UN Secretary General Research Articles

Institutionalising the War Against Corruption: New Approaches to Assets Tracing and Recovery

PURPOSE – The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently revealed that the flow of illegal funds, money-laundering and tax evasion, cost Africa fifty billion dollars every year. The Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (Star) in Washington estimates up to forty billion dollars is lost each year to developing countries through corruption and only five billion dollars was returned in the 15 years till 2011. Most is never found. These revelations call for an entirely new approach/direction to be taken for the identification and recovery of criminal assets. The approach should be one that can curtail the flow of illegal funds, money-laundering and tax evasion. This paper critically analyses the existing framework on assets tracing and recovery in Nigeria. It will thereafter discuss the measures adopted by developed countries which Nigeria can use to effectively trace illicit assets. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – The analysis took the form of a desk study, which analyzed various documents such as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006, the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters within the Commonwealth (Enactment and Enforcement) Act, 2004, the United Kingdom Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (as amended), the United Kingdom Investigatory Powers Act 2016, the final rules issued by FinCEN under the Bank Secrecy Act to clarify and strengthen customer due diligence requirements, the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2016, the Proceeds of Crime Bill 2017 and the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations 2012. FINDINGS – This paper determined that the Nigeria asset recovery scheme is likely to be more effective if the following recommendations are implemented: I. The Proceeds of Crime Bill, 2017 should be given accelerated consideration in the Nigerian National Assembly based on its urgency and significance for the anti-corruption war. Civil (Non-Conviction Based) Judicial Forfeiture is an essential tool in the fight against corruption to deprive offenders of the proceeds of their criminal conduct; to deter the commission of further offences; and to reduce the profits available to fund further corrupt or criminal enterprises. II.The Federal Government of Nigeria should introduce a Bill to the National Assembly that would provide a clear framework for the use of investigatory powers by law enforcement, the security and intelligence agencies and other public authorities. This includes the interception of communications, the retention and acquisition of communications data, the use of equipment interference, and the retention and use of bulk data by the security and intelligence agencies. The Bill must establish a number of safeguards against the arbitrary or unlawful use of investigatory powers by the Executive. The United Kingdom’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016, for example, established a number of safeguards for the retention and acquisition of communications data. Authorisations for obtaining communications data will have to set out why accessing the communications data in question is necessary in a specific investigation for a particular statutory purpose, and how it is proportionate to what is sought to be achieved. III. The Central Bank of Nigeria should mandate financial institutions in Nigeria to use the blockchain technology for know your customer purposes. The blockchain technology will aid law enforcement agents to identify and trace proceeds of criminal activity. IV. The Central Bank of Nigeria should issue a rule requiring the financial industry to identify the real owners of companies and propose a bill that would require companies to report the identities of their owners to the federal government. V. Bureau De Change Operators, Estate Agents, High Value Dealers e.g. dealers in precious metals and precious stones and Gambling Operators should be effectively supervised and monitored for compliance with anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements, namely customer due diligence (CDD), recordkeeping, and reporting. This should be performed on a risk-sensitive basis. VI. The Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2016 should be given accelerated consideration in the Nigerian National Assembly based on its urgency and significance for assets tracing and recovery. A National Mutual Legal Assistance Legislation is necessary to address issues that treaties generally do not cover such as the procedures for obtaining a search warrant, compelling the attendance of a witness, or appealing a decision of judicial or law enforcement authorities. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS – This paper critically analyses the existing legal and regulatory framework for assets tracing and recovery in Nigeria and suggests new ways to improve the asset tracing/recovery scheme in Nigeria. ORIGINALITY/VALUE – Previous research papers have extensively discussed the problems faced with assets tracing and recovery from a prohibitive and investigative stand point. This paper will discuss the topic from a preventive stand point with little focus on investigative mechanisms.

Serving Peace: The Idealist Roots of the United Nations Secretary-General's Political Role

Serving Peace: The Idealist Roots of the United Nations Secretary-General's Political Role

The ingredients of prevention

The call for prevention of violence by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is both timely and essential for harmonious societies leading to a harmonious world. The reality is that the world is moving headlong in exactly the opposite direction. Before venturing into remedial pathways for giving teeth to the urgent appeal, a survey of realities on the ground indicates not only the extent and depth of atrocities, despoliation and deprivation, but tends to confirm that these have crossed all humanitarian limits. This paper is focused on measures that allow for a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Advancing the debate on a culture of conflict prevention

“The best way to prevent societies from descending into crisis is to ensure they are resilient through investment in inclusive sustainable development.” This truth, as stated by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, underpins his recent vision for conflict prevention, in which the maxim of reversing inequalities and strengthening institutions applies to all countries. Putting prevention first is at the forefront of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and it frames the global community’s commitment to “strengthen universal peace in larger freedom”, captured in the preamble of United Nations General Assembly resolution 70/1 that introduced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the world in October 2015. The specific framework for prevention is found in SDG 16 which seeks to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”. SDG 16 places political action at the forefront of the peace-security-development nexus by recognizing that governance deficits are largely responsible for poverty and conflict. By virtue of this debate, the SDGs direct the international community to prioritize prevention by removing the causes of conflict through political process and the pursuit of development outcomes which leaves no one behind.

МІЖНАРОДНА ІНФОРМАЦІЙНА БЕЗПЕКА – КЛЮЧОВИЙ НАПРЯМ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ ШАНХАЙСЬКОЇ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ СПІВРОБІТНИЦТВА: 2006-2017 рр.

The article deals with researches of the SCO's activities in the area of international information security and analysis of the legislative initiatives of the Russian Federation as a member country of the SCO in the historical retrospective.The resource base of the article is the official documents posted on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization web site (https://rus.sectsco.org/), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (https: // www.mid.ru) and other web sites of member countries of organization.The article is based on the problematic-chronological principle.It was determined that the cooperation of the SCOʼs member countries in the area of information security de facto began on June 16, 2009 by signing the Yekaterinburg Declaration of cooperation in information security providing. According to paragraph 7 of this document, the relevance of international information security providing is identified as an important element of the overall international security system.The Russian Federation's initiatives in the area of international information security were continued in Yekaterinburg (September 2011). The Russian experts presented a draft concept of the IIB Collaboration Convention as an alternative to the 2001 Budapest Council of Europe Convention concerning cybercrime.On September 12, 2011 United Nations Permanent Representatives of Russia, China,Tajikistan and Uzbekistan sent a joint letter to UN Secretary General with a request to extend the draft «Rules of Conduct in the Field of International Information Security" adopted at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Astana on June 2011 as an official document of the United Nations General Assembly. The main task of the Rules» was to develop a code of responsible behavior of countries in the international information security, taking into account military-political, criminal and terrorist challenges and threats.However, due to discrepancies in terms of terminology and models of international information security between the Russian Federation and Western countries, the document was not adopted until present. One of the document provisions is the prohibition – «to use ICT and information and communication networks for interference in the internal affairs of other countries with purpose to undermine their political, economic and social stability».The author concludes that Russia plays a dominant role in the field of international information security within the framework of the SCO, which promotes the name of this regional organization of legislative initiatives related to its national interests. The development of draft international legal documents concerning international information security is carried out by powerful research organizations and institutions of the Russian Federation and, on some issues, duplicates Russian doctrinal documents.In further research, the author is going to consider the historical process of creating national information security systems in the countries of the Central Asian region - the republics of the former USSR - and to analyze the content of information campaigns conducted by the Russian Federation in these countries.

Two “Popes” to Speak for the World: The Pope and the United Nations Secretary General in World Politics

Despite recent studies on leadership, the discipline of International Relations is still reluctant to engage in studies of individual agency in the international structure.1 Two prominent examples ...

United Nations Secretary-General's Mechanism.

The credibility and legitimacy of the United Nations Secretary-General's Mechanism (UNSGM) for investigating the alleged use of biological weapons relies in part on qualified experts trained to undertake fact-finding missions using an empirical scientific approach. As observed in the 2013 investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, this mechanism can be an effective tool in the verification of and as a deterrent against the use of chemical and biological weapons. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, supporting the UNSGM and providing experts for its roster for missions. As the majority of biological agents are of animal origin, the expertise of the OIE in this area, and its involvement in the UNSGM, are of paramount importance. Since 2014, experts from the OIE have participated in relevant training and are available for deployment to investigate any alleged use of a biological weapon anywhere in the world if the UNSGM were triggered.

Reflections on the Report of the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel on Access to Medicines.

Reflections on the Report of the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel on Access to Medicines.

Contemporary challenges on access to medicines: beyond the UNSG High-Level Panel.

Within the context of the recently released United Nations Secretary-General´s Report of the High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, the author reviews issues related to the context and discussions on access to medicines and the conflict between trade and health during the last decades. These issues have been relevant and outstanding in Global Health, especially questioning the current system of innovation, R&D and IP protection. Lessons learned from the HLP Report are highlighted and the need to further discuss and implement concrete actions, as the world has moved from the MDGs to the SDGs, demand strong actions derived from the United Nations and a strong interaction with other key stakeholders. Affordability and unaffordability of new technologies are discussed, making clear that we need to implement bold actions in order to ensure access to medicines as a human right.

Four Varieties of Social Responsibility: Making Sense of the 'Sphere of Influence' and 'Leverage' Debate Via the Case of ISO 26000

One of the key controversies in social responsibility discourse is whether an organization’s responsibility should be based on its capacity to influence other parties or only on its actual contribution to social and environmental outcomes. On one side of the debate are those who argue that the limits of an organization’s responsibility should be defined in terms of its “sphere of influence” (SOI): the greater the influence, the greater the responsibility to act. On the other side are those who reject the SOI approach as ambiguous, misleading, normatively undesirable and prone to strategic manipulation. Foremost among the critics is the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative for business and human rights, Professor John Ruggie, who rejects SOI as a basis for defining the boundaries of the business responsibility to respect human rights. The newly published ISO 26000 guidance standard on social responsibility was at the centre of this controversy during its final stages of drafting. This paper examines how the concept of SOI is articulated in ISO 26000 and the extent to which it responds to the concerns identified by critics. It proposes a four-part matrix of “influence-based” responsibility, defined by the intersection of two distinctions that are often elided in SR discourse: the distinction between “influence as impact” and “influence as leverage,” on one hand, and the distinction between negative and positive responsibility, on the other. The paper argues that ISO 26000 avoids the conceptual ambiguity identified by critics by defining SOI exclusively in terms of “leverage”; that it avoids the main operational ambiguity identified by its critics by eschewing the problematic concept of “proximity;” that it embraces all four varieties of social responsibility to varying degrees, repudiating the normative claim that social responsibility is only negative and impact-based; and that it provides at least a partial response to the problem of strategic gaming.

In Defence of the Sphere of Influence: Why the WGSR should Not Follow Professor Ruggie's Advice on Defining the Scope of Social Responsibility

The Working Group on Social Responsibility (WGSR) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will meet in Copenhagen from May 17 to 21, 2010 for what is likely to be its last meeting to work on ISO 26000, an international guide on social responsibility. One of the central challenges for the WGSR is to define the scope of an organization’s responsibility for human rights abuses committed by third parties. ISO 26000, approved by a large majority in a recent Draft International Standard ballot, answers this question largely in terms of an organization’s degree of control or over others’ conduct. This leverage-based approach is based on the concept of sphere of influence, introduced into SR discourse by Professor John Ruggie as part of the United Nations Global Compact. Now, as the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Business and Human Rights, Professor Ruggie has warned the WGSR not to take this approach because it is inconsistent with the three-part protect, respect, remedy framework endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. This short paper argues that ISO 26000 should maintain its sphere of influence approach because it reflects broad societal expectations, is consistent with due diligence, does not encourage inappropriate political interference or strategic gaming, is simple and intuitive, builds on existing ISO environmental management standards, avoids making a false distinction between supporting human rights and avoiding abuses, and is a necessary part of the solution to the business and human rights problem.

London Conference on Somalia: Another Missed Opportunity?

In his book, ‘Somalia: the Missed Opportunities’, the former UN Secretary General’s Representative for Somalia, Mohamed Sahnoun, fittingly catalogues a number of missed chances that both the international community and the Somali people failed to utilise to find a lasting solution to the protracted political crisis in Somalia. Sadly, after the publication of the book, numerous other conferences miserably failed to ameliorate the calamitous situation, and hence countless other opportunities had been missed.This note will only discuss three issues raised, directly or indirectly, in the conference communique that have received scant attention from other commentators, namely the end of the transition, inclusion of human rights in the final statement and the military intervention of the neighbouring countries.

Corporate Social Responsibility in India: A Human Rights Perspective

CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility has become the buzzword for corporate sector. Often CEOs of the companies use this abbreviation in their speech to speak about their companies’ social concerns. CSR is no longer only associated with the philanthropic functions of a company; rather it has acquired an ingrained status in the corporate culture. CSR has become a barometer to test the permeation of a company into society. Society, now, to an extent judges a company on the basis of its CSR Quotient. CSR now is turning to Corporate ‘Strategic’ Responsibility, where a corporate does a strategic investment in its CSR initiatives. No longer has it remained a voluntary exercise; and at times even is pressurized by various stakeholders. CSR is a container concept which encompasses many different ecological, social and economic issues. Human Rights as a CSR concept took prominence during 1990s as oil, gas and mining companies expanded into increasingly difficult areas. In 2005 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Harvard Professor John Ruggie to present a report on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. Ruggie presented his Guiding Principles, popularly known as ‘Ruggie Framework’ (Protect, Respect and Remedy) which was endorsed by UN Human Rights Council. The basic approach of Ruggie Framework is that “the corporate responsibility to respect human rights cannot be met by words alone; it requires specific measures by means of which companies can ‘know and show’ that they respect rights”. The responsibility of the corporation to respect human rights forms one of the three pillars of Ruggie Framework, the other two being, the duty of the State to protect against human rights abuses and the shared duty to remedy. OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (2011) also advocates for respect for human rights. It may be noted here that the term “responsibility” rather than “duty” is meant to indicate that respecting rights is not currently an obligation that international human rights law generally imposes directly on companies, although elements of it may be reflected in domestic laws. A company’s responsibility to respect applies across its business activities and through its relationships with third parties connected with those activities – such as business partners, entities in its value chain, and other non-State actors and State agents. In India, over the last two-three years there has been debate over the compulsory CSR initiatives and in fact the Draft Companies Bill 2011 provides for a constitution of a CSR Committee for companies having net worth of Rs. 500 crore or more or turnover of Rs. 1000 crore or more or a net profit of Rs. 5 core or more (Clause 135). Ministry of Corporate Affairs came up with the Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines in 2009 which has been developed further as “National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business (2011)” which has nine principles, one of which is “Business should respect and promote human rights”. There is a development from one line to a page on human rights in the guidelines. The present paper would examine these developments and the prospective actualization of the concept in Indian context particularly in light of human rights abuses involving corporations (e.g. Union Carbide Bhopal, Enron’s Dabhol power project, Tata’s Singur, Vendanta in Orissa).

References

References

Operationalizing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Polish and Italian Steps to Adopt National Action Plan

This paper focuses on the practical methods of the operationalization of the UNGP on Business and Human Rights through implementation of National Action Plans by Poland and Italy. For decades, the United Nations has struggled to fill the gap in international law and find an answer to the question: how to impose human rights obligations on companies? After several unsuccessful attempts to create international standards, change came in 2005, when John Ruggie was appointed as the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Business and Human Rights. In 2011, Ruggie’s work resulted in the creation of the Guiding Principles on Business Human Rights, which are slowly being adopted by states in the form of National Action Plans. The aim of this article is to analyse and compare the Italian NAP adopted in December 2016 and the Polish draft NAP, which will probably be implemented in 2017. Based on our findings, we conclude that both NAPs are missing constructive proposals and are characterised by vagueness. Time will show to what extent and how effectively both governments will promote their non-binding proposals.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES: SOUTH AFRICA’S POLITICO-LEGAL RETROGRESSION AS ILLUSTRATED THROUGH THE INTENTION TO WITHDRAW FROM THE ROME STATUTE

Sending the unequivocal message that perpetrators of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes would be prosecuted, South Africa was an active participant in the negotiations towards adopting the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC). Indeed, South Africa was the 23rd state to ratify the treaty and domesticated it in the form of the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002. Pursuant to the obligations undertaken by South Africa, it was incumbent on the state to arrest and surrender to the ICC the President of Sudan, Omar Al Bashir in June 2015, on the strength of two international arrest warrants issued against him by the ICC, when he attended the African Union Summit in South Africa. Instead, not only was Al Bashir’s sudden departure from South Africa facilitated by South African officials in contempt of a court order prohibiting same, but South Africa also deposited its instrument of withdrawal from the Rome Statute with the United Nations Secretary General soon afterwards. It is against this contextual background that South Africa’s failure to comply with the rule of law is assessed, with the evidence indicating that political considerations often outweigh legal obligations.

Improving Population and Poverty Estimates with Citizen Surveys: Evidence from East Africa

The paper sets out to explore the possibility that citizen-led surveys provide a better coverage of populations and specifically of hard-to-reach poorer areas than the international standardized household surveys which are the basis for many of the estimates used in assessing progress toward meeting the MDGs and will be for the SDGs. This hypothesis is based on the argument that, the local volunteer enumerators of citizen-led surveys are likely to be more sensitive to the specificities of local population distribution and (recent) changes than those centrally trained; and may be more effective at reaching hard-to reach groups such as those nomadic groups and those in urban slums. To test the hypothesis, the results of UWEZO (meaning “capability”) surveys have been compared at a regional level with those of contemporaneous DHS surveys in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda for estimates of access to water and electricity. Overall, at national level, we find that UWEZO estimates for access to clean water were lower at a statistically significant level than those of DHS and these differences were statistically significant at the 0.01% level; in particular, the DHS values were much higher in regions where there are high concentrations of nomads and of urban slums, implying that the UWEZO surveys “catch” more poverty. The suggestion therefore is that citizen surveys such as UWEZO provide better, and more accurate, coverage of the poorest of the poor. Using the lowest estimate of the percentage “missing” in urban slums and extrapolating to all developing countries, there are an estimated 369 million missing from the sampling frames of standardized household surveys worldwide. This has important implications for the “Leave no one behind” appeal of the UN Secretary General and for the UN’s “Data Revolution”. Some suggestions are made about how to progress improved population estimates.

Two 'Popes' to Speak for the World: The Pope and the United Nations Secretary General in World Politics

This article argues that a combination of individuals in institutions leads to the evolution of the Pope and the UN’s Secretary General as instances of moral leadership. Comparing the pope and the Secretary General in terms of scope and aim of their agency and normative claims starts with the observation that their agency is influenced by institutions. If those individuals link responsibility and the agency granted by their institutions, they potentially can outgrow institutional constraints. Both individuals developed influence in terms of moral and executive leadership apart from internal constitutional foundations of their institutions and external structural constraints and demands.

Review Essay of Kirsten J. Fisher & Robert Stewart, eds., Transitional Justice and the Arab Spring (London, UK: Routledge, 2015)

The reviewed work highlights two overarching core themes, emerged across 12 successive chapters and preceded by a foreword by Anthony F. Lang, Jr., and an introductory chapter, entitled “After the Arab Spring: A New Wave of Transitional Justice?” by the editors. In this chapter, Kirsten J. Fisher and Robert Stewart provide a careful analysis of the concept of transitional justice and an overview of the contributed chapters. At the outset, they explore the meaning of transitional justice, provided in scholarly works and the United Nations Secretary General’s report, and sketch out its history, forms, and measures. Moreover, they underline the unique features of transitional justice in the Arab Spring countries compared with other experiences occurred in Africa, Latin America, and Central and Eastern European countries. In their conclusion, the editors maintain that despite the frustration, ongoing violence, and failure to make justice during the three years followed the flare-up of widespread protests; there are some success and noticeable progress in most Arab Spring countries. Accordingly, it is too early to make any judgement on the success or the failure of transitional justice in that region. However, the following chapters of the book reflect the above themes in different standpoints and multifaceted national contexts under two parts. The first one examines the implications of transitional justice in the Arab Spring countries, taking into consideration previous experiences in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. And the second part provides various themes, which concentrate on justice in post-Arab Spring countries.

The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of American Jews by Michael Barnett

Reviewed by: The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of American Jews by Michael Barnett Yael S. Aronoff (bio) The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of American Jews. By Michael Barnett. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016. 368 pp. Michael Barnett offers a comprehensive, insightful, and well-written account of the way American Jews have positioned themselves vis-à-vis the wider world, shifting between internationalism, particularism, and cosmopolitanism over time. With thought-provoking insight, he traces the American Jewish community's fluctuations between a more tribally concerned outlook and a more cosmopolitan stance. While that cosmopolitanism partially derives, he argues, from prophetic Judaism, it in turn has "many of the elements that define what international relations scholars call liberal internationalism," emphasizing the state as the embodiment of "liberal values and actively promot[ing] the expansion of markets, democracy, and the rule of law around the world" (46). The author persuasively argues that the experience of being a minority in the United States and the influence of prophetic Judaism led to a broader concern for minority rights and civil rights. As over time American Jews began to fare better, they could turn their attention beyond their own community to engage with the similar plights of other minority groups around the world. This movement was particularly facilitated by the perception of world neglect which allowed the Holocaust: in this view the League of Nations had failed, the protection of minority rights worldwide had failed, and immigration had failed to provide a solution to the threat of antisemitism. This in turn led many American Jews to recognize the need for the creation of Israel. Barnett emphasizes identity politics and cultural explanations for foreign policy preferences. For example, the American Jewish community's growing affiliation with Israel coincided in some way with that of the U.S. government's, but for different reasons. In the run-up to the 1967 war, Jews felt that the UN and U.S. had abandoned Israel and, reliving in some sense the trauma of the Holocaust, feared Israel would be destroyed. Thus from 1966 to 1967 aid to Israel from American Jews grew sevenfold. The book also illuminates how American Jews shaped and influenced the UN Declaration of Human Rights but later felt more comfortable with "humanitarianism" than "human rights." "American Jews did not abandon international human rights and the United Nations," [End Page 309] he argues, "it turned on them"—a sentiment substantiated by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's recent public admission that the United Nations unfairly and disproportionately condemns Israel (188). Along with its many strengths, one of the book's challenges is in the conception of the titular "Jewish foreign policy." Barnett defines Jewish foreign policy as "the attempt by Jewish individuals and institutions to mobilize and represent the Jewish community for the purpose of protecting Jewish interests and advancing a vision of global justice inspired by Jewish political and religious thought" (10). At times, though, the argument focuses more on the beliefs of individual American Jews, while the causal relation between those individual views and their institutional expression is less thoroughly worked out. Barnett claims that American Jews are more cosmopolitan but also that the American Jewish "establishment" is more tribal than are most American Jews (40). At times American Jews are treated as a monolithic bloc (although he admittedly does not include Orthodox Jews). More rigorous use of public opinion polls might have helped draw finer distinctions about foreign policy preferences. It remains unclear where most Jewish Americans are today on many pressing foreign policy questions. Are they more likely than other Americans—or more likely than other Democrats—to vote for increased foreign aid? For humanitarian intervention? The book's comparisons between American Jews and Israeli Jews are overly simplistic. Barnett repeatedly contrasts what he calls American Jews' outward-looking cosmopolitanism and Israeli Jews' inward-looking nationalism. However, he himself admits at times that these concepts are not mutually exclusive. Barnett's analysis of both Zionism and nationalism pay little attention to the complex history of Zionism, with its widely varied strains, and tends to associate "Jewish Israelis" as a whole...