Brookings Press Blog

Counterinsurgency Expert Vanda Felbab-Brown Quoted in the New York Times

Should the Afghan government reach out to the Taliban? No, says, Shooting Up author and Brookings fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown: “The more there is talk of negotiation, the more the Taliban view it as a sign of weakness. How do you make sure the reconciliation process does not embolden the Taliban to go on the march?” But Richard C. Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is said to be "privately receptive" to the idea.

- Read the New York Times article.

- Listen to the podcast of a recent discussion of Shooting Up with Felbab-Brown, Brookings vice president Martin Indyk, and Wendy Chamberlin, former ambassador to Pakistan and president of the Middle East Institute.

- Learn more about Shooting Up.

Darrell West and Beth Noveck to Speak on Government 2.0 at the National Archives

On Thursday, November 5, the National Archives in Washington, D.C. will host the Fifth Annual William G. McGowan Forum on Communications, Technology, and Government. Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies at Brookings and the author of Digital Medicine, will chair a panel discussion on “Web 2.0 Technologies and Participatory Democracy.” The other participants will include Beth Simone Noveck, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government, and author of Wiki Government; Mark H. Webbink, visiting professor of law, New York Law School, and executive director, Center for Patent Innovations; Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder, Public Knowledge; and Jason R. Baron, director of litigation, National Archives and Records Administration.

- Learn more about the event

Akbar Ahmed to Star in One Man Show: “Waziristan to Washington: A Muslim at the Crossroads”

Akbar Ahmed, one of the word's leading authorities on Islam, will perform an original play based on his life on Sunday, November 1, at 7:30 p.m. in Washington, D.C. “Waziristan to Washington: A Muslim at the Crossroads” takes us back to his birthplace and traces the evolution of modern Pakistan, the rise of Islamic extremism, efforts to achieve integration in the modern world, and attempts to build bridges through dialogue.

This multi-media production marks the formal launch of the Wana Initiative on Conflict and Cultural Dialogue. It will be hosted by the Washington Hebrew Congregation and is cosponsored by the Washington DCJCC. The event is free and open to the public; registration is required.

- Register for the performance
- Learn more about “Waziristan to Washington”
- Read about Akbar Ahmed’s previous book, Journey into Islam

Brookings Asks “Is America Really an Opportunity Society?”

On Tuesday, October 27, Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill will discuss their new Brookings Press book, Creating an Opportunity Society, which explores how to help more people achieve the American Dream. The event will be moderated by E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist and senior fellow at Brookings. Panelists will include David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times; Linda Gibbs, Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services for New York City; Haskins and Sawhill, both senior fellows in Economic Studies at Brookings; and Juan Williams, senior correspondent for NPR and political analyst for Fox News Channel.

- Register for the event
- Check out David Brooks’s column in The New York Times
- Read E.J. Dionne's column in The Washington Post
- Learn more about Creating an Opportunity Society

“Primary Politics” Event Wrap Ups

Blogger and columnist Tom Schaller offers two recaps of the recent Brookings event for Elaine Kamarck’s new book Primary Politics. In a post on the blog FiveThirtyEight.com, Schaller outlines the main points presented by the panelists and offers his own observations. He writes that “Kamarck noted that for the first time the Republicans, who historically have only permitted rule changes to be considered at their quadrennial national conventions, are now also looking at their own presidential nomination process during the interim between 2008 and 2012.”

In his column in the Baltimore Sun, Schaller emphasized that the rules of the primaries matter. They can and do affect the outcome of elections. He quotes Kamarck as saying that “last year the Democrats' proportional allocation rule for delegates prevented Mrs. Clinton from racking up delegates in the big primary states she won, including New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Had all state contests been winner-take-all, Kamarck estimates the former New York senator would have won the primary by about 300 delegates.”

- Read more about the event on FiveThirtyEight.com

- Check out Tom Schaller’s column in the Baltimore Sun

- View the transcript of the event

- Learn more about Primary Politics

Newsweek/Washington Post’s On Faith looks at Akbar Ahmed’s Journey into America

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a leading expert on Islam and author of Journey into Islam, recently completed a tour to uncover the status of Muslims in America. With a team of researchers, he visited more than 70 U.S. cities to interview thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims from all walks of life. He presents the findings of the project in a documentary film and a forthcoming book, Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam.

- Read what the Newsweek/Washington Post’s On Faith blog had to say about the film

- Order tickets for a screening and discussion of the film at the Washington National Cathedral on October 25

- Read about Akbar Ahmed’s previous book, Journey into Islam

- Visit the Journey into America blog

Ambassador Howard B. Schaffer to Speak on the U.S. and India

On Wednesday, October 14, Howard B. Schaffer, author of The Limits of Influence: America’s Role in Kashmir, and his wife Ambassador Teresita C. Schaffer, author of India and the United States in the 21st Century: Reinventing Partnership, will be the featured guests at a reception and book signing cosponsored by the Asia Society and the Women’s National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C. They will also participate in a discussion of “The US and India: Deepening Ties, Resolving Issues” moderated by Jack Garrity, executive director of the Asia Society Washington.

Ambassador Howard B. Schaffer is a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer who spent   much of his 36-year career dealing with U.S. relations with South Asia. He served as Ambassador to Bangladesh (1984-87) and Political Counselor in India (1977-79) and Pakistan (1974-77), and he was twice Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for South Asian affairs. He became Director of Studies at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University in 1995. Ambassador Teresita C. Schaffer has been with Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) since 1998 after a 30-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service. She devoted most of her career to international economic issues and to South Asia, serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia (1989-92), U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka (1992-95), and Director of the Foreign Service Institute (1995-97).

- Register for the event.

- Learn more about The Limits of Influence.

Darrell West to Lead Discussion on Digital Technology and Health Care

On Thursday, October 8, Digital Medicine author Darrell West will moderate a policy forum at the Brookings Institution on “Consumer-Driven Medicine: How Digital and Mobile Technologies Can Improve Health Care.” Ellen Blackler, executive director of public policy for AT&T, and Dr. Karen Rheuban, medical director of the Office of Telemedicine at the University of Virginia Hospital, will join West to discuss the role that digital and mobile technologies can play in creating a more personalized system of health care that both improves quality and reduces costs.

- Register for the event.

- Listen to Darrell West’s conversation with David Kibbe and Rebecca Roberts on The Kojo Nnamdi Show, WAMU 88.5 FM.

Brookings Hosts Discussion of "Primary Politics"

Elaine Kamarck, Dan Balz, and Walter Shapiro to speak on October 9

On Friday, October 9, Washington Post political correspondent Dan Balz and PoliticsDaily.com columnist Walter Shapiro will join Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Elaine Kamarck to discuss the past and future of the presidential nominating system. Kamarck is the author of the new book Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System. The discussion will be moderated by Brookings senior fellow William Galston. This event is part of the Governing Ideas series, which is intended to broaden the discussion of governance issues through forums on timely and relevant books on history, culture, legal norms and practices, values, and religion.

- Register for the event

- Learn more about Primary Politics

Elaine Kamarck to Speak on Political Partisanship at the University of Virginia

On Friday, October 2, Primary Politics author and DNC member Elaine Kamarck will join Washington Post columnist and Brookings senior fellow E.J. Dionne; William Kristol, editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard; and Sidney M. Milkis, White Burkett Miller Professor of Politics, for a panel discussion titled “Party Animals: Is Political Partisanship Obama's Problem or Solution?”. The session, which begins at 1:30 p.m., will be moderated by media columnist Edward Wasserman and is cosponsored by UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, Washington and Lee University, and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

- Read more about the event.

- See Austin American-Statesman’s coverage of Primary Politics.