Returning to the subject of two weeks ago, pre-Fletcher preparatory summer reading, I thought I’d point you toward a few of the professors’ own works.

Among recent books and articles are:

Prof. Jacque‘s, Global Derivative Debacles:  From Theory to Malpractice.  He assures us that, “It is written for a broad audience and not overly technical.”

Prof. Martel‘s, Victory in War.  Note that this is a revision of the book, originally published in 2007.  (And significantly revised, from what I hear from Prof. Chayes, who made sure her colleague received due recognition.)

Prof. Salacuse sent me several links.  First there’s his new book, The Law of Investment Treaties.  And then there are two articles:  “The Emerging Global Regime for Investment,” in the Harvard International Law Journal, and “Opening Moves – They Can Make or Break Any Deal,” in Tufts Magazine.

And Prof. Forest (visiting Fletcher this past year) points us toward his new book:  Influence Warfare.

This is only a small sampling — whatever crossed my email at the end of the semester — but you can find a more complete list of student and faculty publications in the News and Media section of the Fletcher website.

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 23 Jun 2011 No Comments »

It’s a hot day around here — a good one for thinking about summer reading, even though spending a day with a book isn’t on the Admissions Office agenda.  For blog readers, the first suggestion list-within-a-list for today comes from Prof. Hess, who’s got you covered if you may be taking his DHP D260 or D267 class this September.  Prof. Hess suggests:

Jihad in Saudi Arabia:  Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979, by Thomas Hegghammer 
The Long Divergence:  How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East, by Timur Kuran 
The Iran Primer:  Power, Politics, and U.S. Policy, by Robin Wright 
Afghanistan:  A Cultural and Political History, by Thomas Barfield 
A World Without Islam, by Graham E. Fuller 
How Capitalism Was Built:  The Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia, by Anders Aslund 
Black Garden:  Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, by Thomas de Waal

In response to my request, Prof. Perry told me the first book that came to mind is Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, which he said is, “appropriate for Fletcher because it is cross-disciplinary — an anthropologist takes up an historical subject — and because it is jargon-free, a relief from so much that students must read.”

Finally (for today), Prof. Chayes keeps her recommendation in the family, by “heartily” recommending The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban, by Sarah Chayes.  She notes that, “It has been much used by military and civilians alike in Afghanistan.”  And then Prof. Chayes offers an antidote for all this serious reading — a fiction selection:   Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.  “Fascinating on the intrigues of government in the era of Henry VIII — much has not changed!”

Next week, I’ll point you toward some new work by the professors themselves.

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 09 Jun 2011 No Comments »

In an annual ritual, a few weeks ago I asked the Fletcher faculty to recommend books for those who may want to pack a little preparatory reading into their pre-Fletcher summer.  There’s really no obligation to cast aside your beach-worthy paperbacks!  But, for those who want to feel more firmly on the grad school train, I’m happy to pass along some picks from the professors.

I’ll start with Prof. Uvin, who always comes through with some out-of-the-box choices.  He wrote:

The best books I have read this year are Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes (a novel of the Vietnam War that brings war to life in a direct way I have never read before) and K Blows Top by Peter Carlson (a hysterically funny non-fiction book of Khrushchev’s visit to the U.S. in 1959 — pure Vonnegut, but all real!).  I am currently reading The Information by James Gleick, which is a stunningly ambitious, well-written and interesting book so far.  I am drowning in information already, and yet this book is a true pleasure in getting me to think differently about the flood I am in….

Next, even before I asked the professors, students were asking, and I happened to see the response of Prof. Fawaz to an inquiry about books on Syria’s politics, foreign policy, or history.  (Timely reading for any of us right now.)  Rather than provide a limited book list, Prof. Fawaz pointed the student toward several authors:  Abdul-Karim Rafeq, Hanna Batatu, Patrick Seale, Raymond Hinnebusch, and Steve Heydeman.

And, in response to my request, Prof. Blackhurst (who teaches in Fletcher’s GMAP program) reaffirmed a choice from last year, Pop Internationalism by Paul Krugman.  Prof. Blackhurst calls it “easy-to-understand economics,” and said, “Every essay in the book is very relevant to the Fletcher program.”

I’ll pass along the remaining suggestions in the next week or two.  Meanwhile, you can find previous years’ lists in the archives:  2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007.  (There is more than one post in some years.  You can scroll through all the choices by going to the Our Faculty category.)

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 07 Jun 2011 No Comments »

I’ve been putting together summer reading lists for the blog for the last few years now.  Scroll down through the posts in the Our Faculty category and you’ll see the previous compilations. I hasten to add that you are not, in any way, obligated to do any summer reading!  Feel 100% comfortable sitting on the beach with your favorite Calvin and Hobbes collection!  But I know that some students want a little something more, and my goal is to provide it.

This year, I may have presented the professors with a tougher assignment than I realized.  I had thought it would be a nice complement to previous lists if we went with a new theme.  I gave them two choices:  to suggest something newly published; or to suggest a work of fiction.  I think that’s where I lost them.  Even several reminders didn’t (with a few exceptions) shake works of fiction out of their collective brains.  So here’s the short list I was able to pull together this year.

First, on the new publications theme, Michael Klein came through right away, writing, “There have been a spate of books this year about the financial crisis.  I would recommend:  Too Big to Fail, by Andrew Ross Sorkin; and In Fed We Trust, by David Wessel.  I’ve not read Simon Johnson’s book 13 Bankers, but it has gotten a lot of press, and is less complimentary of the efforts to combat the crisis than the other two books.  I also enjoyed the book The Myth of the Rational Market by Justin Fox, which is more broadly about the development of the field of financial economics.”

Sticking with new non-fiction, Kim Wilson suggests an upcoming book on which she served as co-editor:  Financial Promise for the Poor: How Groups Build Microsavings, along with 2009′s Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day.

And then, after a wee bit of pestering on my part, I did receive a trickle of fiction suggestions.  None other than Dean Stephen Bosworth came through for me with a few picks.  On the fiction side, he suggests a series of North Korea-centered mysteries by James Church, which he describes as “written by a westerner but one with a remarkable feel for life in North Korea.”  Dean Bosworth also threw in a non-fiction selection:  Nothing to Envy:  Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick.  Finally, he wrote that “students interested in Asia might enjoy the book I wrote with Morton Abramawitz:  Chasing the Sun, a series of essays on the U.S. and East Asia.”

John Perry suggested a book that was later suggested by a student and included in the list I posted earlier.  He told me, “I would recommend Vermeer’s Hat, by Timothy Brooks.  It is a beautifully written account, using some of Vermeer’s paintings to provide a window into the world of the 17th century.  Both Andy Hess, as I hear, and I are using it in classes.”

And, last, Bill Martel, who so kindly stopped by the office to apologize for failing to send me a selection, not knowing that I would bar the door until he came up with something.  He finally chose The Kite Runner, for its portrayal of society in Afghanistan.

So that’s this summer’s list from the professors.  Next year, I’ll define their assignment differently so that I can develop a longer list.  Meanwhile, a little bit of fiction could be just the thing for a summer day.

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 29 Jun 2010 No Comments »

Students here pursue all the usual procrastination activities, but occasionally they delay their work with yet other scholarly interests.  Early in May, when everyone surely had all they needed on their plates already, Josh Gross (since graduated) presented just such a distraction via the student elist:

Want to procrastinate? I know I do. Wouldn’t it be cool (in the way that can only be cool within these walls) to have a “Best of Fletcher Homework” list?  Send along your favorite assigned books or articles from the last year or two.  It might be a nice reflection of what makes us all tick collectively, and an opportunity to get a window into all of the classes that we wanted to take, but couldn’t.  At the very least, it will make for good summer reading.  I’ll start the ball off with Michael Glennon:  “The Blank-Prose Crime of Aggression.”

And thus started the conversation that Josh called “What was your favorite reading at Fletcher?  OR I got an MA in Law in Diplomacy and all I got was this lousy PDF,” but which another student (who nonetheless contributed his own choice) relabeled “Keeping Josh Gross’ nerdy thread alive…”  Around here, we all embrace our inner nerd!

So, future students and friends, here are the procrastination results — links to books and articles, with the students’ comments included, but with their names omitted:

I am adding a couple of suggestions to the list, just so that Josh doesn’t feel too lonely:  1) Michael J. Glennon (yet again): “How International Rules Die” and 2) Johan Galtung: “Violence, Peace and Peace Research”.

I love this idea!  I highly recommend  these books:  A Crime So Monstrous by E. Benjamin Skinner;  Seeing Like a State, by James C. Scott (esp. chapters 1 and 9); The Mystery of Capital, by Hernando de Soto.

For a little MIB perspective, on the morality of microfinance, I recommend:  “Chu vs. Yunus – Is it Fair to do Business with the Poor?” Also, as a more basic overview of the role of finance in development, and in particular, whether firm size matters, I quite like Levine et al.  “Finance, Firm Size and Growth”.  Go Finance Go! 

At the risk of sounding like a psychopath, Hugo Slim’s Killing Civilians:  Method, Madness, and Morality in War was one of my faves.  Not to be read after dark!

Timothy Brook:  Vermeer’s Hat:  The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World — my pick for book of the year.  The author deciphers Johannes Vermeer’s paintings to reveal how the 17th century world was already globally connected.  For a starter: Why was Jean Nicollet, a French explorer, wearing a Chinese robe when he met the chief of the Winnebago native Americans in 1634?  Read chapter two to find out.

From D264 with Professor Hess, The History of the Turks.

“Electoral Systems and Conflict in Divided Societies,” by Ben Reilly and Andrew Reynolds  in International Conflict Resolution After the Cold War.  This is one of the clearest, most comprehensive pieces about electoral systems I’ve ever read.  If you ever want to know how electoral design can mitigate or exacerbate conflict, this is the piece you want.  Not surprisingly, it’s from Professor Babbitt’s Conflict Resolution Theory class.

I liked “Judgement under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, which Prof. Gideon assigned in Analytic Frameworks.  Behavioral economics is pretty hot right now, and this is one of the founding documents.

There you have it, blog readers.  The students’ picks for your summer reading.  Is this required for those of you about to start your Fletcher studies?  Definitely not!  (Unless, of course, you’re at work and want to procrastinate.)  But I hope the list gives you a sense of the breadth of students’ interests, as well as their engagement with the subject matter.  Happy reading!

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 17 Jun 2010 1 Comment »