Agenda for the Nation - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815701276 ISBN 13: 9780815701279

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2003

Synopsis

More powerful and affluent today than ever, the United States has promising opportunities to influence the course of history. Yet these prospects are shadowed by significant perils and burdens. In this visionary book, leading scholars from the Brookings Institution and other prominent research organizations and universities analyze the major domestic and foreign policy problems facing the nation over the next five to ten years. The challenges on the domestic front are formidable: assuring fair but affordable access to health care, shoring up retirement income for an aging population, encouraging long-term economic growth, easing the growing pains of an increasingly diverse society, and reconciling energy policies with environmental concerns. In international affairs the central task is to use America's unprecedented power wisely and to protect a homeland that has been revealed as surprisingly vulnerable. Yet efforts must also focus on improving the economic fortunes of poorer countries, expanding trade, and reforming the rules that regulate the flows of capital across national borders. Is the United States government capable of rising to these vast and varied challenges? The concluding chapters of this book offer cautious optimism. While it is often criticized, the American political system is fundamentally resilient and flexible. Ambitious in scope, Agenda for the Nation provides thoughtful, constructive answers to questions of how the U.S. government can effectively serve its citizens and meet its global responsibilities in a world of opportunity and uncertainty.

About this title

About the Author:

Henry J. Aaron is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he holds the Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Chair. Among his many books are Can We Say No? The Challenge of Rationing Health Care, with William B. Schwartz and Melissa Cox (Brookings, 2006), and Reforming Medicare: Options,Tradeoffs, and Opportunities, written with Jeanne Lambrew (Brookings, 2008). James M. Lindsay is vice president and director of studies of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he holds the Maurice R. Greenberg Chair. He was previously deputy director and senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. His books include Defending America: The Case for Limited National Missile Defense (Brookings 2001). In 1996-97, Lindsay was director for global issues and multilateral affairs on the National Security Council staff. Pietro S. Nivola is a vice president of the Brookings Institution, where he is the director of Governance Studies. Among his previous books are Tense Commandments: Federal Prescriptions and City Problems (Brookings, 2002).

Review:

"Suporting a declared objective of commitment to independent, nonpartisan research, leading scholars of the Brookings Institution and other reputable research organizations provide a wide-ranging evaluation of the major domestic and foreign policy issues confronting the US over the next decade. This is a splendid collection of articles--balanced, erudite, well documented, and comprehensive in scope. It stands in welcome contrast to the abounding shrillness of debate among the ideologically minded in both major political parties....Highly recommended." —H. I. Liebling, emeritus, Lafayette College, Choice, 1/1/2004

"The collection will be useful for the educated generalist, including perhaps advanced undergraduates and lower-level graduate students." —Greg M. Shaw, Illinois Wesleyan University, Perspectives on Political Science, 1/1/2004

"... a 'quintessential Brookings product.'... Experts from a variety of disciplines intelligently address a broad range of the policy issues, both domestic and foreign, that the United States is facing now and will face in the nest decade.... A very useful guide for policy-makers, academics and students.... I would recommend it to anyone who would like to be informed by some of the best minds in American policy about the policy issues America is currently facing." —Genevieve Lester, International Institute for Strategic Studies, International Affairs, 5/1/2004

About this edition

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0815701276
• ISBN 13: 9780815701279
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 587
• Editor: Aaron Henry, Lindsay James M., Nivola Pietro S.