Great Decisions 2012 Briefing Book Preview: A letter from the Editor in Chief

by Karen Rohan, Editor in Chief

Do you ever see foreign news reports and wonder what it’s all about? The Great Decisions briefing book provides essential background for anyone who wants to understand today’s foreign policy issues. It doesn’t offer breaking news—that’s available 24/7 online. It does give you the information you need to figure out what’s happening, and be able to discuss it intelligently with others. Another benefit to Great Decisions coverage is that it takes a step back from current, day-to-day coverage, to give you some context, and to show you how many of today’s foreign policy stories are interrelated. And most articles include detailed maps and informative charts.

Every day there is another news story about the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. Isn’t the U.S. leaving? How will that work, and will the departure create other problems? Is democracy off to a good start in Iraq? Brookings Institution scholar Michael O’Hanlon discusses the U.S. role:

“Obama is well on the way toward ending—or at least leaving—one of these wars, in Iraq, while he has dramatically escalated the U.S. role in Afghanistan. What are the prospects for successful conclusions to both in the coming months and years?”

Meanwhile, another article in the book, by Augustus Richard Norton, describes the grass-roots democracy movement taking place in the Arab world: “Never in the modern history of the Middle East have so many millions demanded the dismantling of their autocratic regimes with such unanimity, perseverance, persistence and peacefulness.” Larry Diamond, the author of the article on “Promoting Democracy” in the new issue of Great Decisions, explains one reason that the U.S. should pay attention to democracy movements:

“Today, the principal threats to American security—whether from terrorism or from potential military adventurism or cyberwarfare—all come from the world’s remaining authoritarian regimes, such as Iran, North Korea, Russia and China, or from states like Somalia and Yemen that have collapsed or decayed because of authoritarian rule.”

By reading these three articles, you can begin to understand U.S. policy goals in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the U.S. overall strategy for promoting democracy, in Iraq and around the world, as well as get some insight into the spontaneous democracy movements in the Middle East.

Other articles in the new book include topics that interrelate as well, for example an article on the oceans meshes well with another on energy geopolitics. A piece on Indonesia examines a Muslim country that had a popular uprising, and is now a thriving democracy, an interesting comparison to the Arab Spring.

A lot of thought goes into choosing the topics. An editorial advisory committee, made up of academics, journalists and participants in the Great Decisions discussion program, meet in February or March to begin selecting topics. Readers mail in suggestions as well. Generally the book includes four country- or region-specific articles, and four that are thematic. While some topics are obvious selections, there are usually one or two choices that seem to come from left field, but offer insight into an area or subject that you may not have thought about before.

Many of the readers of Great Decisions also take part in various discussion programs held around the country. The original idea behind the discussion program was to enable participants to understand the important issues of the day, in order to be informed voters. The basic concept is that participants read an article in Great Decisions, and then meet to discuss the various policy options for the U.S. Afterward, there are opinion ballots in the book that can be filled out and returned to FPA, where we tabulate the results and issue a report that is sent to all members of Congress as well as the President and Secretary of State. Some discussion groups are small, and meet in someone’s living room, and others are conducted as lecture series, with guest speakers. Since the program began in 1955, the response has been enthusiastic!