Tag Archives: Current Events

Books, Featured Materials

New book on the Hong Kong protests

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Hong Kong in the Shadow of China: Living with the Leviathan

By Richard C. Bush

Call Number: JQ1539.5.A91 B87 2016

View in IvyCat

“Hong Kong in the Shadow of China tells the story of why the “Umbrella Movement” failed to bring Hong Kong a more democratic system … the Umbrella Movement, so called because of the umbrellas protesters carried for protection against ran and pepper spray, … only punctuated a protracted debate over how to vest leaders with more legitimacy, while preserving social stability … [protests] became the background before which members of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments, the business community, politicians of every stripe, and political activists held fraught discussions on electing Hong Kong’s chief executive through universal suffrage and on whether China should control the process. Because there was too little trust among these political forces, a significant opportunity for progress was missed … Richard Bush takes us inside the debates and demonstrations and then pulls back to critically explore what Hong Kong and China must do to ensure both economic competitiveness and good governance and how these developments affect United States policy” (publisher).

Richard Bush has gathered recent survey data and other primary sources that will remain relevant to the ongoing debates about Hong Kong. The book includes extensive notes and an index. Bush is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution and director of its Center on East Asia Policy Studies. He worked for nineteen years in the U.S. government on Asia policy issues, including Hong Kong.

Databases

I&C: Featured Controversy—Refugee Crisis

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Should Europe and the United States accept more refugees from the Middle East and Africa?

SUPPORTERS ARGUE

Europe and the United States have a moral obligation to accept as many refugees as possible. People from the Middle East and Africa are fleeing war, persecution, and life-threatening danger, and neither curbing search-and-rescue missions nor increasing security measures to keep them out will stem the tide of people desperate enough to risk their lives to reach safety. Stereotyping refugees—many of whom are Muslim—as potential terrorists is inaccurate and callous, and refusing to welcome them undermines the values and ideals for which the European Union and the United States claim to stand.

OPPONENTS ARGUE

Welcoming refugees from the Middle East and Africa poses a security threat to Europe and the United States and encourages more people to risk their lives in the hands of human smugglers. Assimilating hundreds of thousands of Muslims into predominantly Christian European countries is not a simple matter, and it would be irresponsible to ignore the social and economic problems that admitting large numbers of refugees will bring. In light of recent terrorist attacks in France and other places, the European Union and the United States should proceed cautiously and with thorough consideration of security concerns.

Click here to view Issues & Controversies’ complete and unbiased coverage of this timely issue.

Books

The Arab Spring / Margaret Haerens and Lynn M. Zott, book editors

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Call number: JQ1850.A91 A75 2013



This volume explores the topic of the Arab Spring, the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began in late 2010, by presenting varied expert opinions that examine many of the different aspects that surround this issue. The viewpoints are selected from a wide range of highly respected and often hard-to-find sources and publications. Allows the reader to attain the higher-level critical thinking and reading skills that are essential in a culture of diverse and contradictory opinions. (From Google Books)

Books

The finish : the killing of Osama Bin Laden / Mark Bowden

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Call number: HV6430.B55 B69 2012

From Mark Bowden, the preeminent chronicler of our military and special forces, comes The Finish, a gripping account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. With access to key sources, Bowden takes us inside the rooms where decisions were made and on the ground where the action unfolded.

After masterminding the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden managed to vanish. Over the next ten years, as Bowden shows, America found that its war with al Qaeda?a scattered group of individuals who were almost impossible to track?demanded an innovative approach. Step by step, Bowden describes the development of a new tactical strategy to fight this war, the fusion of intel from various agencies and on-the-ground special ops. After thousands of special forces missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the right weapon to go after bin Laden had finally evolved. By Spring 2011, intelligence pointed to a compound in Abbottabad; it was estimated that there was a 50/50 chance that Osama was there. Bowden shows how three strategies were mooted: a drone strike, a precision bombing, or an assault by Navy SEALs. In the end, the President had to make the final decision. It was time for the finish. (From Google Books)