Upload 25.05.2007

Arts and Culture in the Metropolis [PDF]

Strategies for Sustainability By: Kevin F. McCarthy, Elizabeth Heneghan Ondaatje, Jennifer L. Novak The nonprofit arts currently face an environment that challenges the way the arts have grown and raises the prospect of future consolidation. Cognizant of these problems, William Penn Foundation and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance asked RAND to examine the condition of Philadelphia’s arts and culture sector and recommend actions to ensure its sustainability. The authors identify the sources and characteristics of this new environment and describe the ways local arts communities are responding to the challenges confronting them. In the course of their analysis of eleven metropolitan regions, including Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Pittsburgh, they introduce two novel ways of examining the local arts sector. First, they focus on the relationship among the three components of communities’ “arts ecology”: their arts infrastructures; the support systems upon which the arts depend; and the sociodemographic, economic, and the political environment in which they operate. Second, they create a new framework for describing and evaluating the range of support services that communities provide to their arts sectors. They then use this framework to analyze the components of Philadelphia’s arts ecology and assess its specific strengths and weaknesses.

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Building Moderate Muslim Networks [PDF]

By: Angel Rabasa, Cheryl Benard, Lowell H. Schwartz, Peter Sickle Radical and dogmatic interpretations of Islam have gained ground in recent years in many Muslim societies via extensive Islamist networks spanning the Muslim world and the Muslim diaspora communities of North America and Europe. Although a majority throughout the Muslim world, moderates have not developed similar networks to amplify their message and to provide protection from violence and intimidation. With considerable experience fostering networks of people committed to free and democratic ideas during the Cold War, the United States has a critical role to play in leveling the playing field for Muslim moderates. The authors derive lessons from the U.S. and allied Cold War network-building experience, determine their applicability to the current situation in the Muslim world, assess the effectiveness of U.S. government programs of engagement with the Muslim world, and develop a “road map” to foster the construction of moderate Muslim networks.

 182 oldal

Education for a New Era

Design and Implementation of K-12 Education Reform in Qatar [PDF]

By: Dominic J. Brewer, Catherine H. Augustine, Gail L. Zellman, Gery Ryan, Charles A. Goldman, Cathleen Stasz, Louay Constant The leadership of Qatar has a social and political vision that calls for improving the outcomes of the Qatari K–12 education system. With this vision in mind, the leadership asked RAND to examine Qatar’s K–12 education system, to recommend options for building a world-class system, and, subsequently, to develop the chosen option and support its implementation. The option that was selected includes internationally benchmarked curriculum standards, national testing based on those standards, independent government-funded schools, and parental choice among schools using annual school report cards. This monograph describes Phase I (2001–2004) of the Qatari education reform initiative, Education for a New Era, based on RAND’s experiences as part of this ambitious effort involving Qataris and Qatari organizations, and international consultants and contractors.

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Insurance Class Actions in the United States [PDF]

By: Nicholas M. Pace, Stephen J. Carroll, Ingo Vogelsang, Laura Zakaras Class actions, which are civil cases in which parties initiate a lawsuit on behalf of other plaintiffs not specifically named in the complaint, often make the headlines, especially when they result in settlements affecting millions of class members and requiring millions of dollars in restitution. They have also aroused vocal policy debates, as exemplified during the deliberations of the U.S. Congress prior to the enactment of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. But despite this long-standing interest, policymakers and the public know very little about the majority of class actions filed in this country-their numbers, their dynamics, or their outcomes. RAND used a defendant-based survey to collect original data on both state and federal insurance class actions, and also surveyed state departments of insurance to learn more about the interests of regulators in the issues litigated by the parties in these cases. This book presents the results. With these data, we are able to describe important characteristics of the litigation, including what types of classes are sought, where these cases are being filed, what allegations are made, how these cases are resolved, how much time it takes to bring them to resolution, and the possible impact of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.

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Sharing the Dragon's Teeth [PDF]

Terrorist Groups and the Exchange of New Technologies By: Kim Cragin, Peter Chalk, Sara A. Daly, Brian A. Jackson Terrorist groups — both inside and outside the al Qaeda network — sometimes form mutually beneficial partnerships to exchange “best practices.” These exchanges provide terrorist groups with the opportunity to innovate (i.e., increase their skills and expand their reach). Understanding how terrorist groups exchange technology and knowledge, therefore, is essential to ongoing and future counterterrorism strategies. This study examines how 11 terrorist groups in three areas (Mindanao, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and southwest Colombia) have attempted to exchange technologies and knowledge in an effort to reveal some of their vulnerabilities. The analysis provides the Department of Homeland Security and other national security policymakers with insight into the innovation process and suggests ways that government policies can create barriers to terrorists’ adoption of new technologies.

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Exploring Terrorist Targeting Preferences [PDF]

By: Martin C. Libicki, Peter Chalk, Melanie Sisson Al Qaeda, the jihadist network personified by Osama bin laden, seeks a restored caliphate free of Western influence. It uses terror as its means. But how does terrorism serve the ends of al Qaeda? Understanding its strategic logic might suggest what U.S. targets it may seek to strike and why. This monograph posits four hypotheses to link means and ends. The coercion hypothesis suggests that terrorists are interested in causing pain, notably casualties, to frighten the United States into pursuing favorable policies (e.g., withdrawing from the Islamic world). The damage hypothesis posits that terrorists want to damage the U.S. economy in order to weaken its ability to intervene in the Islamic world. The rally hypothesis holds that terrorism in the United States would be carried out to attract the attention of potential recruits and supporters. The franchise hypothesis argues that today’s jihadists pursue their own, often local, agendas with, at most, support and encouragement from al Qaeda itself. Each of these four hypotheses was examined using an analysis of 14 major terrorist attacks, a structured survey given to terrorism experts, and an analysis of statements by al Qaeda. The monograph concludes that the coercion and damage hypotheses are most consistent with prior attack patterns, expert opinion, and the statements. The rally hypothesis appears to have weaker explanatory power. The franchise hypothesis coincides with the majority of post-9/11 attacks, but, unless such franchises are active in the United States, may not indicate what the next attack here might be.

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Counterinsurgency in a Test Tube

Analyzing the Success of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) [PDF]

By: Russell W. Glenn With a matter of weeks to prepare, Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) personnel landed on July 24, 2003, armed for conflict but equally ready to restore peace without firing a shot in anger. RAMSI’s aim was to assist the existing government in reestablishing order and rebuilding this island nation plagued by escalating militia violence, crime, and corruption. RAMSI police forces, with the much larger military component in a supporting role, were patrolling the streets alongside their Solomon Islands counterparts on the very day of arrival. This and many other early actions on the part of RAMSI leadership presented a clear and cohesive message that would characterize operations from that day forward: RAMSI had not come to take charge through the use of force, though it had the capability to do so; it had come to assist and protect. This study reviews the remarkable successes, and the few admitted shortcomings, of RAMSI operations through the lens of broader application to current and future counterinsurgency efforts. Foremost among these lessons is the need for consistency of mission and message from leadership down to the lowest echelons of an operation, ensuring that the population is appropriately and consistently informed.

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Learning Large Lessons

The Evolving Roles of Ground Power and Air Power in the Post-Cold War Era [PDF]

By: David E. Johnson The relative roles of U.S. ground and air power have shifted since the end of the Cold War. At the level of major operations and campaigns, the Air Force has proved capable of and committed to performing deep strike operations, which the Army long had believed the Air Force could not reliably accomplish. If air power can largely supplant Army systems in deep operations, the implications for both joint doctrine and service capabilities would be significant. To assess the shift of these roles, the author of this report analyzed post–Cold War conflicts in Iraq (1991), Bosnia (1995), Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001), and Iraq (2003). Because joint doctrine frequently reflects a consensus view rather than a truly integrated joint perspective, the author recommends that joint doctrine — and the processes by which it is derived and promulgated — be overhauled. The author also recommends reform for the services beyond major operations and campaigns to ensure that the United States attains its strategic objectives. This revised edition includes updates and an index..

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Entering the Dragon's Lair

Chinese Antiaccess Strategies and Their Implications for the United States [PDF]

By: Roger Cliff, Mark Burles, Michael S. Chase, Derek Eaton, Kevin L. Pollpeter U.S. strategists have become increasingly concerned that an adversary might use “antiaccess” strategies to interfere with our ability to deploy or operate military forces overseas. The authors analyzed Chinese military-doctrinal publications to see what strategies China might employ in the event of a conflict with the United States. They then assessed how these strategies might affect U.S. military operations and identified ways to reduce these effects. It appears possible that China could use antiaccess strategies to defeat the United States in a conflict — not in the sense of destroying the U.S. military but in the sense of accomplishing China’s military and political objectives while preventing the United States from accomplishing all or some of its own. The United States can, however, take steps to counter such threats, including strengthening active and passive defenses at theater air bases, diversifying basing options for aircraft, and strengthening defenses against covert operative attack. In addition, the U.S. military needs to acquire or improve its capabilities in a number of areas, including ballistic and cruise missile defense, antisubmarine warfare, and minesweeping.

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Breaching the Fortress Wall

Understanding Terrorist Efforts to Overcome Defensive Technologies [PDF]

By: Brian A. Jackson, Peter Chalk, Kim Cragin, Bruce Newsome, John V. Parachini, William Rosenau, Erin M. Simpson, Melanie Sisson, Donald Temple The level of threat posed by a terrorist group is determined in large part by its ability to build its organizational capabilities and bring those capabilities to bear in violent action. As part of homeland security efforts, technology systems play a key role within a larger, integrated strategy to target groups’ efforts and protect the public from the threat of terrorist violence. Terrorist organizations are acutely aware of government efforts to deploy these systems and actively seek ways to evade or counteract them. This study draws on relevant data from the history of a variety of terrorist conflicts to understand terrorists’ counter-technology efforts. Depending on the adaptive capabilities of the adversary, a defensive model built of a variety of security measures that can be adjusted and redeployed as their vulnerable points are discovered provides a superior approach to addressing this portion of terrorist behavior. Fully exploring adversaries’ counter-technology behaviors can expose vulnerabilities in U.S. defenses and help the nation make the best choices to protect it from the threat of terrorism.

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