- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Newsletter

Hot off the Presses

Winter 2004-05

Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences

Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett

MIT Press, 2005

This book is not just another outstanding volume in the BCSIA Studies series. It is also a book that BCSIA is proud to have supported from inception to publication because it contributes to so many of the Center's missions. For decades, BCSIA - particularly the International Security Program - has hosted researchers who use the kinds of qualitative methods and case-study research that George and Bennett advocate. Like George and Bennett, the International Security Program believes that case-study research methods are an excellent way to build policy-relevant theories.

"In scope, clarity, and erudition, this book sets a new standard not only in the analysis of case study methods, but also in the study of social science methods more broadly."

-David Dessler, Associate Professor of Government, College of William & Mary

"The more widely this book is read, the better future social science will be."

-Stephen M.Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

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Earth System Analysis for Sustainability

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Paul J. Crutzen, William C. Clark, Martin Claussen, and Hermann Held, editors

The MIT Press, 2004

The book presents the complete story of the inseparably intertwined evolution of life and matter on Earth, focusing on four major topics: longterm geosphere-biosphere interaction and the possibility of using extrasolar planets to test various geophysical hypotheses; the Quaternary Earth System's modes of operation; current planetary dynamics under human pressure; and transition to global sustainability.

"This is an excellent synthesis of the elements that make up the emerging field of Earth system science. Leading global change scientists have pushed the boundaries of conventional science programs, producing a highly readable, challenging, and in part provocative book about Earth in the Anthropocene. It ranges across time, space, and disciplines, from Earth's deep history to astrobiology. If we are to achieve sustainability at a global scale, many people - in science and policy - need to read and understand this book."

-Brian Walker, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia, and Program Director of The Resilience Alliance

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The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation

Robert N. Stavins, editor

Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004

This new authoritative collection comprises previously published papers on the political economy of environmental regulation: economic analyses of the processes through which political decisions regarding environmental regulation are made, principally in the institutional context found in the United States. Despite this geographic focus, many of the papers contain analytical models that are methodologically of interest and/or have lessons that are relevant in other parts of the world.

"In this stimulating compendium, Stavins has assembled many important papers dealing with both positive and normative themes in environmental regulation. The political economy overlay is more than a convenient organizational device, since environmental regulation is both an economic challenge and a target of political opportunity."

- Kenneth Shepsle, George D. Markham Professor of Government, Harvard University

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Forthcoming

Taming American Power:The Global Response to U.S. Primacy

Stephen M.Walt

W.W. Norton & Company, forthcoming fall 2005

"Stephen Walt," says Boston Review, "calls for more diplomacy and military restraint from the Bush administration. The United States is the most powerful country in the world, and its economic and security interests will be best served, Walt argues, by maintaining this position of ‘primacy.' But primacy requires that America's power be seen by the rest of the world as legitimate." A chapter adapted from Stephen Walt's forthcoming book appears in the February/March 2005 issue of Boston Review with commentary from leading academics as part of the New Democracy Forum.

"Stephen Walt is one of the most thoughtful and balanced practitioners of the realist school of international politics."

- Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"Stephen Walt's essay has the great merit of broadening the debate on foreign policy at a time when institutional pressure has been narrowing it."

- Mahmoud Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Hot off the Presses.” Belfer Center Newsletter (Winter 2004-05).