Fixing Europe's Democratic Deficit

Because they have failed to address the fundamental economic imbalances within Europe obscured by the single currency, each effort by European leaders so far to resolve the euro crisis has only deepened it. Without a decisive move toward fiscal and political union, accompanied by policies that push productivity and competitiveness toward convergence while closing the democratic deficit, the Eurozone will disintegrate. To discuss the way forward, the Nicolas Berggruen Institute's Council on the Future of Europe met in Rome on May 28 with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. In this section we publish the contributions from that meeting by the former European leaders, scholars and Nobel laureates who are members of the Council.     

美、俄、日、印之外交决策机制

对于主权国家而言,能否作出正确的外交决策往往攸关其外交行动的成败,而及时、果断、正确的外交决策有赖于通畅、有效、迅速的外交决策机制.美、俄、日、印等国均重视外交决策机制的建设.     

In Bailing Out Detroit, Break US Oil Dependence

As British Prime Minister Gordon Brown notes in this section, we are witnessing the birth pangs of a new global order in this deepest financial and economic crash since the Great Depression. There will be plenty of pain all around for a while. And when the quarter-century leveraged-debt bubble of the United States—the explosion of which detonated the crash—is finally unwound, the new global balance will favor an Asia flush with cash. The G-20 will replace the G-7 as the executive committee of globalization. And, if wise leadership stays the course, there will be a "green lining" to the recovery as the fiscal stimulus is imbued with an environmental sensibility.     

America After Utopia

The French social critic and lapsed sociologist Jean Baudrillard, who died in 2007, is author of the highly acclaimed America and Cool Memories . One of the more poignant observers of America since his compatriot Alexis de Tocqueville roamed these lands, Baudrillard's insights, in the manner of the parochial universalism of Parisian post-Marxist intellectuals, dazzle some-where between the brilliant and impenetrable. Back in 1990, I sat down with him in the haute tacky Royal Palace motel in Los Angeles, which Baudrillard claimed was his favorite city. For him, LA was the closest thing to a center in this heterogeneous, ex-centric world.     

America in Shock

America is in shock. It is not because of the unusual sight of the first black President taking up residence in the White House. Barack Obama's profile, after all, is more familiar to the diverse population of today's ethnically and racially hybrid America than the fast disappearing WASP identity of George Bush. Sooner or later, but always, politics codifies cultural change, not the other way around. America is in shock because our economic and financial landscape is suddenly unrecognizable.     

Obama Plan May Spur Proliferation

Is President Barack Obama's proposal for zero nuclear weapons realistic? Will it make the world more secure, or more prone to wars since they are no longer unthinkable? To evaluate this bold strategic initiative, we have invited comments from two former US secretaries of state, a former director of the CIA and the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who led the hunt for Saddam's non‐existent weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the Iraq war.     

美国儿童福利制度简介

美国儿童福利的演进以1909年为界,经历了前制度化阶段和制度化阶段.福利项目的内容主要涉及收入保障、食品与营养、医疗卫生以及教育等方面.项目形式包括现金、所得税抵免、实物、服务和代金券等等.到20世纪90年代中期,由于费用不断膨胀和公众舆论的影响,美国儿童福利制度进行了调整.新制度强调了节省开支、工作伦理和道德要求等方面的内容.