Source: www.civfanatics.com/ civ3/germans.php
Welcome to SmartPwr, a blog dedicated to international strategic issues. The global political environment is always shifting, even in the best of times. At its worst, it can make living on this planet downright dangerous. That’s why it’s important to develop clear thinking and dialogue on the world’s most pressing political developments.
The title of this blog gives some indication of its character. Smart power, a term coined by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), presents a third-way approach to international relations that seeks to bridge the gap between hard military power and soft economic, cultural or diplomatic power. Smart power is forward-looking. It hopes to integrate hard and soft power, creating an objective foreign policy that serves America as a whole, not merely the realists or the idealists.
While you can expect most of the commentary on this blog to cover politics and security, you might also occasionally see tech-, energy- or environment-related posts. In the age of Web 2.0, these three subjects in particular have become directly linked to state strategy and the foreign policy process. We no longer live in a collection of isolated nation-states. We are at once more aware of and more connected with each other, as never before. We’re not quite at the point of a global society yet, but that time is fast approaching. And we, as potential global citizens, should be ready for it.
We don’t claim to know everything about international relations. The world is a big place, full of qualified and intelligent people. Many have been reporting and thinking about politics their entire careers. But, motivated as we are by common sense and the challenge of new, 21st-century issues, we’re eager to contribute what we can.
About the authors:
Brian Fung is seeking a B.A. in political science at Middlebury College, and a B.A. minor in Chinese. From Sept.-Dec. 2008, Brian studied military history and global strategy at King’s College London. He launched and began working on SmartPwr in September 2008.
Nick Alexander is an undergraduate student at Middlebury College, where he is a double major in history and political science. From September 2008 to June 2009, Nick studied history and politics at Lincoln College, Oxford University. He joined SmartPwr in February 2009.
