The InterDependent

What hot topics did the editors of “Great Decisions 2011,” a book published this month by the Foreign Policy Association, deem worthy of attention this year for American policy makers and others who want to remain in the know? The editors, a group of academics, journalists and other writers who met last spring, decided on eight issues that address immediate and long-term problems: rebuilding Haiti; US national security; the Horn of Africa; responding to the financial crisis; Germany ascendant; sanctions and nonproliferation; the Caucasus; and multilateralism.

The book, an annual compendium of objective briefings by policy experts and journalists and published since 1954, is part of the association’s Great Decisions education program, which holds discussion groups on US foreign policy at community centers, schools, homes and libraries nationwide, among other settings. Geared to academia and civic-minded groups, the audience for the book ranges from high school students to people who have retired and are hungry to stay on top of current events – about 1,000 groups nationally. The book is available for $20 at greatdecisions.org; a teachers’ guide and DVDs, based on a Great Decisions television series produced by the association, are also sold.

The authors of “Great Decisions 2011,” include Barbara Crossette, a regular contributor to The InterDependent and The Nation magazines, on Haiti; David Shorr, a program officer at the Stanley Foundation (www.stanleyfoundation.org), who wrote about multilateralism; and Nancy Hoepli-Phalon on US policy, Gregory F. Treverton on American security, Anna Gelpern on the financial crisis, Ronald J. Bee on sanctions and nonproliferation and S.N. MacFarlane on the Caucasus.

The section on Germany, by William Sweet, is new; as Germany has emerged from both the financial and eurozone crises to become the dominant power in Europe, the association says, it has set the tone in the last few years for dealings with Russia, Eastern Europe and Iran. The book asks, How important is it for US interests to enhance relations with Germany, and how should the US react when German and US interests fail to align?

Then there is the Horn of Africa, a denizen of piracy and weak governments that have been wreaking havoc in the region since the early 1990s, creating an environment “conducive to terrorism,” the book’s promotion material says. The briefing, written by Charles Dunbar, focuses on whether the US can protect its national interests while mitigating the dangerous conditions in the region.

The Foreign Policy Association is a nonprofit group founded in 1918 that promotes American public awareness of global issues.