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Mar 25, 2013 - Why did Syria's main opposition leader quit?

The head of Syria's main opposition group resigned on Sunday (March 24), throwing the already disorganized coalition into deeper turmoil. What are the implications of Moaz al-Khatib's exit? Andrew Bowen, the Baker Institute's scholar for the Middle East, joined two other experts to discuss the surprise development at Syria Deeply, a single-issue news website covering the civil war in Syria.

"You had an opposition that had a charismatic figure to lead, and now you don’t have that leader. And it will be hard to find someone who can bridge those groups together, or a national coalition more partisan than under Khatib, so it will be much harder to have negotiations," wrote Bowen. Read his entire take here.

Mar 25, 2013 - ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN IMPASSE

At a time of historic change in the Middle East, the U.S. should develop a more proactive approach on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, founding director Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian writes in a recent op-ed in the Jerusalem Post.

"Strong and sustained U.S. engagement with the president's full backing would be essential to advance comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace, but only through diplomacy that also shapes the environment on the ground," Djerejian writes. "The goal would be a two state solution — considered by most observers as the preferred resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — with a democratic Jewish state and an independent and sovereign Palestinian state living in peace and security next to one another. The alternatives are continuing stalemate, occupation and conflict, or a one-state solution where the Jewish population becomes the minority as a result of current demographic trends."

The ambassador goes on to outline a possible diplomatic framework to initiate and sustain effective negotiations, should president and his national security team decide to get engaged.




Mar 18, 2013 - ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN IMPASSE, CRISIS IN SYRIA

Two special reports issued by the Baker Institute this month address, separately, the opportunities for U.S. engagement in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and the crisis in Syria.

“Re-engaging the Israelis and the Palestinians: Why an American Role in Initiating Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations is Necessary and How It Can Be Accomplished,” lays out specific recommendations for the U.S. administration to advance prospects for a two-state solution. The report is the result of a year-long project involving Israeli and Palestinian working groups chaired by Edward P. Djerejian, the institute’s founding director and former U.S. ambassador to Syria and to Israel. “This study contends that proactive United States engagement is the only policy option that has the potential of creating a realistic policy trajectory of peace and stability building in the Middle East and re-establishing United States leadership in the region,” Djerejian says.

As Syria’s brutal civil war approaches the two-year mark, the United States should prepare a more focused strategy that strengthens the moderate political forces in Syria and engages Syria’s regional and international stakeholders, according the second special report, "Syria at the Crossroads: U.S. Policy and Recommendations for the Way Forward." The report, co-authored by Djerejian and Andrew Bowen, Baker Institute Scholar for the Middle East, also recommends that U.S. strategy should buttress Syria’s neighbors and address the deepening humanitarian crisis as well as plans for a post-Assad Syria.

Both reports were published as the institute prepares to host a March 22 conference, with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, on these critical events in the Middle East. The conference, part of the institute’s 20th anniversary event series, will be held at the institute and features a keynote address by U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford.

The day’s agenda includes a panel discussion with Baker Institute fellows and scholars Yair Hirschfeld and Bowen as well as Woodrow Wilson Center Middle East Program experts Aaron David Miller and Robin Wright. Also joining the discussion will be Ambassador Fred Hof, U.S. special representative to Syria, and the editor-in-chief of Asharq Al Awsat, Adel al Toraifi. Ambassador Djerejian will speak on U.S. policy and the Arab Awakening, and will moderate a panel discussion on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Mar 18, 2013 - BAKER, KISSINGER AT THE ASIA SOCIETY

Former Secretaries of State James A. Baker, III, and Henry A. Kissinger assessed current and future foreign policy challenges for the United States, from Chinese cyber warfare to a nuclear-armed North Korea, in a joint appearance at the Asia Society Texas Center on March 14. Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card moderated the talk.

Mar 14, 2013 - SPECIAL REPORT: RE-ENGAGING THE ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS

A new report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy lays out specific recommendations for the U.S. administration to advance prospects for a two-state solution. Titled “Re-Engaging the Israelis and Palestinians: Why an American Role in Initiating Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations is Necessary and How It Can be Accomplished,” the report is the result of a year-long project involving Israeli and Palestinian working groups chaired by Edward P. Djerejian, the Baker Institute’s founding director and former U.S. ambassador to Syria and to Israel. The report was issued a week before President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.

“This report is intended to demonstrate to policymakers, particularly in the United States, Israel and Palestine, that despite current adverse circumstances, viable and sustainable negotiations can be initiated and lead to a two-state solution,” Djerejian said. “A core concept for potential United States engagement in peacemaking is clearly defined. This study contends that proactive United States engagement is the only policy option that has the potential of creating a realistic policy trajectory of peace and stability building in the Middle East and re-establishing United States leadership in the region.”

The main components of the proposed strategy depend on the determination of the United States administration to announce general terms of reference for the negotiations to which the parties can aspire; negotiate and sign proposed memorandums of understanding with the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to address their respective considerations and concerns; and call upon the parties to start direct negotiations in fast and graduated tracks with the obligation to build on areas of agreement reached and continue until a final settlement is reached.

According to the report, U.S. engagement should aim to achieve a comprehensive Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement as a first step toward achieving a broader Arab-Israeli peace when regional circumstances allow. The parameters of the end state should be broad enough to allow buy-in from both Israelis, Palestinians and regional stakeholders, while at the same time be sufficiently defined to ensure breakthroughs and avoid a deadlock in negotiations. They should also be linked to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. The objective of the fast-track negotiations, in particular, is to create positive developments on the ground and to lead to a more sustainable path at the negotiating table to reach final status negotiations.

The report proposes an international supportive framework and backstopping initiatives. The report also proposes engaging regional and international support through a new international group expanded from the Quartet (the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia) and facilitating a monitoring and oversight structure for negotiations.

This report builds on the Baker Institute’s 2010 report, “Getting to the Territorial Endgame of an Israeli-Palestinian Peace Settlement,” and addresses the prospects for negotiations under current political, economic and security considerations in the region. Special attention is paid to the environment for negotiations in Israel and Palestine, respectively.

 

Mar 08, 2013 - 2013 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

The second Obama administration faces a complex policy environment. While generating economic growth at home amid continued risk of financial instability abroad remains a key policy challenge, numerous crises around the globe require policy attention. In this context, the fellows and scholars of the Baker Institute have drafted a set of recommendations for the incoming administration. Within each issue area — from energy policy to immigration reform — these recommendations provide policymakers with an analytic overview of the opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed by longer-term, strategic policy formulation. It is our hope that our recommendations will provide to be useful starting points for decision-makers working to develop comprehensive, forward-looking policies.

Read PDF icon"2013 Policy Recommendations for the Obama Administration."

Read the 2013 policy recommendations by topic:

 

Mar 07, 2013 - HUGO CHÁVEZ, 1954-2013

The March 5 death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez leaves many unanswered questions, including who will succeed the iconic leader and what it means for the region. A cult of personality existed around Chávez and, at least in the short term, the Chávistas "should be able to capitalize on an aura of good feeling regarding [him] and his legacy to have a good chance of winning an election," Baker Institute political science fellow Mark P. Jones, chair of the Political Science Department at Rice University, said in an interview with BBC radio. "But it's going to be much tougher for them to govern without the charismatic personality of Chávez, especially given the economic disaster that is Venezuela today. They're really living on borrowed time ... It's going to be tough to keep the high spending that keeps public opinion supportive of the government."

Oil production in Venezuela, which supplies virtually all of the country's revenues, is declining, Jones added, and "the next president has a monumental task in terms of reconciling the disastrous state of the Venezuelan economy."

One of the real problems that Venezuela faces is that "it produces nothing," Jones said. "Chávez has destroyed industry to such an extent there's almost no domestic production of anything. Most goods need to be imported from abroad, and Venezuela lacks the money to do that, therefore fueling inflation."

Erika de la Garza, program director of the Baker Institute Latin America Initiative, called the charismatic Chávez "a one-of-a-kind leader whose absence will be felt across the entire region." He was a "21st century caudillo," she blogged, referring to a political-military leader in Latin America during the 19th century independence movement.

Chávez's death represents an opportunity for the United States to "reboot" its relations with Venezuela, and a perhaps its relations with all of Latin America, writes Tony Payan, Baker Institute Scholar for Immigration and Border Studies, in a Houston Chronicle op-ed. "This is an opportunity for change, and it must be seized with thoughtfulness and diplomacy."

 

Mar 05, 2013 - THEN AND NOW

After nearly two years of armed fighting, bloodshed and civilian suffering, there is no clear end in sight to the violence in Syria. Baker Institute founding director Edward P. Djerejian, former ambassador to Syria, continues to share his insights with the national and international media, most recently appearing on BBC-5 Live radio to discuss the U.S. decision to supply non-military aid to the Syrian government's opposition.

Why not give Syrian opposition forces the arms and weapons they are calling for, Djerejian was asked. "The opposition has not formed a truly coherent organization where you can readily identify who the parties are, and what their political leanings are," the ambassador said. "There's a great reluctance in Washington to get involved in a situation where all of the sudden one realizes that military assistance, for example, is going into the hands of radicals. Remember there's a background here —  the background is Afghanistan, where we armed the mujahedeen that morphed into Al Qaeda. As the opposition becomes more coherent, and as the United States does its own due diligence in vetting and identifying parties that we can support, then I think we are going to begin to see more assistance, and probably military assistance."

With much of the country now in rubble, Baker Institute Middle East research associate Dina Shahrokhi remembers "The Syria I Knew" in an essay for Syria Deeply, a single-issue news website covering the civil war. "When I first lived in Damascus, I felt safer than I did back home in the U.S.," writes Shahrokhi, who spent three years in the city as a student and United Nations worker. "I would take taxis right and left, opting for a cheap micro bus every now and then ... I would spend nights strolling the old city, dining with local friends at 10 p.m., dancing to cheesy Arabic pop until the sun rose ... When I returned to live in Damascus last year, the Syria I knew had changed — but not completely."

•    Listen below to the complete BBC-5 radio interview with Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian.

•    Read "The Syria I Knew," by Dina Shahrokhi.



Feb 26, 2013 - WHY TEXAS SHOULD EXPAND MEDICAID

Many people cheered when state Sen. Jane Nelson, chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, indicated an interest in looking for ways to accept the billions of dollars available to the state to expand Medicaid to cover 1.5 million uninsured Texans. Hospitals, counties, chambers of commerce, and advocacy groups have been urging the state to seize this opportunity because of the health and economic benefits. A trove of data has been produced by state agencies, think tanks and researchers that builds a persuasive case for expansion. Health policy scholar Elena Marks put together a handy guide to the data in the Baker Institute Blog.

Feb 16, 2013 - CRISIS IN SYRIA

 

Founding director Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian recently joined reporter Lara Setrakian online for a 25-minute talk about Syria in a Google Hangout. Djerejian, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria, explained the longevity of the Assad regime; the long historical relationship between Russia and Syria, as well as Russia’s current role in Syria; and what the United States should or could do to minimize the bloodshed in Syria and the risk of instability in the region at large.

"We should always leave open the option of a strategic political track … and that's getting the Russians on board especially,” Djerejian said. As difficult as it may be, it is also crucial to explore “a communication between representatives of the regime and representatives of the opposition to start talking about what their vision of a post-Assad era will be. I would hope it would be structured on a multi-confessional society following, according to their culture, a democratic structure of governance.”
 
The Syrian opposition is currently getting arms and financial and humanitarian aid from many disparate sources, Djerejian added. The assistance should be consolidated because “it is so disparate it is not serving the cause of a unified opposition against the regime."  In addition, Djerejian said, "we have to take a close look at the humanitarian tragedy in Syria … What can we do to more effectively provide structured humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people.”

Watch the full discussion above with Ambassador Djerejian and Lara Setrakian, an ABC reporter and founder of Syria Deeply, a single-issue news website covering the civil war in Syria.

Feb 15, 2013 - POLICY REPORT 56

In February 2012, the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program and the Qatar Foundation hosted a workshop in Doha on international stem cell science and policy. The four-day conference focused on policy, ethics and research, while also exploring ways to bridge the gap between science and policy in an international context.

In Baker Institute Policy Report 56, science and technology policy fellow Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Ph.D., and her co-authors present highlights from the conference. The paper looks ahead to the future of stem cell research, including potential challenges to the field, and offers recommendations for sustaining international meetings that encompass broad issues in this cutting-edge science.

 

Feb 14, 2013 - THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Baker Institute health economics chair Vivian Ho cleared up some miconceptions about health care reform during a recent appearance on KPRC-TV’s “Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall."

The changes embodied in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are complicated, Ho said, and many Americans are concerned about higher premiums and coverage provisions. “It seems to be that if you have employer-provided health insurance from a large employer, you can expect very little to change,” she said. Small businesses of up to 50 employees are not required under the ACA to purchase health insurance for their workers.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the ACA will cost about $1.1 trillion over the next 10 years, but the tab will be covered by tax increases and reduced payments to health providers, Ho said. However, she added, legislation as mammoth as the ACA is bound to cause disagreement about the numbers involved — how many people will enroll, the price of insurance premiums, and the unintended consequences of the law, for instance.

“It is going to take some time to see what happens, and there are going to need to be fixes in the legislation as we move along and we see some of the errors,” Ho said, but she predicts health care reforms be beneficial for most Americans in the long run.

Watch Vivian Ho on “Houston Newsmakers With Khambrel Marshall.”

Feb 12, 2013 - SECRETARY KERRY MEETS WITH FORMER SECRETARY BAKER

Secretary Kerry meets with former Secretary Baker

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Baker Institute honorary chair and former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2013. Credit: State Department 

Feb 12, 2013 - SCHOLARLY POV

The U.S. Senate's bipartisan proposal to overhaul U.S. immigration laws is "an excellent first step toward fixing a broken system," writes Tony Payan, Baker Institute Scholar for Immigration and Border Studies, in a recent op-ed. The principles outlined in the proposal are largely correct, he adds, though the "devil will be in the details" worked out in the coming months.

Read Payan's assessment of the Senate proposal's major points in PDF icon"Eventual immigration reform details will determine success," published in the Feb. 7, 2013, Houston Chronicle.

 

 

Feb 12, 2013 - SHOULD THE U.S. EXPORT LNG?

Ken Medlock testifies before Energy and Natural Resources Committee

Center for Energy Studies senior director Kenneth B. Medlock III testified Tuesday (Feb. 12) at a Senate committee hearing on U.S. natural gas policy. Among other topics, the Energy & Natural Resources Committee discussed whether the United States should start exporting some of its natural gas wealth.

Citing a recent CES study, Medlock said that "the impact on U.S. domestic prices will not be large if [LNG] exports are allowed, and the long-term volume of exports from the United States will not likely be very large given expected market developments abroad."

Feb 12, 2013 - Chagas disease: A costly and growing health threat

An obscure malady called Chagas disease, transmitted by a bloodsucking insect that bites victims as they sleep, costs the world more than previously believed — about $7 billion annually, according to a study co-authored by Baker Institute fellow in disease and poverty Peter J. Hotez and just published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. 

Chagas disease is endemic in South America and, due to immigration, has spread northward to the United States. It can be fatal, causing long-term damage to the heart or intestines. "The economic burden it imposes on the world is greater than that of better-known diseases, like cervical cancer or cholera," writes the New York Times in a story about the new study.

Hotez and his co-authors call for action and sustained support for prevention and control, as well as treatment for the thousands who are infected.

 

Jan 31, 2013 - Viewpoints: Regulating Legalized Marijuana

The recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington shifted the marijuana debate away from whether U.S. drug policy should change, toward what that change should be. Should regulation occur at the state or local level, and should retail points be publicly or privately run? What restrictions should be placed on advertising and age limits, and how should governments handle enforcement and taxation? Baker Institute drug policy experts tackled these questions in a series of blog posts on possible frameworks for regulating legalized marijuana.

Click through to posts below to read the Baker Institute Viewpoints series on marijuana regulation:

Jan. 30, 2013 - "A bold new path: Moving beyond prohibition in Colorado and Washington" by guest writer Tom Heddleston, Ph.D., whose dissertation examined the formation and development of the medical marijuana movement in California.

Jan. 31, 2013 - "What is the best regulatory framework for legalized marijuana?" by Gary J. Hale, nonresident fellow in drug policy.

Feb. 5, 2013 - "Optimal marijuana regulation" by Nathan Jones, Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy.

 

Jan 30, 2013 - BIPARTISAN GUN CONTROL GUIDELINES

As Congress holds its first hearings on gun violence since the Newtown tragedy, Baker Institute honorary chair James A. Baker, III, and Rep. John D. Dingell offer four general gun control guidelines in a New York Times op-ed.

Baker, a conservative Texas Republican, and Dingell, a liberal Michigan Democrat, have often found themselves on opposite sides of political battles, they write, but they share a "strong love of guns and the outdoors and, just as important, a respect for both."

Any gun legislation that is suggested should be broad-gauged, they say. "There is no one single cause of gun violence and no single solution."

"Second, any approach demands bipartisan support … Absent wide support, any laws passed now might well be rescinded once the partisan balance of power inevitably shifts.

"Third, common sense should prevail. We must get away from a mind-set that has owners of firearms worried that 'they are going to take our guns away.' The Second Amendment guarantees that won’t happen. Our nation has regulated various kinds of arms throughout history, and done so without violating the Second Amendment.

"Finally, each of us should look into our own heart to consider what type of nation we want to be. From members of the National Rifle Association to the most passionate gun-control advocates, no one wants to live in a country where innocent children are killed indiscriminately."

 

Jan 28, 2013 - BAKER, CLINTON LAUNCH DIPLOMACY CENTER

 

 

Baker Institute honorary chair and former secretary of state James A. Baker, III, joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C., last week for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the U.S. Diplomacy Center. The center, scheduled to open to the public in fall 2014, will promote an understanding of U.S. diplomacy and honor the service of U.S. diplomats throughout history, Baker said.

 

"The lessons that this center will teach are particularly important for all Americans to know and to understand," he added. "America’s might cannot be properly exercised without the support of citizens who appreciate our nation’s role in the world and its relationship with other countries, because that’s simply how our democracy works."

 

The museum will be built at the U.S. Department of State and feature interactive exhibits and hands-on education programs. Exhibition halls and a pavilion will house more than 6,000 artifacts, including items that date back to our earliest days as a nation.

 

But the center is not just about the past, Clinton said in her remarks. "It captures the living work of American diplomacy and all the creative ways that our diplomats carry out their missions. Visitors to this center will get to experience for themselves what it’s like to be part of a diplomatic simulation, stepping into the shoes of a diplomat in Darfur, for example, trying to defuse a crisis … They can even poke around an exhibit called, 'Inside the Secretary’s Day.' And, fair warning, it’s not all that glamorous, but it’ll give you an idea of what Jim and I and our other colleagues have done, and to learn for themselves how challenging, valuable, and rewarding diplomacy can be."

 

  • Watch the video above for the launch of the U.S. Diplomacy Center with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and The Honorable James A. Baker, III.
  • A transcript of Baker's and Clinton's remarks is available here.

 

 

Jan 22, 2013 - BAKER INSTITUTE RANKED AMONG WORLD'S TOP 25 THINK TANKS

 

The Baker Institute is ranked No. 21 — up from No. 24 in 2011 — among the top think tanks in the United States, according to the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program's (TTCSP) survey at the University of Pennsylvania. The new rankings were published this week.

The Baker Institute is also one of only 10 U.S. university-affiliated think tanks ranked among the top 20 in the world; it rose to No. 13 in 2012 from No. 17 in 2011. The institute was also highly ranked No. 6 among energy and resource policy think tanks.  

“Poised to celebrate its 20th year, Rice University’s Baker Institute has once again been ranked among the very top U.S. and global think tanks,” said Baker Institute founding director Edward P. Djerejian. “With this gratifying news, we look forward to expanding our research programs and continuing to provide relevant analysis and recommendations to decision-makers in the public and private sectors on domestic and international policy issues.”

Most recently, the Baker Institute expanded its energy program and created a new Center for Energy Studies (CES) in October. The new center provides policymakers, corporate leaders and the public with quality, data-driven analysis of issues that influence energy markets. CES provides a nonpartisan voice to issues that are often politically divisive.

The TTCSP produces the annual Global Go-To Think Tank Index that ranks the world’s leading think tanks with the help of a panel of more than 1,950 peer institutions and experts from the print and electronic media, academia, public and private donor institutions and policymakers.

According to James McGann, director of the TTCSP, 6,603 think tanks from 182 countries were invited to participate in the process, and a total of 1,647 think tanks were nominated.

  • To download a PDF of the TTCSP report, visit www.gotothinktank.com.
  • Founding director Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian and Danny Cohen, president of the Baker Institute Student Forum, discuss the rankings, the institute's work and student internship opportunities in the video above. 
  • The Rice Thresher, the student newspaper of Rice University, writes about the rankings in a Feb. 8, 2013, story.

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