Book Reviews

Minority Vote Dilution Edited by Chandler Davidson, under the auspices of the Joint Center for Political Studies, Washington, D.C. Howard University Press, 298 pp. Reviewed by Linda F. Williams; Islam, Christianity, and African Identity By Sulayman S. Nyang Amana Books, Brattleboro, Vermont. 106 pp. Reviewed by Mohamed A. El-Khawa

Executive Director of Baptist Joint Committee to Visit Gardner-Webb University

A leading Baptist voice for national religious freedom will speak at Gardner-Webb on Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m. about the relevance of religion in political life especially in light of the upcoming election. The event, which will be held in the new Tucker Center, is free and open to the public. Brent Walker is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) in Washington, D.C.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/gardner-webb-newscenter-archive/2774/thumbnail.jp

China's Rise: Challenges and Opportunities

The global economic crisis has made clear China's importance and expanding role on the world stage. China's Rise: Challenges and Opportunities, explains actions both China and the United States can take that will not only maximize the opportunities for China's constructive integration into the international community but also help form a domestic consensus that will provide a stable foundation for such policies. This book is unique in that it analyzes the authoritative data on China's economy, foreign and domestic policy, and national security. China is confronting domestic challenges that are in many ways side effects of its economic successes, while simultaneously trying to take advantage of the foreign policy benefits of those same successes. * The book from The China Balance Sheet Project, a joint, multiyear project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Peterson Institute, discusses China's military modernization, China's increasing soft power influence in Asia and around the world, China's policy toward Taiwan, domestic political development, Beijing's political relations with China's provincial and municipal authorities, corruption and social unrest, rebalancing China's economic growth, the exchange rate controversy, energy and the environment, industrial policy, trade disputes, and investment issues. The paperback book features a new introduction that addresses events since fall of 2008 and provides context for the book in light of those events.

The Role of the World Bank in Controlling Corruption

In 1997, Professor of Law and Political Science, Susan Rose-Ackerman of Yale University, delivered the Georgetown Law Center’s seventeenth Annual Philip A. Hart Memorial Lecture: The World Bank’s Role in Controlling Corruption. Susan Rose-Ackerman is Henry R. Luce Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University, and Co-director of the Law School’s Center for Law, Economics, and Public Policy. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Fullbright Commission. She was a visiting Research Fellow at the World Bank in 1995-96 where she did research on corruption and economic development. She is the author of Corruption and Government Causes, Consequences and Reform (1999), Controlling Environmental Policy: The Limits of Public Law in Germany and the United States (1995); Rethinking the Progressive Agenda: The Reform of the American Regulatory State (1992); and Corruption: A Study in Political Economy (1978); and joint author of The Uncertain Search for Environmental Quality (1974) and The Nonprofit Enterprise in Market Economies (1986). She has published widely in law, economics, and policy journals. Her research interests include comparative regulatory law and policy, the political economy of corruption, public policy and administrative law, and law and economics. In this essay Professor Rose-Ackerman discuses how widespread corruption is a symptom that the state is functioning poorly. Ineffective states can retard and misdirect economic growth. International aid and lending organizations have begun to focus on corruption control as part of a general rethinking of their role in the post-Cold War world. Both James Wolfensohn, the President of the World Bank (Bank), and Michel Camdessus, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have put the control of corruption on their institutions\u27 agendas. Nevertheless, some argue that corruption is a political issue and is, therefore, outside the purview of the World Bank. Corruption, however, has fundamental economic impacts and is thus an appropriate area for World Bank and IMF concern. Bribes represent illegal user fees, taxes, or access charges paid to public agents. These payments influence economic decisions ranging from the size and character of public investment projects to the level of compliance with business regulations. It is difficult to see how a concern for the economic costs of corruption can be responsibly excluded from World Bank lending criteria

The Cost of Confusion: Resolving Ambiguities in Detainee Treatment

This short policy paper considers US counterterrorism policy with particular attention to treatment of detainees in matters of challenging detention, interrogation, trial of detainees, and release. It analyzes the existing US war on terror and considers future policies that would address both national security concerns and human rights/civil liberties concerns. The paper is written by two experts and advocates in counterterrorism-related issues, coming from the center right and the center left in American politics, as part of a project of the Stanley Foundation, Bridging the Foreign Policy Divide, which publishes papers by pairs of experts coming from conservative and progressive points on the political spectrum, on US foreign policy topics in preparation for the 2008 elections. The purpose of the joint essay is to explore common ground between political positions that might otherwise go unaddressed, while identifying differences in policy positions. Kenneth Anderson is research fellow with Stanford\u27s Hoover Institution, and Elisa Massimino is Washington Director of Human Rights First, which has been a leading human rights advocate in issues of the war on terror

Joint Center Annual Report 2022

Thanks to the dedication of our staff, the commitment of our Board of Governors, and your continued support, 2022 was another pivotal and impactful year. The Joint Center conducted critical research, provided in-depth analysis, shared policy recommendations, and convened with lawmakers, policy experts, and other stakeholders to advance Black Americans' political and economic needs. Our clear and intentional focus on the needs and concerns of Black Americans centers Black communities in policy debates, furthering our mission of creating more equitable and just economic and political outcomes for African Americans across the country. We have made great strides in each of our major program areas — Tech Policy, Workforce Policy, Economic Policy, Hill Diversity, and the Black Talent Initiative — which we are excited to share with you in this 2022 impact report

The stock-flow model of spatial data infrastructure development refined by fuzzy logic

The system dynamics technique has been demonstrated to be a proper method by which to model and simulate the development of spatial data infrastructures (SDI). An SDI is a collaborative effort to manage and share spatial data at different political and administrative levels. It is comprised of various dynamically interacting quantitative and qualitative (linguistic) variables. To incorporate linguistic variables and their joint effects in an SDI-development model more effectively, we suggest employing fuzzy logic. Not all fuzzy models are able to model the dynamic behavior of SDIs properly. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate different fuzzy models and their suitability for modeling SDIs. To that end, two inference and two defuzzification methods were used for the fuzzification of the joint effect of two variables in an existing SDI model. The results show that the Average–Average inference and Center of Area defuzzification can better model the dynamics of SDI development

Engaging Communities in Reducing Gun Violence: A Road Map to Safer Communities

Gun violence inflicts a devastating toll on communities of color, but the justice system response to this violence frequently destabilizes neighborhoods and damages police-community relations. To develop a better response, the Urban Institute, Joyce Foundation, and Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies convened more than 100 people from communities affected by violence. We learned that violence prevention demands a holistic set of solutions. Limiting access to firearms is part of the solution, but a comprehensive strategy will also require improving police-community relations, investing in community services, and facilitating community leadership in violence prevention efforts

Engaging Communities in Reducing Gun Violence: A Road Map for Safer Communities

Groundbreaking research by Benenson Strategy Group (BSG) and Lester and Associates was released on April 28, 2016 alongside a policy roadmap that lays out a series of proposed policy solutions for gun violence based on conversations with community stakeholders in Richmond, VA, Milwaukee, WI, and Stockton, CA. The research and report grew out of a project launched last year by The Joint Center for Economic and Political Studies, The Urban Institute and The Joyce Foundation. The study found that African Americans and Latinos believe that fixing the gun violence crisis in the United States is a pathway to addressing issues with the criminal justice system, including police-community relationships and mass incarceration

Cooperation in Eurasia

Result of a joint research project conducted by the Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) and the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SAM), the volume “Cooperation in Eurasia: Linking Identity, Security, and Development” aims to shed light on the drivers and on the rationale behind regional cooperation in Eurasia. In particular it investigates and ponder the weight of identity issues, security perceptions, and economic development needs for interstate cooperation in the Eurasian context, by taking into account both supra-national frameworks and regional scenarios. Accordingly, the book is divided in two parts, focusing respectively on “Cooperation and Competition at Multilateral Level” and on “Regional Case Studies”