Recent Academy Publications

This report highlights recently issued titles related to Academy projects, book versions of Dædalus issues, and works scheduled for release in the near future. When ordering featured publications, please note that in most cases, shipping and handling charges (which may vary according to destination) will be added to the prices quoted. Sales tax will usually be charged to residents of the states in which the publishers are located.

Dædalus

Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts Colleges (paperback, $29.95), edited by Steven Koblik (Reed College) and Stephen R. Graubard (Brown University), has been released by Transaction Publishers. This augmented version of the Winter 1999 issue of Dædalus examines the American liberal arts college as an institution, from its role in the lives of students to its value as a form of education.

Much change is under way in American higher education. New technologies challenge the teaching practices of yesterday, distance learning is lauded, and private firms offer to certify the educational credentials that businesses and others will deem satisfactory. In this new environment, America's liberal arts colleges propound a quite different set of values. Their continuing faith in the liberal arts—not as the nineteenth century chose to define them or as the twentieth century practiced them, but as the twenty-first century will be obliged to reconsider them—is being tested.

Distinctively American explores the threats faced by liberal arts colleges, as well as the transformative role—both positive and negative—that information technology will play in their future development and survival. In exploring the triumphs and challenges of one segment of the American higher educational universe, the contributors also address a larger question: What should this country be teaching its young, the many millions who now throng its colleges and universities?

To order Distinctively American, call (888) 999-6778 and press 2. If you're a member of the Academy you can receive a 30 percent discount—see the printed Bulletin for details.

The Brain (paperback, $29.95), an augmented version of the Spring 1998 issue of Dædalus, edited by Gerald M. Edelman and Jean-Pierre Changeux, has been published by Transaction. One of the most significant scientific accomplishments of the past fifty years has also been one of the least heralded: the tremendous advancement in our understanding of the human brain. Recent research focuses on how the brain works, as well as how it is related to what we call the mind. Movement, sight, memory, and consciousness, as well as human emotions and sentiments, are given new meaning by what we have learned. The insights gained have not only deepened our understanding of thought and behavior; they have also shed new light on art, philosophy, and religion.

In this volume, fourteen experts in the brain sciences review the current status of their work for the general reader, explaining how certain features of the brain challenge its popular image as a machine, probing the functional architecture of the brain, exploring whether intricate neural systems can be illuminated by theoretical structures, and pondering the complex and dynamic process of sleep. They elucidate such topics as the neurobiology and pharmacology of drug action and addiction, the connections between the functions of art and the functions of the visual brain, and the integral intimacy among brain, body, and world. Together, their essays illustrate that we are redrawing our picture of the brain in fundamental ways.

To order The Brain, call (888) 999-6778 and press 2. If you're a member of the Academy you can receive a 30 percent discount—see the printed Bulletin for details.

Science in Culture (paperback, $29.95) originally the Winter 1998 issue of Dædalus), edited by Peter Galison, Stephen R. Graubard, and Everett Mendelsohn (Transaction Publishers). Where is science? The contributors to this volume figure it to be most everywhere as they explore physics, chemistry, and biology—and also Renaissance inventions, educational policy, and the "imprinting" of children in antiquity. In the views presented here, science is not an arcane enterprise, isolated from the world; rather, it is deeply embedded in culture. At the same time, it is not a mere reflection of an external culture, but part of the many worlds in which it has been sited. Whether we look at science grounded in wartime Cambridge, in medieval theories of reproduction, or in the artistic-scientific explorations of Leonardo, we will come to understand science more deeply if we can grasp the shifting cultural places in which it has been rooted.

Committee on International Security Studies

The United States and the International Criminal Court: National Security and International Law (hardcover, $65.00; paperback, $24.95), edited by Sarah B. Sewall (Harvard University) and Carl Kaysen (MIT), has been published by Rowman and Littlefield. This volume is based on a major CISS study on the subject, codirected by Ms. Sewall, Mr. Kaysen, and Michael Scharf (New England School of Law).

A growing international consensus supports the idea of holding individuals responsible for the most egregious violations of human rights, such as genocide. This consensus underlies recent efforts to create an International Criminal Court (ICC). Inside the United States, however, the proposal to establish the ICC is controversial. President Clinton signed the treaty to establish the Court, despite what in his view were "significant flaws." Congressional opponents claim the proposed Court would put American officials and servicemembers at risk. The ICC will come into being when sixty states have ratified the treaty.

To examine US concerns about the Court, the CISS study brought together experts on law, the military, and international relations. The participants assessed the potential national security risks that would be associated with a functioning ICC, as well as the potential costs to US security that could result from opposing the Court's creation. They also addressed broader concerns: What goals would an international criminal court advance? Would individual states block action when it was most needed? Would a court complicate efforts to promote international peace and security?

Former president Jimmy Carter commented, "This comprehensive book gives citizens and policymakers the practical information they need to evaluate the International Criminal Court and to understand how American support will advance human rights and the national interest of the United States."

To order The United States and the International Criminal Court, call (800) 462-6420 and press 3.

Belarus at the Crossroads (paperback, $12.95), edited by Sherman Garnett (James Madison College at Michigan State University) and Robert Legvold (Columbia University), has been issued by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The book is the result of a collaborative effort between the Carnegie Endowment and the Academy's Committee on International Security Studies.

Although frequently overlooked in the West, Belarus is a country critical to the development of the post-Soviet states and to Europe as a whole. Its geographic location and the ambitions of its president make it a major geopolitical player. However, as Belarus has struggled to establish its own independent identity, it has turned its back on the political and economic reforms that have characterized the other states of the region. The desire of Belarusians to reconstitute a union with the other states of the former Soviet Union has also increased. These factors have led many Western analysts and governments to dismiss Belarus as a hopeless backwater.

To address what to date has been a shortsighted and potentially dangerous neglect of Belarus, the editors of this volume brought together experts from six countries—Belarus, Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and the United States—to explore the place of Belarus in the evolving European security environment. Despite the differences in their views, the contributors agree that what is at stake is whether Belarus, a frontline state bordering NATO, will be a bridge or a barrier to the West.

To order Belarus at the Crossroads, call Carnegie's distributor, the Brookings Institution Press, at (800) 275-1447 and press 1.

"A Scourge of Small Arms" by Jeffrey Boutwell (US Pugwash) and Michael T. Klare (Hampshire College) appeared in the June 2000 issue of Scientific American. The article is based on the "Light Weapons and Civil Conflict" study conducted by CISS under the direction of the authors.

The cold-war-era preoccupation with nuclear arms and major weapons systems deflected attention from the global trade in small arms (pistols, revolvers, rifles, and carbines) and light weapons (machine guns, small mortars, and other weapons that can be carried by one or two people). In recent years, however, many experts have examined why these weapons are so easily accessible and how they affect the societies now flooded with them. The disturbing findings are driving a new arms-control movement, led by a loose coalition of the United Nations, concerned national governments, and nongovernmental organizations.

The authors outline five basic elements that experts consider essential if attempts to control small arms are to be effective: an international system of reporting information on global trafficking in such arms, the adoption of strict standards for legal export of weapons by major military suppliers, an effort to dampen the global demand for arms, an initiative to eradicate the black-market arms trade, and peace agreements that help reintegrate former combatants into the civilian economy.

"A Scourge of Small Arms"; is available online. To order reprints of "A Scourge of Small Arms," call (212) 451-8877 or email sacust@sciam.com.

Midwest Consortium for International Security Studies

"Terrorism and Business," a double issue of the DePaul Business Law Journal (vol. 12, nos. 1-2, Fall/Spring 1999/2000; $15.00), contains the proceedings of an October 1999 MCISS meeting on that topic. The conference was cosponsored by MCISS, DePaul University, the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, and several other Chicago groups.

Prior to the conference, the implications of terrorism for business had not been the focus of any substantial scholarship, and no other symposium or policy discussion had examined the topic. The assembled group of distinguished government officials, business leaders, and scholars sought to draw the attention of the business and legal communities to emerging terrorist threats that raise numerous concerns for key business sectors. The published proceedings make clear that the subject of terrorism's implications for business demands far more attention. Because terrorist activities could inflict enormous costs, the business community must strengthen its capabilities to protect itself. Moreover, intensified regulation of commercial and industrial activity to prevent terrorist access to dangerous items portends increasing government intrusion into the marketplace, with implications for both economic vitality and civil liberties.

To order the "Terrorism and Business" issue of the DePaul Business Law Journal, call (312) 362-6178.

Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

The Pugwash Occasional Papers have been initiated by the international Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs to disseminate innovative analysis and policy prescriptions on controversial issues facing the global community. The Occasional Papers' wide audience includes policymakers, the media, nongovernmental organizations, and the research community. The two issues published during the past year grew out of the activities of the Pugwash study group on "Intervention, Sovereignty, and International Security."

The first issue (vol. 1, no. 1) contains papers from the study group's December 1999 workshop in Venice. Quite purposively, it explores in depth those attitudes and arguments (mostly Western) in favor of humanitarian intervention, even when such intervention lacks a formal mandate from the United Nations. At its initial meeting, the study group focused specifically on what could be called "first-order issues" regarding intervention: concepts of international law, the UN Charter, the international politics of intervention, the tensions between intervention and sovereignty from the perspective of international law, and the deep divisions separating Western concepts of intervention from those in Russia, China, and much of the developing world.

The papers in the second issue (vol. 2, no. 1) were presented at the group's September 2000 meeting in Como. Although support may be growing in the United States and much of Europe for a regime obliging the international community to engage in humanitarian intervention, a large obstacle stands in the way: the dissent of much, maybe most, of the UN membership, including two of the Security Council's five permanent members. Their objections must be understood and overcome if a regime condemning massive inhumanity and possessed of means for addressing it is to be created. For this reason the papers focus on the views of three major players—China, India, and Russia—and of states from Africa, a Third World region particularly prone to problems inviting humanitarian intervention. The authors also survey the signs that opposition is softening and suggest areas in which the broader international community might find common ground.

Future issues of the Pugwash Occasional Papers will continue to address topics in humanitarian intervention and international security but will also cover such traditional Pugwash areas of concern as nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons, and regional security.

Fellows may direct inquiries about the Pugwash Occasional Papers series to Anthony Baird at the House of the Academy (617) 576-5024. The Occasional Papers are also available on the Pugwash website at www.pugwash.org.

The Pugwash Newsletter is now produced by the Academy office of the international Pugwash Con-ferences on Science and World Affairs. Under the direction of George Rathjens, secretary general of Pugwash, and Jeffrey Boutwell, secretary of US Pugwash, the Cambridge office has overall responsibility for the planning and implementation of Pugwash workshops, publications, and activities.

In addition to continuing its longstanding role as a historical record of Pugwash meetings and activities, the Newsletter (published two times a year) features selected substantive papers from Pugwash workshops and symposia. The November 1999 issue provided extensive coverage of the 49th Pugwash Conference, devoted to "Confronting the Challenges of the 21st Century," which took place that fall in Rustenburg, South Africa. Participants contributed reports on the conference's five working groups, whose themes centered on a nuclear weapon–free world, emerging security threats in Africa and globally, development, the environment, and international governance. The June 2000 issue featured a special report by George Rathjens, titled "Nuclear Weapons Issues and the Pugwash Agenda," based on meetings convened in order to help determine exactly where Pugwash can marshal its resources to help the international community reverse a number of serious recent setbacks in the control and elimination of nuclear weapons.

Fellows may direct inquiries about the Pugwash Newsletter to Anthony Baird at the House of the Academy (617) 576-5024. The Newsletter is also available on the organization's website at www.pugwash.org.

Initiatives for Children—Center for Evaluation

"The Case for Smaller Classes and for Evaluating What Works in the Schoolroom," an article by Frederick Mosteller (Harvard), director of IFC's Center for Evaluation, was published in the May/June 1999 issue of Harvard Magazine (vol. 101, no. 5, pp. 34-35). In this piece, Mr. Mosteller updates his analysis of Tennessee's statewide Project STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio), an important four-year study of the educational effects of class size and teachers' aides in the early grades. Project STAR clearly demonstrated that smaller classes did bring substantial improvement in early learning in subjects such as reading and arithmetic. Following the students further, the researchers found that the positive effects persisted through grade 7. Mr. Mosteller concludes that more experiments of comparable quality are needed to guide intelligent, effective policymaking in education. In the related report "How Does Class Size Relate to Achievement in Schools?" Mr. Mosteller examines Indiana's Project Prime Time and the Tennessee projects in the context of questions and concerns that remain. That report has been published as a chapter of Earning and Learning: How Schools Matter, edited by Susan E. Mayer and Paul E. Peterson (Brookings Institution Press and Russell Sage Foundation, 2000).

"A Rare Design: The Role of Field Trials in Evaluating School Practices," coauthored by Bill Nave (Technology Education Research Center), Edward J. Miech (National Academy of Education), and Frederick Mosteller, appears in Review of Educational Research, edited by George F. Madaus, Dan Stufflebeam, and Tom Kellaghan (Kluwer Academic Press, 2000). The authors contend that educators have largely neglected a powerful and persuasive research design to demonstrate program effectiveness: the randomized-controlled field trial, widely used in such disciplines as medicine and public health. They offer several examples of such trials that have yielded valuable knowledge about school practices and suggest steps that might make field trials more relevant in education research.

"Mediators and Moderators in the Evaluation of Programs for Children: Current Practice and Agenda for Improvement" by Anthony J. Petrosino (IFC Center for Evaluation) was published in the February 2000 issue of Evaluation Review (vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 47-72). The paper reports on a bibliometric analysis of current practice in the analysis of mediating and moderating variables in treatment studies concerning six areas of childhood intervention: education, mental health, juvenile justice, medicine, child protection, and social programs more generally. Finding that researchers in these areas examine such variables less regularly and effectively than their counterparts in prevention and health promotion, the author outlines an agenda for improvement.

To obtain reprints of the IFC pieces, contact our Publications Department at (617) 576-5000 .

Higher Education

The Transition from Paper, edited by R. Stephen Berry and Anne Moffat, is available on the Academy's website . This report—the product of a study carried out under the auspices of the Academy's Midwest Center—explores possible futures for the collection, dissemination, and storage of scientific information by electronic media. The world of communication is going through a transition with far-reaching consequences, both positive and negative. Motivated by a desire to better understand these changes and by an awareness that the scientific community may have only a brief window in which to shape their course, participants in the study envision possible electronic worlds for the natural sciences, with chemistry serving as the primary focus of the scenarios. The project was undertaken with the view that it would serve as a stepping-stone to a successor project concerning the impact of electronic communication in the social sciences, humanities, and arts.

Social Transformations

Disaffected Democracies: What's Troubling the Trilateral Countries? (hardcover, $65.00; paperback, $19.95), edited by Susan J. Pharr and Robert D. Putnam (both of Harvard University), has been published by Princeton University Press. This collection of essays is a twenty-fifth-anniversary successor volume to the provocative 1975 book The Crisis of Democracy, which was initiated by the Trilateral Commission. Disaffected Democracies is the final major project of the "Democratic Governance" portion of the Academy's program in "Social Capital, Democracy, and Public Affairs," directed by Mr. Putnam.

It is a notable irony that as democracy replaces other forms of governing throughout the world, citizens of the most established and prosperous democracies—the United States, Canada, Western European nations, and Japan—increasingly report dissatisfaction and frustration with their governments. In this volume, a group of influential political scientists examine why this is so.

The authors indicate that citizen disaffection in the trilateral democracies is not the result of a frayed social fabric, economic insecurity, the end of the cold war, or public cynicism. Rather, they conclude, the trouble lies with governments and politics themselves. The sources of the problem include governments' diminished capacity to act in an interdependent world and a decline in institutional performance, in combination with new public expectations and uses of information that have altered the criteria by which people judge their governments.

Focusing on the last quarter of the twentieth century, the book represents a much-needed examination of the important and increasingly international question of public dissatisfaction with democratic governance.

To order Disaffected Democracies, call (800) 777-4726.

Committee on Intellectual Correspondence

Correspondence, the twice-yearly international review of culture and society, released its sixth issue in Spring/Summer 2000. The publication was established at the Academy four years ago by Daniel Bell (Harvard) as a project of the Committee on Intellectual Correspondence—a joint venture of the Suntory Foundation of Japan, the Wissenschafts-kolleg zu Berlin, and the Academy. Correspondence is now published under the auspices of the Council on Foreign Relations and circulated to over seven thousand academic and public figures in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

From its inception, Correspondence has sought to create a cultural milieu that reduces the insularity of nations and the increased specialization of disciplines. Toward that end, each issue focuses on a significant or neglected topic; past themes have included the digital age, history revisited, and translation. The Spring/Summer 2000 issue looks at how the Internet is transforming the character of the press in eight major countries—the United States, England, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, India, and Japan—and examines the vicissitudes of language in the global village.

Copies may be obtained upon request from Correspondence, Council on Foreign Relations, 58 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10021 (email: cic@cfr.org).

If you encounter any problems in ordering the publications described above, please call Alexandra Oleson at the House of the Academy (617) 576-5014 or email publications@amacad.org.

Forthcoming Books

The following brief previews describe publications currently scheduled for release within the coming year.

Dædalus

The American Academic Profession (originally the Fall 1997 issue of Dædalus), edited by Stephen R. Graubard (Transaction Publishers). This collection of essays examines our nation's professoriate in the context of the political, economic, social, and intellectual forces that have reshaped the American system of higher education, which became a mass enterprise even before World War I. Contributors address such topics as how the academic profession is changing, the effects of technology on higher education, and the place of the American professoriate within the international academic community. The volume raises the question of whether a society can know its institutions of higher education when it has relied on hagiography for so many decades and when recently only arguments critical of the system have come to the fore. Have we moved too quickly from unquestioning admiration to uninformed complaint? This book calls Americans to examine their beliefs and prejudices regarding their educational institutions at every level.

Public Spheres and Collective Identities (originally the Summer 1998 issue of Dædalus), edited by Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Wolfgang Schluchter, and Björn Wittrock (Transaction Publishers). This volume offers new scholarly perspectives on the emergence of modern states in places outside the West—especially in China, Japan, and India—and suggests a much broader variety of paths toward modernity than classical interpretations have contemplated. At a time when the acquaintance of the English-speaking world with the civilizations of Asia is principally of the modern era, representing that world in earlier centuries is a difficult task—a task made all the more imperative by the belief of the authors that a comparative study is essential to an in-depth understanding of societies that might resemble those of the West in many ways yet ought not simply to be seen as their clones. A second look at cases we thought we knew well—France and Spain—hints that even in the West, the "standard model" has been too narrow.

Committee on International Security Studies

"Land Erosion in the Indian State of Bihar" by Thomas Homer-Dixon (last in a series of four CISS Occasional Papers of the project on "Environmental Scarcities, State Capacity, and Civil Violence," edited by Jeffrey Boutwell and Thomas Homer-Dixon). This paper analyzes the relationships between land erosion, economic productivity, migration, and civil violence in one of the largest and poorest states in India.

"The Significance of Joint Missile Surveillance" by John Steinbruner (CISS Occasional Paper). The author examines the agreement to establish in Moscow a US-Russian Joint Data Exchange Center for sharing ballistic missile surveillance information. Drawing upon the insights of a group of industry, academic, and governmental experts who reviewed in detail the proposed missile surveillance center, the paper recommends ways in which the center might be improved.

The material in this review is taken or adapted from various sources, including introductory and concluding essays, tables of contents, book covers and dust jackets, catalog copy and press releases, proposals, and other descriptive information provided by the featured publications' publishers, editors, and authors.