Author Archives: gilsinan
Social Entrepreneurship Beyond the Caricature
David Brooks had an interesting piece the other day on young people and social entrepreneurship. Perhaps not shockingly, he portrays those of us who believe in a role for a reformed and impact-oriented private sector as idealistic, possessed of a … Continue reading
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“Presumed Guilty”
Earlier this month the Stanford community had the opportunity to meet Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete, the two directors of Presumed Guilty. The documentary, which deals with the Mexican criminal justice system, has been highly praised by international film critics, … Continue reading
IPSo Pashto and Dari
Mujib (left) and Bashir (right). Mujib won. A fun and often unintentional way to pass the time with non-native English speakers is to confuse them with wacky idioms. When you really pay attention, it’s alarming how many things we say … Continue reading
Transition to What?
Afghanistan, you may have read, is transitioning. This month it swapped the old US Ambassador and the commander of US and NATO forces for new ones. At the same time, the first phase of the “security transition” from international to … Continue reading
IPS Meets with Brazilian Foreign Minister
Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota is a busy man. Brazil in recent years has become much more active on the international scene—for one thing, it currently holds a seat as one of the ten non-permanent members of the fifteen-member UN … Continue reading
Donald Rumsfeld’s Memoir and the Unknown
Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir is, obviously, called Known and Unknown, after what may have been the Zen-est moment of a Defense Department press briefing ever. I look forward to the day the Internet gives us a Former Administration Official Memoir title … Continue reading
How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle by Gideon Rose | Simon & Schuster
With How Wars End, scholar and Foreign Affairs editor Gideon Rose has set himself the staggeringly ambitious task of compiling a popular “history of American intervention from World War I to Afghanistan.” It has required some discrimination—no Grenada or Panama … Continue reading
Interview with Professor and Democracy scholar Larry Diamond
Iraqis went to the polls on March 7, 2010 in the country’s third parliamentary election since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Former Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiya list narrowly bested that of sitting Prime Minister … Continue reading