Brookings Press Blog

Early Buzz for a Workbook for the New President

What Do We Do Now? Will offer advice on everything from selecting a cabinet to picking a desk for the Oval Office

Psst…check out this “Washington Whisper” from the latest U.S. News & World Report. The post is titled “A Beginner’s Guide Clinton Really Needed” and it comes complete with a cartoon of Bill Clinton wearing a dunce cap. The piece is on a forthcoming Brookings Institution Press book by Stephen Hess, a presidential expert here at Brookings. What Do We Do Now? A Workbook for the President-Elect will be available in October, just in time for an election week publication.

- Check out the "Washington Whisper" column featuring What Do We Do Now?

Media Hits

Washington Post, NPR & Publishers Weekly...Oh My!

- Jay Mathews, Washington Post education columnist, dedicated his column last Tuesday to research presented in The Price We Pay: Economic and Social Consequences of Inadequate Education, Clive Belfield and Henry M. Levin, eds. You can read the column here.

- Electronic voting and tech user frustrations were the focus of this past Tuesday’s Kojo Nnamdi Show on NPR. During the second segment Ben Bederson discussed Voting Technology: The Not-So-Simple Act of Casting a Ballot, by Paul S. Herrnson, Richard G. Niemi, Michael J. Hanmer, Benjamin B. Bederson, and Frederick C. Conrad. You can listen to the show here.

- The January 21 issue of Publishers Weekly is the Spring Books issue. The following titles from our new Spring 2008 catalog [pdf] are included in the listings:

• Hardcover/Contemporary Affairs: Freedom’s Unsteady March: America's Role in Building Arab Democracy, by Tamara Cofman Wittes
• Hardcover/Politics: Power Play: The Bush Presidency and the Constitution, by James P. Pfiffner
• Paperback/Contemporary Affairs: Twenty-First Century Gateways: Immigrant Incorporation in Suburban America, Audrey Singer, Susan W. Hardwick and Caroline B. Brettell, eds.
• Paperback/Politics: Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World, Marina S. Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso, eds. (a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace book)

U.S. Strategy in Iraq

Ivo Daalder discusses this important issue on the Diane Rehm Show

Brookings senior fellow Ivo Daalder offered up his expertise in a discussion of U.S. strategy in Iraq on the Diane Rehm Show on Thursday. The discussion, which also included Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations and Dan Senor, former Bush Administration foreign policy advisor, apprised the current situation in Iraq, and examined the military strategy options offered up by the leading presidential candidates.

Daalder is the author or coauthor of several Brookings titles, including most recently Beyond Preemption: Force and Legitimacy in a Changing World and Crescent of Crisis: U.S.-European Strategy for the Greater Middle East.

- Listen to "U.S. Strategy in Iraq" on the Diane Rehm show.

- Learn more about Beyond Preemption.

- Learn more about Crescent of Crisis.

Collapse of an Empire

Former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar Offers Lessons for a Modern Russia

In today’s Russia, nostalgia for the Soviet era is growing; some would point to Putin’s victory this past Sunday as evidence. Many Russians reflect wistfully on the passing of a time when the Soviet Union was a superpower, commanding international respect, and they blame its demise on external enemies and foolish changes in policy. In Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia, however, economic reformer and former prime minister Yegor Gaidar clearly illustrates why such notions are misguided, ill-informed, and dangerous.

Gaidar cautions that Russia could be repeating some of its tragic past mistakes, including uneven economic development that leaves the nation vulnerable to fluctuations in the energy market. Such misplaced nostalgia defies reality while it imperils the future of Russia and its people.

Dr. Gaidar made a whirlwind tour of the United States this week. Brookings hosted a book launch featuring Dr. Gaidar on December 3 Washington, DC. On December 5, Dr. Gaidar spoke at a public program hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The tour concluded at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute in New York City for an event featuring the book on December 6.

- Check out the full Brookings book launch transcript [coming soon].

- Listen to Dr. Gaidar discuss the Russian election results on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show.

- Listen to Dr. Gaidar discuss the Russian election results on BBC’s The World.

- Learn more about Collapse of an Empire.

Patent Reform Act Heads to Senate

Author Ben Klemens says legislation doesn’t address the real problem

As the Senate considers H.R. 1908, the Patent Reform Act of 2007 passed by the U.S. House, critics worry that the legislation is missing the point. In a posting to Google’s Public Policy Blog, Ben Klemens wrote:

“I wish you guys would put your weight behind solving the real problem: subject matter expansion. Until the mid-1990s, a patent had to have a non-trivial physical element, like a drug or a new machine; but at that time, a panel of former patent attorneys decided—without referring to Congress or other prior study—that non-physical objects like mathematical algorithms and business methods should be patentable.”

Klemens is author of Math You Can’t Use: Patents, Copyright, and Software, which explains that patent laws are intended to apply to physical machines and should never have been extended to include software. The book describes why the current patent and intellectual property system for software is such a mess—and proposes how to clean it up.

- Learn more about Math You Can’t Use.

- Read more about patent reform at InformationWeek.com.

Beckham in America: A New Era for Major League Soccer

Soccer superstar David Beckham’s U.S. debut is expected to spark a dramatic increase in the popularity of the U.S. soccer scene, driving up team franchise expansion fees by at least $20 million, says author Zimbalist.

The media firestorm ignited by the Los Angeles arrival of David Beckham and his popstar wife Victoria (better known as Posh from the Spice Girls) was a preview of the impact the high-profile Beckham will have on the American soccer world, hopefully bringing it up to international standards. Andrew Zimbalist, coauthor of National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer, told the LA Times that due to Beckham’s international popularity and a “growing interest” in Major League Soccer, it might be “conservative” to assume in the near future individual U.S. team franchise expansion fees could be near $30 million, a 300 percent increase over the $10 million price tag from pre-Beckham days.

Beckham’s first season, beginning with his debut game on July 21st (assuming he is not sidelined due to ankle injuries), will be a litmus test for his overall impact on the American soccer world. Judging by the near doubling of Los Angeles Galaxy ticket revenue in the past few months, soccer in the States is about to experience a level of popularity rarely seen here but common abroad. This draws into sharper relief the difference in world views of leisure time: why does everybody else in the world obsess over soccer while baseball is as American as apple pie? Andrew Zimbalist and coauthor Stefan Szymanski elaborate on this contrast in National Pastime, which not only explores the cultural differences that led to this split, but also the economic factors that enable baseball to be so profitable within the United States alone, while the world soccer industry, though immensely popular, struggles to “break even.”

- Read “Beckham's arrival rings in new era for soccer in U.S.” on latimes.com.

- Learn more about National Pastime.

(Photo of David Beckham courtesy of the LA Galaxy)

Presidential Problems in Pakistan

Cohen explores Pakistan’s future as it relates to the country’s struggling President Musharraf

Stephen P. Cohen, a senior fellow at Brookings, outlined his thoughts on Pervez Musharraf’s tenure as Pakistani President thus far in an editorial that appeared in The Washington Post on July 3, 2007. Cohen provided a frank account of Musharraf’s inadequacies in the latter’s role as president and army chief, saying that Musharraf’s “fatal flaw” was that he “wanted to be liked,” making him likely to implement strategies that may not be in the best interest of the country. In addition, Cohen added that Musharraf’s “one strength” was that the majority of Musharraf’s political opponents are even more lackluster than he is—aside from the notable exception of Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaundry.

Musharraf, Cohen elaborated, holds a position that will be crucial in helping to determine the country’s uncertain and possibly unstable future. Should a “nuclear-armed and terrorism-capable Pakistan” rise to power, the reverberations could shake the foreign policy foundations of today’s superpowers. Cohen analyzes Pakistan’s tumultuous history, in his 2006 book The Idea of Pakistan. His upcoming book Four Crises and a Peace Process, coauthored by P.R. Chari and Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema, analyzes past conflicts in India and Pakistan and applies the lessons learned from each to the possibility of long-lasting peace in the region.

- Read “The Pakistan Time Bomb” on washingtonpost.com.

- Learn more about The Idea of Pakistan.

- Learn more about Four Crises and a Peace Process.

Author Insight

Patashnik Discusses How Government Can Promote the General Welfare

Erik Patashnik, coauthor (with Alan Gerber) of Promoting the General Welfare, appeared yesterday on Insight, an hour-long talk show produced by NPR affiliate WRMA.  In the segment entitled "Sham Surgery," Patashnik discussed why some popular surgical procedures are not necessarily backed up by sound science, and what alternative approaches the U.S. government should take in dealing with matters involving science and health care.

Promoting the General Welfare takes on health care, transportation, education, and housing, as examples of areas where the government often fails to promote the common good, despite great possibilities for doing so.  But this innovative book also carries a more hopeful message. By identifying possible solutions to the problems created by weak incentives, poor information, and inadequate institutional capacity, it offers real solutions to improve government performance.

- Listen to "Sham Surgery" on WRMA.

- Learn more about Promoting the General Welfare.