FSI researchers examine the role of energy sources from regulatory, economic and societal angles. The Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD) investigates how the production and consumption of energy affect human welfare and environmental quality. Professors assess natural gas and coal markets, as well as the smart energy grid and how to create effective climate policy in an imperfect world. This includes how state-owned enterprises – like oil companies – affect energy markets around the world. Regulatory barriers are examined for understanding obstacles to lowering carbon in energy services. Realistic cap and trade policies in California are studied, as is the creation of a giant coal market in China.
Reducing the Risk of Dangerous Military Activities
Operational arms control can take many forms, and one of the most important is direct military-to-military talks. The 1989 Dangerous Military Activities agreement, in which military officers headed negotiations for the first time, should not be considered the final step in improving U.S.-Soviet military-to-military relations. It should be seen instead as a major step forward toward a much deeper and wider network of discussions and agreements which reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings and potential incidents between the militaries of the two states.
START and China's Policy on Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament in the 1990s
After eight years of marathon negotiations, the United States and the Soviet Union are finally close to concluding a strategic-arms-reduction treaty (START). At the 1990 Washington summit, U.S. president George Bush and Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev signed a communique concerning the reduction of strategic nuclear arms. Although the agreement is not the long-awaited START, the two presidents reaffirmed their determination to have the treaty completed and ready for signature by the end of 1990. The marked progress toward nuclear disarmament by the two superpowers has once again caused vast repercussions. While hailing progress, many people show more concern for the implications of the treaty for the future of arms control.
Commercializing Technology: What Should DOD Learn from DOE?
In this report, the author addresses:
(1) the basis for federal government intervention in energy markets;
(2) the mechanisms DOE employed to assist in the commercialization of energy technology;
(3) the energy development cycle and the problem of deciding where government support is best allocated; and
(4) his observations about the lessons learned.
Deep Cuts in a Peaceful World: Steps Toward a Minimum Deterrent After START
Military Readiness and the Training of China's Sailors
This study of the naval-training system grew out of our larger project on the development of China's strategic weapons. After completing work on the history of Beijing's nuclear weapons program, we began research on Project 09, China's development program for nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. This research brought to light important new materials on the overall growth of China's navy and led to interviews with Chinese naval specialists. The new data suggested important insights into questions related to military professionalism and the long-range strategy for Chinese military power. This review of the history of Chinese naval training thus illuminates larger issues of Chinese defense planning and security goals. It also provides a baseline for assessing the missions of the navy and its readiness for carrying out those missions.
China Builds the Bomb
Tit-for-tat and the Negotiation of Nuclear Arms Control
Robert Axelrod's The Evolution of Cooperation has been widely acclaimed in the few years since its publication. Given its promise for promoting cooperation in ‘prisoner's dilemma games' (PDGs), such praise is unsurprising. The purpose of this paper is to consider whether the tit-for-tat (TFT) strategy Axelrod recommends for achieving an evolution of cooperation in PD situations has application to the negotiation of arms control treaties.
Arms Control, Compliance, and the Law
The expected degree of compliance with agreements or treaties under negotiation must be inferred from the record of the past as well as from the expectations that are raised by the willingness of the parties to dedicate increased resources to verification, to accept more-intrusive inspections, to exhibit greater openness, and to provide for cooperative verification measures. Yet such expectations for compliance must be tempered by the recognition of fundamental factors, which are discussed.
International Arrangements Against Nuclear Terrorism
ABOUT THE BOOK
We have seen in recent hijackings
and other hostage-takings that the mightiest military machine in the world
can be tied down like Gulliver. What would happen if tomorrow's Lilliputians
had an atomic bomb, or used other means to cause nuclear violence? Preventing
Nuclear Terrorism is an insightful and provocative book that provides early
warning of a threat that must be stopped from materializing at all costs.
It points the way to avoiding a situation in which the world order, not
just our nation, would be placed at risk. It warrants close scrutiny.
- Representative Richard Gephardt
Chairman, House Democratic Caucus
The old adage about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of
cure aptly describes the basic thrust of this valuable book. The book begins
with a distinguished and balanced International Task Force of experts concluding
that 'the probability of nuclear terrorism is increasing' and warning that
'the fact that so far there has been no serious act of nuclear terrorism
is no reason for complacency.' The Task Force report is followed by 26 studies
that provide valuable insight and perspective into all aspects of a world-threatening
problem. This is a unique body of work that offers a realistic and urgently
needed roadmap for steering clear of nuclear terrorism.
- Senator
Sam Nunn
Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee
There is no greater challenge to the entire world than the prevention
of a detonation, accidental or otherwise, of even a single nuclear weapon.
Preventing Nuclear Terrorism makes a unique and valued contribution toward
that end. It should be widely read, discussed, and acted upon.
- Senator
John W. Warner
Secretary of the Navy, 1972-74