Reflections on an imagined second Kennedy administration

With the approach of the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, James D. Boys reflects back on JFK’s unfinished presidency. He notes that Kennedy is often judged on his promise, rather than his substantial achievements in office, and imagines a second Kennedy administration, speculating that without the emotion created by Kennedy’s death, the Civil Rights Act would not have passed Congress

As an attempt to breathe new life into his administration, Obama’s State of the Union largely failed

Last night President Obama gave his annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, against the backdrop of a troubled rollout for his signature healthcare reform, and Congressional gridlock over issues such as the minimum wage and immigration reform. James D. Boys writes that the speech may have been Obama’s best chance at reinvigorating a beleaguered administration, but that it largely failed to do so. He writes that Obama’s State of the Union had little new to offer, save for small postures and restated positions, and that his stated willingness to act by Executive Authority will do nothing to assist bi-partisanship

Clinton's Grand Strategy

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. President Clinton's time in office coincided with historic global events following the end of the Cold War. The collapse of Communism called for a new US Grand Strategy to address the emerging geopolitical era that brought upheavals in Somalia and the Balkans, economic challenges in Mexico and Europe and the emergence of new entities such as the EU, NAFTA and the WTO. Clinton's handling of these events was crucial to the development of world politics at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Only by understanding Clinton's efforts to address the challenges of the post-Cold War era can we understand the strategies of his immediate successors, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, both of whom inherited and continued Clinton-era policies and practices. James D. Boys sheds new light on the evolution and execution of US Grand Strategy from 1993 to 2001. He explores the manner in which policy was devised and examines the actors responsible for its development, including Bill Clinton, Anthony Lake, Samuel Berger, Warren Christopher, Madeline Albright and Richard Holbrook. He examines the core components of the strategy (National Security, Prosperity Promotion and Democracy Promotion) and how they were implemented, revealing a hitherto unexplored continuity from campaign trail to the White House. Covering the entire duration of Clinton’s presidential odyssey, from his 1991 Announcement Speech to his final day in office, the book draws extensively on newly declassified primary materials and interviews by the author with key members of the Clinton administration to reveal for the first time the development and implementation of US Grand Strategy from deep within the West Wing of the Clinton White House

Given his administration’s policy fumbles this year, President Obama may be happy that 2013 is nearly over

This year has not been a good one for President Barack Obama and his administration. James D. Boys takes a look at 2013’s policy fumbles, which look even worse in light of the promise brought by his re-election barely one year ago. He writes that the difficulties with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, the lack of direction on Syria and foreign policy in general, as well as lost battles on gun control and the government’s shutdown are all likely to harm Obama’s political legacy. Elections and continuing Congressional gridlock in 2014 may see the President move even further into lame duck territory

Reading National Security Strategies shows that US involvement in Afghanistan has simply been a staging post for larger ideological conflicts

For almost 35 years, US presidential administrations have set out their foreign policy and national security approaches in National Security Strategy reports. James D. Boys looks at what these reports can tell us about the US approach to Afghanistan since the 1980s. He finds that focus on Afghanistan has come and gone, showing how US involvement there has always been in the context of wider conflicts such as the Cold War and the War on Terror

The spaces of relational learning and their impact on student engagement

In this paper, we are interested in developing a rich understanding of what matters about space, particularly for enhancing student engagement and belonging. We will suggest that this first requires an exploration into the relational aspects of learning in order to begin to model the often complicated and diffuse inter-relationships between its cognitive, experiential and emotional dimensions; and second to explore in more depth how these impact on, and are impacted by, material space. We will do this by first outlining what we mean by relational learning, and by student engagement and belonging. We will then propose a relational understanding of material space, aiming to locate learning environments within the larger ‘space’ of learners’ perceptions and experiences more generally. This will be further explored through analyzing a case study that suggests some helpful pointers. Finally, we will offer an outline conceptual model that aims to locate some of the differing qualities of material space across the various dimensions of relational learning. Whilst this model is proposed not as a solution but as a means of encouraging debate, we argue that developing learning spaces that support engagement and belonging as well as effective learning are an important issue for the higher education sector. This is because evidence shows that students’ sense of belonging has a direct impact on their retention and success (Thomas, 2012)

Clinton's Grand Strategy

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. President Clinton's time in office coincided with historic global events following the end of the Cold War. The collapse of Communism called for a new US Grand Strategy to address the emerging geopolitical era that brought upheavals in Somalia and the Balkans, economic challenges in Mexico and Europe and the emergence of new entities such as the EU, NAFTA and the WTO. Clinton's handling of these events was crucial to the development of world politics at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Only by understanding Clinton's efforts to address the challenges of the post-Cold War era can we understand the strategies of his immediate successors, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, both of whom inherited and continued Clinton-era policies and practices. James D. Boys sheds new light on the evolution and execution of US Grand Strategy from 1993 to 2001. He explores the manner in which policy was devised and examines the actors responsible for its development, including Bill Clinton, Anthony Lake, Samuel Berger, Warren Christopher, Madeline Albright and Richard Holbrook. He examines the core components of the strategy (National Security, Prosperity Promotion and Democracy Promotion) and how they were implemented, revealing a hitherto unexplored continuity from campaign trail to the White House. Covering the entire duration of Clinton’s presidential odyssey, from his 1991 Announcement Speech to his final day in office, the book draws extensively on newly declassified primary materials and interviews by the author with key members of the Clinton administration to reveal for the first time the development and implementation of US Grand Strategy from deep within the West Wing of the Clinton White House

Assessing Domestic Demand for Organic and ‘Locally Grown' Produce on An ‘Organic Island': Dominica's Dilemma

The economy of Dominica faces a unique set of challenges. As with many other Caribbean nations, Dominica has historically been dependent upon agriculture. Over the past several hundred years, the island's economy has been largely supported through the concentrated mono-cropping of a variety of export-oriented crops including coffee, limes, vanilla, and bananas (FAVACA, 2008). Today, approximately 45% of Dominica's labor force is employed in the agricultural sector (FAVACA, 2008). While neighboring countries have economically benefited from tourism, due to its lack of white sand beaches, Dominica is not a typical tourist destination. Taking advantage of its landscape, rainforests, and diversity of natural wildlife, in an effort to diversify its economy Dominica has instead catered to eco-/wellness tourists. Bridging its agricultural foundations with the ecological preservation needed to support its tourist industry, the government of Dominica has signaled its interest in transforming Dominica into an Organic Island (‘Organic Dominica') by 2015. Through this initiative, sustainable, organic agricultural production methods will be encouraged. Complementing this, a ‘Buy Organic, Locally Grown' campaign has been proposed to encourage domestic and regional consumption of Dominica's agricultural outputs and food products. As such, ‘Organic Dominica' has the potential to simultaneously address ongoing national concerns surrounding food security, foreign exchange availability, domestic un/underemployment, and environmental preservation. Before and since proposing this policy, surveys were conducted to identity the major stakeholders in (organic) agricultural production, and current and potential markets for organic production. It remains, however, to quantify Dominica's capacity to produce organic goods, the scale of the potential market, and the price premia that organic production could command. This information is critical to determining the appropriate initial level of producer support and marketing programs required to successfully promote the production and consumption of Dominica's organic outputs and propel Dominica toward the desired status of a model ‘Organic Island'.contingent valuation, willingness to pay, Caribbean, organic, locally grown, food, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Marketing, O13, O54, Q01, Q13, Q18,

A Lost Opportunity : The Flawed Implementation of Assertive Multilateralism (1991-1993)

Bill Clinton did not seek the presidency to initiate an activist foreign policy in the aftermath of the Cold War, but instead to champion domestic affairs and economic renewal. However, his foreign policy advisers entered office with their own, often differing, interpretations of the United States’ position in the post-Cold War era. After the unity demonstrated by the Gulf War, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations advocated a tactic of Assertive Multilateralism with which to provide inte..

Penerapan Metode Color Filtering dan Learning Vector Quantization dalam Penentuan Tingkat Kematangan Cake Dasar Putih

Cake merupakan panganan yang terbuat dari campuran bahan-bahan seperti tepung, gula, telur, garam, susu, aroma dan lemak yang dikembangkan dengan atau tanpa bahan pengembang. Penentuan tingkat kematangan cake dasar putih dilakukan berdasarkan grade warna permukaan pada saat proses pemanggangan. Namun hal ini sering menjadi kendala karena faktor persepsi komposisi warna setiap orang berbeda-beda. Pengambilan data citra menggunakan kamera 3.2 mp dan 13 mp, setelah itu citra disegmentasi dengan color filtering untuk membuang pixels yang mengandung efek lighting. Tahap selanjutnya yaitu ekstraksi ciri warna RGB kemudian dilakukan pelatihan dengan metode Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ). Hasilnya aplikasi mampu menentukan tingkat kematangan kue cake dasar putih dengan rata-rata akurasi 65,19% dan cake dasar cokelat sebagai kelas validasi 96,88% untuk kamera 3.2 mp sementara pada kamera 13 mp rata-rata akurasi 64,93% dan cake dasar cokelat sebagai kelas validasi yaitu 93,75%. Keberhasilan identifikasi dipengaruhi oleh faktor pencahayaan dalam ruangan, jarak pengambilan dan wadah penampung