ARTS AND HUMANITIES
418. THE ULTIMATE LEARNING EXPERIENCE ("Across the Board," July/August, 2004, pp. 42-76)
Twenty years ago, at the Center for Creative Leadership conducted a study of key events that executives said were instrumental to their development as leaders. At that time, those most often cited were challenging assignments and 20% of respondents said they learned significant lessons from hardships, such as job loss, career setbacks, mistakes and failures and personal trauma.
419. THE CAREER OF TEACHING: CONNECTING LOGIC AND MAGIC, THE PROSE AND THE PASSION ("Vital Speeches of the Day," July 15, 2004, pp. 602-604)
Andrea S. Libresco, assistant professor, Department of Curriculum and Teaching, Hofstra University; before the students entering Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society, Hempstead, New York, May 22, 2004.
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ECONOMICS
420. FREE TRADE, FREE MARKETS: THE RISE OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT ("Challenge," July/August, 2004, pp. 41-61)
With the recent failures of multilateral trade agreements, bilateral free trade agreements have moved front and center. Not only are they becoming an integral part of U.S. economic policy, they are also being wielded as an instrument of foreign policy.
421. CRISIS IN CANCUN ("Global Governance," April/June, 2004, pp. 149-155)
In opulent surroundings, representatives of the World Trade Organization's 146 member states will meet September 10-14, 2004, in Cancun to discuss progress in the so-called development round, officially the Doha Development Agenda.
422. IS W.T.O. DISPUTE SETTLEMENT EFFECTIVE? ("Global Governance," April/June, 2004, pp. 207-225)
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has two major functions: legislative and judicial. The political features and underpinnings of these two functions, although somewhat similar, are distinct enough to warrant separate analyses. The legislative function refers to its role as a forum for reaching trade agreements. However, due to the long stalemate in multilateral negotiations until the breakthrough at the Doha ministerial conference in November, 2001, the legislative function of the WTO has been in low gear and the judicial arm has taken the real action.
423. WHAT EVERY C.E.O. SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CREATING NEW BUSINESSES ("Harvard Business Review," July/August, 2004, pp. 18-30)
There are 10 things every corporate venturer should know, including: ultimately, growth means starting new businesses; most new businesses fail; corporate culture is the biggest deterrent to business creation; separate organizations don't work, or at least not for long. Perfectionist cultures are in for a rude awakening, since it is seldom possible to figure out product designs or business models fully in advance.
424. REGIONAL AND BILATERAL FREE TRADE SCHEMES SHOULD BE PURSUED WITH CAUTION ("IMF Survey," July 14, 2004, pp. 166-168)
In recent years, the United States has embarked on a strategy aimed at establishing regional and bilateral trading arrangements with partners spanning the globe. What are the costs and benefits associated with these arrangements?
425. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF ENERGY: OIL MUST BE THE BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE ("Vital Speeches of the Day," June 15, 2004, pp. 523-526)
Archie W. Dunham, chairman, ConocoPhillips; before the Oklahoma State University Executive Management Briefing, Tulsa, Oklahoma, April 28, 2004.
426. INVESTING IN LATIN AMERICA'S ENERGY FUTURE ("Vital Speeches of the Day," June 15, 2004, pp. 526-529)
Rex W. Tillerson, president, Exxon Mobil Corporation; before the 13th Annual Latin American Energy Conference, Institute of the Americas, La Jolla, California, May 17, 2004.
427. KOREA, THE UNITED STATES AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: INTERNATIONAL MARKET PLACE WITHOUT NATIONAL OR REGIONAL BARRIERS ("Vital Speeches of the Day," July 1, 2004, pp. 555-559)
Murray Weidenbaum, Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professorship at Washington University in St. Louis, honorary chairman of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers; before the Washington University International, Advisory Council for Asia, Seoul, Korea, June 1, 2004.
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INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
428. INSIDE AL QAEDA'S HARD DRIVE ("The Atlantic Monthly", September, 2004, pp. 55-70)
A desktop computer, used mostly by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bid Laden's top deputy, contained nearly a thousand text documents, dating back to 1997. Many were locked with passwords or encrypted. Most were in Arabic, but some were in French, Farsi, English or Malay, written in an elliptical and evolving system of code words. It took intensive work for more than a year with several translators, interviewing dozens of former jihadis, to decipher the context, codes and intentions of the messages.
429. BOLIVIA'S INDIAN REVOLT ("The Nation," June 21, 2004, pp. 18-22)
Bolivia is the center of a three-year-old indigenous insurrection that has twice routed multinational corporations and nearly achieved the rarest of political successes, election of an Indian president in the Americas. Because of its large indigenous population, there are prospects that "the option for exercising power has became real," possibly showing an alternative narrative of the country.
430. PAKISTAN PARADOX ("National Journal," June 19, 2004, pp. 1928-1935)
The U.S. needs Pakistan's help in the war on terror. Pakistan is a riddle wrapped inside a mystery, in a volatile region, atop a nuclear stockpile. Either it is a staunch and indispensable ally against al Qaeda and the Taliban, or it is rife from top to bottom with terrorist sympathizers who continue to protect Islamic extremists.
431. THE RISE OF NATIONALISM ("National Journal," July 3, 2004, pp. 2084-2091)
It can be stoked by anger, fear, pride or love. Nationalism, ever adaptable, stands as the most enduring "ism," the planet's most resonant political force of modern times. It buried its principal 20th century rival, communism, and has shown itself able to thrive in the most varied of political soil: in democratic and authoritarian societies, in rich and poor countries, in the West and in the East.
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U.S. SOCIETY
432. IN SEARCH OF A POPE ("The Atlantic Monthly," September, 2004, pp. 91-98)
Historians have described the Kansas-Nebraska Act as possibly "the most fateful single piece of legislation in U.S. history." Passed by Congress 150 years ago this month, it was meant to quiet the furious national argument over slavery by letting the new Western territories decide whether to accept the practice, without the intrusion of the federal government. Yet by repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had outlawed slavery everywhere in the Louisiana Purchase north of Missouri's southern border (except for Missouri itself), the new law inflamed the emotions it was intended to calm and wrenched the country apart.
433. THE INFLUENCE OF MARTIN LUTHER KING AND MALCOLM X ON HIP HOP ("USA Today," July, 2004, pp. 64-66)
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were the two most important leaders of African-American youth in the 20th century. Black U.S. citizens chose them because of their unique perspectives on civil and human rights, integration and nationalism and their dedication to the spiritual values of their faith communities (Christianity and Islam, respectively).
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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
434. WIRELESS MEN (AND WOMEN) ("Across the Board," July/August, 2004, pp. 25-28)
All those commuters and conference-goers, all that energy and intensity, is what drives the U.S. economy.
435. THE MASTER'S MISTAKES ("Discover," September, 2004, pp. 50-53)
Albert Einstein got it wrong, not once, not twice, but countless times. He made subtle blunders, he made outright goofs, his oversights were glaring. He was wrong about the universe, wrong about its contents, wrong about the workings of atoms. Yet Einstein's mistakes could be compelling and instructive, and some even essential to the progress of modern physics.
436. TESTING THE LIMITS OF EINSTEIN'S THEORIES ("Discover," September, 2004, pp. 54-60)
Scientist finally have the technology to construct mind-boggling experiments that can tell us just how far relativity can be stretched.
437. WE ARE NOT IMMUNE ("Harper's Magazine," July, 2004, pp. 35-42)
Death is inevitable, but not disease. The difference may be as simple as washing our hands or keeping the wastes of industrialized farming out of the water supply, but it is often much more complicated. Bacteria and viruses are no mean adversaries. Yet, if we fail to be watchful or to protect those most at risk, a public-health catastrophe is inevitable.
438. DEAD HEAT: THE HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF GLOBAL WARMING COULD BE MANY ("Science News," July 3, 2004, pp. 10-12)
If the mere thought of global warming makes you break out in a sweat, just wait until the heat gets here in earnest. Some time during this century, lengthy heat waves like the one that killed thousands in Europe last summer may become the summer norm.
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