American Center
Archived "New Arrivals"
Foreign Affairs: Changing China
January/February 2008, Vol 87, Number 1
As China is rising, it is evolving. But how far will its political liberalization go? And can its economic and military power be successfully integrated into the existing liebral international order?
Journal of Democracy: Is East-Central Europe Backsliding?
October 2007, Volume 18, Number 4
The symposium "Is East-Central Europe Backsliding?" explores recent populist and illiberal trends in post communist Europe, while a second cluster of commentaries by scholars and activists marks 25 years of democracy promotion. Two essays address civil society in Iran, and others examine r ecent electoral setbacks in Nigeria, a way forward for Tibet, and more.
Books
Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
New York, Portfolio: 2007
According to Tapscott, Wikinomics is based on four ideas: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally. The use of mass collaboration in a business environment, in recent history, can be seen as an extension of the trend in business to outsource: externalize formerly internal business functions to other business entities. The difference however is that instead of an organized business body brought into being specifically for a unique function, mass collaboration relies on free individual agents to come together and cooperate to improve a given operation or solve a problem. This kind of outsourcing is also referred to as crowdsourcing, to reflect this difference. This can be incentivized by a reward system, though it is not required.
