Brookings scholars are engaged in a wide array of policy issues and produce scores of new articles and op-eds every week. Visit our home page for the latest of everything.
Below, however, is a selection of recent items from the pool of research that are sure to give you insight into what’s happening now in the U.S. and around the world and some ideas to think about in the coming week. Print them out read over the weekend.
Research Trip to Finland
John Banks and Charles Ebinger (director of the Energy Security Initiative at Brookings) recently traveled to Finland to observe the economic and political effects of global climate change in and Arctic environment.
Download their trip report and also see photos from the journey.
U.S. Citizen Terrorist Suspects Abroad
Dan Byman and Ben Wittes profile Anwar Awlaki, the first American citizen to be targeted by a U.S. drone strike overseas, and discuss the five options available to the U.S. government when confronting U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism abroad. The report includes a highly-informative slide show that documents 18 suspected terrorists (or groups).
Get “Tools and Tradeoffs: Confronting U.S. Citizen Terrorist Suspects Abroad.”
Accountable Care Organizations, Health Care Cost Savings
One of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka, “Obamacare”) is an effort to reform the delivery of health care by realigning payment incentives and promoting high-quality, efficient care for Medicare beneficiaries. As ACA provisions continue to come into effect, Kavita Patel and Steven Lieberman of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform review the performance of the program.
Read “Taking Stock Of Initial Year One Results For Pioneer ACOs” for their analysis and also an evaluation chart of 32 ACO participants and their reported savings.
Protecting Human Rights, Preventing Mass Atrocities
What rights and obligations do nations have to intervene in the affairs of another to protect human rights and prevent mass atrocities? Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Richard Williamson, a Brookings nonresident senior fellow and former special envoy to Sudan, examine how the current R2P norm—adopted unanimously by world leaders in 2005—is or is not working in practice and offer recommendations on how the United States can provide global leadership.
Learn more in “The United States and R2P: From Words to Action.”
10 Traits of Globally Fluent Metro Areas
glob•al flu•en•cy : the level of global understanding, competence, practice, and reach that a metro area exhibits in an increasingly interconnected world economy.
The authors of a new report from the Metropolitan Policy Program explain the 10 traits of globally fluent metro areas and their critical relationship to competitiveness, productivity, and prosperity. The first trait is “Leadership with a Worldview.” The tenth one is “Compelling Global Identity.”
Visit the report to find out the rest and download profiles of over 40 global metro areas, from Bangalore to Zurich.
Ethiopia’s Dam on the Blue Nile Nettles Egypt
Egypt is again in political turmoil following the ouster, by the armed forces, of President Mohammed Morsi. While factions vie for power in Cairo, Ethiopia is proceeding with an ambitious development project—and the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa—a dam on the Blue Nile river. The problem as Egypt sees it is that the dam will diminish the water supply it draws from the Nile. Temesgen T. Deressa and John Mukum Mbaku explain Ethiopia’s plans, review the controversial funding, and examine the tensions the project is creating among Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan.
Read “While Egypt Struggles, Ethiopia Builds over the Blue Nile: Controversies and the Way Forward” for more.
What Americans Believe about Capitalism & Government
Brookings Governance Studies partnered with the Public Religion Research Institute on a survey of Americans’ beliefs about capitalism and government. The top four most important economic issues, the survey found, are: lack of jobs (26%); the budget deficit (17%); the rising cost of health care (18%); and the increasing gap between rich and poor (15%).
Download and read the survey to see how these and many other questions break down along and across demographic, political, religious and income groups.
Commentary
Brookings Now for the Weekend
July 26, 2013