Belfer Center Regions

The New Influencers: A Primer on the Expanding Role of Middle Powers in Africa

Belfer Center — Aug 5, 2024

Aug 5, 2024

This original primer, conducted as research for The Africa Futures Project, is an initial exploration into the evolving roles and increasing influence of “middle powers” in Africa. It covers a diverse array of existing and aspiring middle powers, presenting key points for each nation under four distinct analytical lenses.

The Non-Proliferation Problem

Belfer Center — Jul 9, 2024

Jul 9, 2024

Those harboring doubts about the viability of nuclear non-proliferation ought to consider the lessons of the past 75 years. Even if it proves impossible to contain this catastrophically destructive technology completely, a world with fewer nuclear-armed states is exponentially safer than one with many of them.

Indian Election Was Awash in Deepfakes – But AI Was a Net Positive for Democracy

Belfer Center — Jun 10, 2024

Jun 10, 2024

As India concluded the world’s largest election on June 5, 2024, with over 640 million votes counted, observers could assess how the various parties and factions used artificial intelligence technologies – and what lessons that holds for the rest of the world.

What the West Can Learn From Singapore

Belfer Center — Jun 5, 2024

Jun 5, 2024

When asked whether the U.S. government works, most Americans say no. According to recent polling by Ipsos, more than two-thirds of adults in the United States think the country is going in the wrong direction. Gallup reports that only 26 percent have confidence in major U.S. institutions, such as the presidency, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Nearly half of Americans aged 18 to 25 say that they believe either that democracy or dictatorship “makes no difference” or that “dictatorship could be good in certain circumstances.” As a recent Economist cover story put it: “After victory in the Cold War, the American model seemed unassailable. A generation on, Americans themselves are losing confidence in it.”

Biden's Foreign-Policy Problem Is Incompetence

Belfer Center — Jun 4, 2024

Jun 4, 2024

Stephen Walt argues that those who fetishize credibility typically assume all that is needed is sufficient resolve. This overlooks the other key ingredient— competence.

When Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Adversary Perceptions of Nuclear No-First-Use Pledges

Belfer Center — Jun 4, 2024

Jun 4, 2024

Would the world be safer if the United States pledged to never use nuclear weapons first? Supporters say a credible pledge would strengthen crisis stability, decrease hostility, and bolster nonproliferation and arms control. But reactions to no-first-use pledges by the Soviet Union, China, and India suggest that adversaries perceive pledges as credible only when the political relationship between a state and its adversary is already relatively benign, or when the state’s military has no ability to engage in nuclear first use against the adversary.

When Foreign Countries Push the Button

Belfer Center — Jun 3, 2024

Jun 3, 2024

Is there a norm against using nuclear weapons? Many policymakers believe that allied countries would severely condemn a state’s nuclear use. But survey research in the United States and India finds high absolute support for nuclear use, and that the public supports nuclear attacks by allies and strategic partners as much as those by the public’s own government.

Is Iran's Strategic Patience at an End?

Belfer Center — Apr 23, 2024

Apr 23, 2024

Assaf Zoran examines the dynamics of Iran's shift from operating in the shadows or behind partners and proxies to directly attacking Israel and Pakistan.

India - The New Global Green Hydrogen Powerhouse?

Belfer Center — Mar 26, 2024

Mar 26, 2024

India aims to become a leading producer of green hydrogen by the next decade as part of its broader industrial and decarbonization strategies. This brief provides an overview of India's current hydrogen strategy, as well as the challenges - land and water scarcity, infrastructure gaps, and financing gaps - that must be addressed in order for India to achieve its ambitious goals.

Is Nuclear Proliferation Back?

Belfer Center — Mar 5, 2024

Mar 5, 2024

Joseph Nye considers lessons from his own work on preventing the spread of nuclear technology in the 1970s.

Harvard Project Contributes to Major Initiative on Methane

Belfer Center — Feb 14, 2024

Feb 14, 2024

The Harvard Project participates in a major Harvard initiative aimed at reducing emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Participating researchers represent a range of academic disciplines and Harvard schools.

H-Diplo|RJISSF Roundtable 15-26 on Hazelton, Bullets not Ballots

Belfer Center — Feb 2, 2024

Feb 2, 2024

Jacqueline L. Hazelton's Bullets not Ballots: Success in Counterinsurgency Warfare (Cornell University Press, 2021) is the subject of a Roundtable Review.

Stephen Walt Looks Ahead to 2024

Belfer Center — Jan 1, 2024

Jan 1, 2024

Stephen Walt elaborates on what he is expecting for 2024: the Israel-Gaza conflict widening, the 75th anniversary of NATO, the possible re-election of Donald Trump, and the election results from other populous democracies, to name a few.

For the Common Defense Study Group: Key Themes from the Fall 2023 Seminar Series

Belfer Center — Dec 14, 2023

Dec 14, 2023

The Belfer Center's National Security Fellows (NSFs), as part of the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy (DETS) program, developed and taught the "For the Common Defense" study group throughout the Fall 2023 semester. Each “Common Defense” seminar is an in-depth exploration of a national security or defense-related subject taught by senior defense officials. Over the course of eight seminars, this study group examined key foreign policy topics, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and great power competition.

Judging Henry Kissinger

Belfer Center — Nov 30, 2023

Nov 30, 2023

Joseph S. Nye writes that evaluating ethics in international relations is difficult, and Kissinger's legacy is particularly complex. Over his long tenure in government, he had many great successes, including with China and the Soviet Union and the Middle East. Kissinger also had major failures, including in how the Vietnam War ended. But on net, his legacy is positive. In a world haunted by the specter of nuclear war, his decisions made the international order more stable and safer.

Navigating China’s Opportunistic Approach to Overseas Naval Base Acquisition

Belfer Center — Nov 16, 2023

Nov 16, 2023

This report, by Maxwell Simon (MPP '23) and Jayaram Ravi (MPP '23), explores the drivers of setback and success that China has encountered in the process of developing dual-use and military-dedicated naval installations abroad. It looks at cases where China has considered or actively pursued military-dedicated installations to characterize Beijing’s general approach to overseas naval base acquisition.

When do militaries undermine democratization?

Belfer Center — Nov 3, 2023

Nov 3, 2023

The recent coup in Niger is but the latest reminder of the importance of militaries in processes of democratization. Historically, soldiers have been the leading cause of democratic collapse. Over 61% of the democracies that died between 1789 and 2008 did so due to a military coup. Today, coups remain a potent threat, ending democratic transitions in Egypt, Thailand, Mali, Myanmar, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso, and Niger, among others.

'China Marching with India': India's Cold War Advocacy for the People's Republic of China at the United Nations, 1949–1971

Belfer Center — Sep 21, 2023

Sep 21, 2023

Recent scholarship on Sino-Indian relations in the 1950s has emphasized cooperation, revising previous narratives of an inexorable march towards the 1962 border war. This article reassesses that cooperation by focusing on India's role as an intermediary between the unrecognized government in Beijing and the United Nations (UN). Chinese sources reveal that Sino-Indian cooperation over UN affairs was complicated by competing conceptions of how the decolonizing world should fit into the international system and who should be at the helm. Despite such disagreements, the Cold War UN provided a setting where divergent post-colonial visions could be sublimated into meaningful international cooperation.

Should the United States Normalize Relations with the Taliban?

Belfer Center — Aug 21, 2023

Aug 21, 2023

Foreign Affairs has recently published a number of articles on how the United States should engage with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, extremist forces within the regime, how the West can help ordinary Afghans, and the fate of the country’s women. To complement these essays, Foreign Affairs asked a broad pool of experts for their take. As with previous surveys, Foreign Affairs approached dozens of authorities with expertise relevant to the question at hand, along with leading generalists in the field. Participants were asked to state whether they agreed or disagreed with a proposition and to rate their confidence level in their opinion. Two Belfer Center experts participated, International Security Executive Editor Jacqueline L. Hazelton and Future of Diplomacy Project Senior Fellow Paula Dobriansky.

ISP Research Fellow Apekshya Prasai Selected as a 2023 HFG Emerging Scholar

Belfer Center — Jul 17, 2023

Jul 17, 2023

Apekshya Prasai, a political science doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was recently named a 2023 Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Emerging Scholar. The Emerging Scholars (nine in all) are doctoral candidates who are in the final year of writing dissertations on the nature of and responses to violence around the world.