUEST TO BAN THE BOMB
by PHILIP TAUBMAN
An award-winning author’s story of five surprising allies and their campaign to dismantle the nuclear kingdom they once helped build.
tells the behind-the-scenes story of of nuclear terrorism, failed states and these unexpected allies, traces the evo- an ever expanding array of nuclear lution of their ideas and follows their threats,” Taubman writes. efforts to spur U.S. and Russian lead- These veteran Cold Warriors, (who ers to dismantle their nuclear arsenals. form the Nuclear Security Project) of The bipartisan nature of the the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a long- Partnership attracted as much atten- time Carnegie Corporation Grantee) tion at the time as its call for reduc- have been influential in shaping the ing the threat of a nuclear attack by ambitious nuclear agenda of the pres- a total elimination of nuclear weap- ent administration. Even they are sur- n January 2007, an op ed piece ap- ons. Republicans George Shultz and prised at the degree of traction their peared in the Wall Street Journal Henry Kissinger were former secretar- campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons Iunder the title, “A World Free of ies of state, Democrat William Perry has gained, influencing world leaders Nuclear Weapons.” The article was co- had been Secretary of Defense in the to embrace ideas not long ago ridiculed written by four prominent members of Clinton administration and Democrat as radical and reckless. Operating with the U.S. security establishment, senior Sam Nunn was a former U.S. Senator. intensity and energy, these five may statesmen who had long supported nu- Despite their political differences, all have realized late in life that the world clear weapons and the Cold War theory agreed deterrence was a theory that, was too dangerous to hand off unal- of deterrence: George Shultz, William if it had once been effective, was no tered to their grandchildren, the author Perry, Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn, longer valid decades after the col- says, and the time had come to disman- and Sidney Drell, a respected Stanford lapse of the Soviet Union and the end tle the nuclear kingdom they worked University physicist who advised the of the Cold War. They saw the greatest to build. This thought-provoking story group. In The Partnership, award-win- danger now was “that the twentieth- of science, history and friendship was
ning journalist Philip Taubman, a 30- century era of nuclear stalemate was written with support from Carnegie
year veteran of The New York Times, turning into a twenty-first-century era Corporation. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
48 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 48 5/8/12 11:55 AM Preventing Afghanistan from Becoming a Narco-State Vartan Gregorian—continued from inside front cover
resolution or reconciliation between Kabul and the resur- actually mobilizing against the Taliban in order to protect the gent Taliban will only be compounded by leaving the fate poppy harvest. Hence, the Taliban sought an interpretation of of Afghanistan’s largest cash crop—opium poppies3—to the Qur’an that would help address this dilemma and found itself. Although the current U.S. administration abandoned the answer they were looking for in the idea that such reli- its predecessor’s flawed focus on the eradication of poppy gious laws can be set aside in cases of extreme need, such as crops, the White House and its advisors have fared little bet- imminent starvation.6 Thus, if farmers were to starve without ter in their own Afghan-centered “war on drugs,” and, in the income generated by opium poppies, then it was permis- his remarks, President Obama made no mention of how his sible to cultivate the plant. Recently published reports clearly administration will address the problem represented by the show that the Taliban have now even moved decisively poppy fields that are the source of the opium that bankrolls toward active promotion and protection of the poppy crop corrupt government officials and the Taliban alike, provid- and its growers: in Helmand Province the chief of police— ing around an astonishing 90 percent of the world’s heroin. who is known as a committed opponent of the Taliban—was Further, the 2011 Afghanistan Opium Survey of the United injured in a suicide attack that targeted him. At the same time, Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that in a nearby bazaar, Taliban fighters tried to blow up tractors there has been a “dramatic 133 per cent increase in the farm- used in poppy-eradication efforts. The police chief survived, gate value4 of opium compared with 2010.” The survey fur- but a number of officers were killed in the police station and ther reveals that “The farm-gate value of opium production the bazaar. The message from the Taliban to the poppy grow- alone is U.S. $1.4 billion or 9 percent of the country’s GDP; ers and other local populations who depend on income from the total net value of the opiate economy amounts to U.S. the crop is clear: not only will they help protect the poppy $2.4 billion or around 15 per cent of GDP, an amount that fields, they will use lethal force again those who attempt to cannot be easily substituted by other economic activities.” In eradicate the crop. Thus have the Taliban set themselves up the opinion of Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC, as the protectors of the peasants, whose support they need. “Opium is therefore a significant part of the Afghan econ- Given this reality, America and its NATO allies cannot omy and provides considerable funding to the insurgency and unwittingly stand by while Afghanistan continues on as the fuels corruption.” Further, says Afghan Deputy Minister for world’s greatest source of heroin—an endeavor in which it Counternarcotics Mohammed Azhar, “The price of opium is is aided by its regional neighbors. Tajikistan, for example, now seven times higher than wheat…so our farmers have no is one of the world’s key transit states in the international disincentive to cultivate poppy.”5 This conclusion is backed illegal trafficking of drugs. According to the United Nations by the UNODC report, which notes that in 2011, there was a Development Programme, “Up to 100 [tons] of heroin 43 percent increase in the price of dry opium at harvest time passes through Tajikistan every year,” and the use of its terri- compared to 2010 and that farmers surveyed in 2011 cited the tory “as a key conduit for drug flows from Afghanistan is set high sale price as the most important reason (59 percent) for to increase.” It therefore seems clear that the time has come cultivating opium poppy. In that connection, it is also impor- for policymakers to revisit an idea that never gained traction tant to note that while the Taliban receive only a small portion but, with a few adjustments, could help ensure that a plan is of the income from poppies, the amount is still significant put in place that will benefit the Afghan people while at the considering the worth of the harvest. same time reduce the global scourge of the illegal drug trade. We can be sure that the Taliban are well aware of these In 2005, an international think tank, the Senlis Council, facts and figures. In 1995, not long after they came to promi- now called the International Council for Security and nence in Afghanistan, they tried to eradicate opium produc- Development (ICSD), suggested an alternative to endless
tion citing the Islamic proscription against addiction. But and seemingly bound-to-fail efforts to eradicate the poppy ! they soon realized that in key provinces where they needed crop. Their idea was to institute an Afghan adaptation of an support—particularly Kandahar and Helmand, which are American-supported opium control scheme that had proven also the main regions where poppies are cultivated—not only successful in India and Turkey7 where the controlled and was the population resisting this edict, tribal warlords were legal cultivation of poppies was carried out through village-
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 49 based licensing and production of pharmaceutical mor- and fair wages from the licensed cultivation of poppies phine. It was hoped that such an approach would help many so they could feed their families and plan for their futures Afghans escape from the illicit grip of the drug lords and would be an appealing alternative to the lure of illicit, but the Taliban, while providing a basis for broader sustainable uncertain, gains. economic growth. Such an approach would also address the Recent estimates of major untapped mineral deposits chronic underutilization of pain-relieving opiates in much of in Afghanistan with the potential to generate huge profits the developing world. In that connection, it is shocking to are seen by some as a panacea for the country’s enormous note that 80 percent of the global population has little or no development challenges. Others point to the sorry record access to morphine, an inexpensive and highly effective pain of commodity-based economies as a double-edged sword. medication derived from the same opium poppies that are Commentators cite the example of Africa where a combi- the source of heroin. Even leaders of Human Rights Watch nation of mineral wealth and a thriving drug trade have, in have weighed in on the need to expand access to morphine. many cases, shored up corrupt regimes, inflamed civil wars, Diederik Lohman, a senior researcher with Human Rights taken countless lives and caused all sorts of other mayhem Watch, recently compared the effects of unrelieved pain to at great cost to civilian populations who often receive little torture, noting that, “Many countries have become so zeal- benefit even from the legal trade in mineral wealth and other ous in trying to limit access to controlled substances that natural resources. In terms of Afghanistan, even if the most their regulations have started interfering with availability for optimistic estimates pan out, the country will not be able legitimate medical purposes. You could call them collateral to reap any meaningful economic rewards from its mineral damage of the war on drugs.”8 resources for many years to come. Well before then, it will Since the idea of promoting international as well as lo- have to find a way, among other pressing challenges, to con- cally licensed opium-for-morphine production was first tinue its rebuilding, meet the basic needs of its people and proposed, some critics have charged that it is infeasible and support its growing, largely American-built, army. unneeded. The Afghan government’s lack of capacity to ad- So let us return to the idea of creating a legalized stream minister such a program, its endemic corruption and inabil- of economic support for Afghanistan based on the cultiva- ity to provide adequate security and law enforcement were tion of opium poppies. Perhaps the most critical compo- seen as major stumbling blocks. So too were large price dif- nent of such an undertaking would be to widely publicize ferentials between licit and illicit opium. But all of the ob- the formal approval of Afghan religious leaders, who could, jections to the legal production of opium cannot overcome as the Taliban did, make clear that the traditional Muslim the fact that poppy cultivation is currently central to the injunction against addictive substances does not apply to Afghan economy. It has been so for a long time, but as Pierre- opium if it is used as medicine to reduce human suffering. Arnaud Chouvy notes in Afghanistan’s Opium Production in Also important to providing international legitimization to Perspective,9 “Afghanistan’s opium production is the direct this plan without impinging on Afghan sovereignty would outcome of Cold War rivalries and conflicts waged by proxies be to carry it out under the auspices of the World Health who helped develop a thriving narcotic economy in the coun- Organization, which could help provide price stabilization try.” In particular, the Soviet Union’s “scorched earth policy” and set up parameters for acreage that would be devoted to of destroying agricultural acreage and processing facilities poppies along with other types of agriculture. The business during their invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s led to in- of “legal opium” could be managed by establishing a cor- creased poppy production, since the crop was able to thrive poration with its own governing Board that would include without the irrigation, fertilizers, or complex transportation landowners along with the Afghan ministers of health, network needed to bring more traditional crops to market. finance and education to oversee the opium-to-morphine Repeated efforts to find substitutes for the poppy crop infrastructure and procedures. In order to guarantee the have consistently floundered, including those undertaken by autonomy of this Board and ensure that it is not viewed as an the United States. For example, in 2010, U.S. Agriculture American- or NATO-imposed scheme, neutral Switzerland Secretary Tom Vilsack announced plans to donate up to could be involved as well as Afghanistan’s fellow Muslim- $20 million to help Afghan farmers switch from poppies to majority states Indonesia or Malaysia. Focusing on these other crops, but the effect has been negligible. Still, given and similar locations is particularly critical, since setting up the vagaries of the illicit opium market, Afghan farmers who facilities for the processing required to refine morphine from grow poppies also cannot depend on a predictable income. the poppy plant in locations distant from Afghanistan would Providing them with a stable, dependable source of income help reduce illicit trafficking throughout the region. It would
50 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012 continuing to waste billions of dollars on ineffective, top-down “state-building” projects that serve to line the pockets of foreign advi- sors and undermine national capacity, the NSP works to empower Afghans at the tribal and village levels to make decision affecting their own lives and liveli- hoods. Locally—meaning both in Afghanistan and neighboring states—there is also the potential for the cul- tivation of spices; the ever- growing global demand for spices and seasonings is ASSOCIATED PRESS forecast to reach more than also allay potential Afghan suspicions that their neighbors 4.6 billion pounds by the year 201510. might simply process the poppies into heroin and distribute Naturally, the effective transformation of Afghanistan’s it throughout the region, denying income to Afghanistan. illicit opium production into a health industry with global Local tribes along with domestic and foreign private busi- potential for doing good will not solve all of the country’s ness interests could be stakeholders in this plan. Broad based many problems but it will go a long way towards providing buy-in would help to spread the risk and improve its viability a stable economic base for a nation that is now teetering on as would designating a set tax rate on the income from the the brink of disaster and primed to devolve into a cycle of legal sale of poppies and using those funds for Afghan recon- internecine violence that will continue to take a horrific toll struction, particularly to build badly needed schools and hospi- on the civilian population. As the United States debates the tals and support other projects that would improve the Afghan idea of ramping up its departure from Afghanistan, the time economy as well as the lives of the country’s men, women is right—in fact, long overdue—to lead the call for measures and children. Such investments might also aid in efforts to that have real potential for helping to counter the Taliban not only provide a secure base for Afghanistan’s economy and build a just, functioning and sustainable Afghan govern- but also stimulate social, cultural and political modernization ment supported by a stable economy. Without such efforts after decades of civil war, economic dislocation, military in- Afghanistan’s future as a narco-state is not just a dangerous vasions and destruction. In addition, given the plan’s potential possibility, it is fast becoming a reality. for greatly limiting the flow of illicit opium across their bor- 1 “Karzai Wants NATO Pullback as Taliban Rebuffs Talks,” Bloomberg, March 16, ders, regional states such as Iran, Russia and China, as well 2012;http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-16/karzai-wants-nato-pullback-as- as the European Union, would welcome any effort to reduce taliban-rebuffs-peace-talks.html 2 Evaluating U.S. Foreign Assistance to Afghanistan: A Majority Staff Report their own severe domestic drug addiction problems. Prepared for the Use of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Since economic progress in Afghanistan is key to political June 8, 2011. 3 Opium and Afghanistan: Reassessing U.S. Counternarcotics Strategy, by Lieutenant stability, the “poppies-for-medicine” idea needs to be com- Colonel John A. Glaze, U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2007. 4 The farm-gate value of an agricultural product is the net value of the product when bined with other promising proposals for rural development it leaves the farm, after marketing costs—often negligible for agrarian growers—are that build upon some notable, though under-publicized suc- subtracted. 5 “As opium prices soar and allies focus on Taliban, Afghan drug war stumbles,” The cess stories, such a the National Solidarity Program (NSP). Washington Post, January 14, 2011. Created in 2003 by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and 6 “Opium Brides: Why Eradication Won’t Solve Afghanistan’s Poppy Problem,” Frontline, January 3, 2012. Development Program to promote the ability of Afghan 7 “Poppies for Medicine in Afghanistan: Lessons from India and Turkey,” by James communities to identify, plan, manage and monitor their Windle, Journal of Asian and African Studies December 2011 vol. 46 no. 6 663-677. 8 “A World of Pain,” CBS Sunday Morning, March 11, 2012. own development projects, the largely unheralded NSP now 9 China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 4, No. 1 (2006) p. 21-24, © Central reaches 29,000 (of some 45,000 in total) villages. Instead of Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program. 10 Spices and Seasonings: A Global Strategic Business Report, 2011, Global Industry
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 51 BackTHE Page
John Schidlovsky is the director of governance—affect all of us, the Washington D.C.-based Inter- Americans included. Yet journal- national Reporting Project (IRP) ists rarely send back stories that ’ve been hanging out with capture such vivid scenes far from some great apes recently. home. Reporting from overseas in I In 2011, I was in Indonesia the US media is now vanishing at and in Rwanda, on trips organized a rate that forced many of us on by the International Reporting that cool Rwandan hilltop to ask Project (IRP), the Washington ourselves the following question: D.C.-based journalism nonprofit Who’s more endangered: the group I founded in 1998. In both orangutans and apes or the for- countries, I got to spend some eign correspondents? quality time with endangered apes: International news in the U.S. orangutans on the Indonesian part media has been decreasing for of Borneo and mountain gorillas in some time now. A clear paradox has Virunga National Park in Rwanda. On a personal level, spending an hour in a Rwandan jungle clear- International News Coverage: ing with a group of 20 mountain gorillas is a profoundly spiritual experience—a meditation on the A Vanishing Species? nature of life and the extent to which by JOHN SCHIDLOVSKY we humans have responsibilities for the other denizens of the earth. But the experience also pro- arisen: new technology has given us four years, a great deal of interna- informed, on global issues is an vided us journalists with a chance more access to information about tional news in our media is pushed open invitation to the government to do some rare on-the-ground the world than ever before. Yet aside by the massive amounts of to make missteps in foreign policy reporting on such issues as the international news is reaching fewer horse race-style political cover- that can cost lives and dollars. relationship between environ- consumers of media, most of whom age, convention hoopla and polls. There is no shortage of huge mental protection and political still rely on the mass-market news I have one friend, a prize-winning international stories. This spring stability, the conflict between organizations that have traditionally veteran foreign correspondent I have been helping to judge the development and preservation— provided us with most of the news for one of the country’s best Overseas Press Club awards for topics that proved to be fascinating we think we need to know. news organizations, who says he best international stories of the stories for National Public Radio, An increasing ignorance of the doesn’t even bother filing non- year. As I review the entries, I am the Boston Globe, Triplepundit. world is not a healthy trend, nei- crises stories from overseas dur- continually impressed with the com, and other news organizations ther for us as individuals nor for us ing the U.S. political conventions work of so many talented jour- represented on our trip. as a nation. At a time when more because he knows that those sto- nalists who in 2011 reported bril- Similarly in Borneo, when we Americans are living, working and ries are just going to be killed by liantly and bravely on the Japanese visited orphaned orangutans res- studying overseas than ever before, the editors for lack of space. tsunami and nuclear disaster, cued from their bulldozed forest our mass media are providing less Not that political coverage isn’t the Arab Spring and the fall of homes, our band of journalists in-depth news about the rest of the important, of course. America’s Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, learned first-hand how Indonesia, world than at any time in the past selection of a president is a criti- the war in Libya, the European the world’s fourth most populous three decades. Can we find what we cal decision for all U.S. citizens financial crisis, the killing of country, was attempting to recon- need to know in niche media or on and for residents in every country Osama bin Laden, the ongoing cile the conflict between local cit- specialized web sites? You bet. But in the world. But to shortchange, conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan izens’ need for jobs with the need most of us don’t visit niche sites or to ignore, what is happening and other global crises. to preserve land for the country’s every day, and if we do, we don’t in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin Especially heartbreaking are 60,000 remaining orangutans, the have time to go to enough of them America or the Middle East while the instances of journalists killed only great apes outside of Africa. to constitute an informed citizenry. we focus so obsessively on the covering wars, including photo- These kinds of issues—plan- And now 2012 finds us in the bumps and slumps of the latest journalists Tim Hetherington and etary health, the consequences midst of another U.S. presidential political poll is to court disaster. A Chris Hondros, the latter a friend of development, the role of good campaign year. As happens every public that is uninformed, or under- and former IRP Fellow whose
52 CARNEGIE REPORTER — Spring 2012
Working-CS5.5.indd 52 5/8/12 11:55 AM stunning photos from Africa dur- about jobs in a time of recession. foundations, including Carnegie $1,000 a pound to Chinese restau- ing our reporting fellowship pro- The good news is that even Corporation, have supported new rateurs who use it to make bird’s gram have been hanging above my while much of the old media is initiatives. Since 1998 the IRP nest soup. This multimedia story, desk for the past 10 years. Their abdicating coverage of interna- has used more than $14 million in told by New York Times journalist deaths in Libya in April 2011 were tional issues, there is a lot being foundation support to send nearly Jeffery DelViscio from our recent a terrible tragedy. And this past done in new platforms to try to 400 journalists to 101 different trip to Indonesia, was whimsical February brought more reasons to keep Americans informed about countries around the world. yet touched on health, economic mourn with the deaths, on assign- global issues. Social media play Sure, international report- issues, export policy, wildlife and ment in Syria, of journalists Marie a growing role in spreading news ing isn’t ever going to push local culinary topics—illustrating the Colvin and Anthony Shadid. of rapidly moving events, as we all news, sports, or U.S. politics off complexity and diversity of the For all of the momentous cri- saw in the Arab Spring last year. the frontlines of American journal- emerging power that is Indonesia. ses in 2011, most of which got Most exciting, perhaps, is the ism. It shouldn’t. As citizens, we There are also unexpected, and substantial attention in the U.S. creation of new programs and need more information about our perhaps even unwelcome, revela- media, there were many other organizations that are experi- schools, neighborhoods, crime and tions to be learned from reporting important stories that went largely menting with new ways of creat- local government, just as we do abroad. In Rwanda, President uncovered and continue to be ing and funding foreign coverage. about music, fashion, our favorite Paul Kagame, admired for initi- uncovered in 2012. Quick quiz: Which media orga- athletes and TV pop stars. ating impressive economic gains The continuing rise of China nization has sent more U.S. jour- But we also need stories that in a country devastated by the and India as global powers is a nalists to report from Africa in the tell us about our global con- genocide of 1994 but often criti- multifaceted story we need to past decade, more than any other nections, about forces that are cized for not allowing more politi- track closely, not just in Asia and single journalistic organization? If transforming the United States cal and media freedoms, argued the United States. It is virtually you guessed The New York Times, as a whole as well as our local strenuously in a two-hour meet- impossible to visit any country National Public Radio or CNN, communities such as immigra- ing with our group of journalists in Africa without encountering you’d be wrong. The answer is the tion, economic competition and that Rwanda needed more time the Chinese, building infrastruc- International Reporting Project. cooperation, health issues, envi- to consolidate its economic and ture or factories, while securing Yes, that’s our Washington ronmental concerns and cultural social stability before allowing imports of key raw materials. D.C.-based group that enabled me influences. And these stories need unchecked freedom of expression. “The Americans bring us democ- to spend my hour with the moun- to be covered not just through It was an argument that strikes racy, the Chinese bring us roads,” tain gorillas in Rwanda. In the past social media feeds, as useful as most Americans as a justifica- one Rwandan journalist told us on 14 years, the IRP has sent more they can be. Trying to cover a tion for authoritarianism, and our visit to his country last year. than 150 different U.S. journalists foreign country through follow- most of us didn’t buy Kagame’s As we sped along an impressive to 36 different countries in Africa. ing the posts of its Twitter users rationale for what human rights divided highway, it was pretty Those journalists have produced is interesting, but it’s no substitute experts universally describe as clear which import was the most award-winning stories from coun- for being on the ground oneself. a repressive regime. But because appreciated by Rwandans. tries that even wire services rarely We need stories such as the one we were there, and had seen so Other emerging powers—Brazil, cover, from Benin to Zimbabwe, told by Julia Lyon of the Salt Lake much of the country’s impres- Indonesia, Turkey and Korea—are from Burkina Faso to Namibia. Tribune about a Burmese refugee sive gains, we realized the pic- on their way to joining or supplant- And it’s not just Africa. The family that made its way to Utah ture wasn’t as simple as might be ing the U.S. and European countries IRP has sent hundreds of other only to suffer a shattering blow portrayed. One of the journalists as economic and political leaders US journalists to report in Asia, by the murder of their daughter. on the trip, Peter Canellos of the in the world. Like it or not, the Latin America, Europe and the Lyon used a reporting grant from Boston Globe, wrote a thought- U.S. is learning to share power Middle East. We partner with lead- the IRP to go back to the vil- ful piece in which he praised the around the world, though much ing news organizations, so you’ve lage on the Thai-Burmese border economic advances against the fact of the American public seems surely heard these journalists’ sto- where that family’s journey to the that, by stifling free expression, the unaware of the new reality. ries on All Things Considered and US began and showed us through government hasn’t fully dealt with It’s hardly necessary any more The World, watched them on CNN video, audio, photo and print cov- the violence from the genocide that to go over the reasons for the and Frontline and read them online erage how the family made a jour- left nearly a million people dead: decline in international coverage and in print at The New York Time, ney that thousands of other new The questions raised by Canel- by the U.S. media. The trend has The Atlantic and dozens of other Americans make every year. los’ article are the kind that lin- been in place for two decades— publications and sites. Or how about a lighter story, ger in a reader’s mind. They trig- the loss of advertising by news- Is there a future to this new kind such as the one about the latest ger other questions, ignite debate papers and television to new of journalistic coverage of the growth industry in Borneo, where and force us to reconsider some online media; the merger of media world? There is reason for opti- entrepreneurs are building giant, of our usual assumptions. That’s companies that have consolidated mism, judging by the emergence four-story birdhouses with 24- what good journalism has always once competitive bureaus; the end of other organizations in recent hour electronic birdcalls to attract done, and it’s what the best re- of the Cold War focus on global years—not just nonprofits like IRP, small birds called swiftlets? The porting from overseas is meant enemies, and the inward-looking but also for-profit ventures such as birds’ regurgitated saliva produces to do: make us think about things nature of Americans worried ProPublica and GlobalPost. Many edible nests that sell for about in new and different ways.
Spring 2012 — CARNEGIE REPORTER 53
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