Will Hillary Really Be a Hawk?, How American Politics Went Insane, and More

Western fears of Chinese FDI, how standardized test scores are really generated, and down-ballot complacency among U.S. voters. View this email in your browser [here]. [The Brookings Brief] August 13, 2016 [Brookings on Twitter] [Brookings on Facebook] [Brookings on YouTube] New this week Why Hillary is unlikely to be a hawk in the White House. Many assume that a President Hillary Clinton would escalate current U.S. military commitments and drag the country into new ones. To the contrary, [Jeremy Shapiro and Richard Sokolsky] argue that based on the national security landscape and Clinton's past record, she is unlikely to be either a hawk or dove and will instead focus far more on domestic issues than foreign policy. To shun or welcome Chinese FDI? That is the question with which countries like the U.S., Britain, and Germany must increasingly grapple. [Geoffrey Gertz urges] Western governments to clarify the concerns they have with Chinese direct investment and establish clear policies for attracting, screening, and regulating it. Jonathan Rauch on America’s broken politics. “We have never in this country been in a situation where one of the two major political parties has had an organizational meltdown—and we need to fix that.” In the latest episode of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, [Jon Rauch discusses] his cover story of The Atlantic’s July/August issue, “How American Politics Went Insane,” in which he diagnoses the organizational problems ailing the chaotic American political system and urges for a return to establishment politics. Why measuring student ability is so hard. Standardized test scores aren’t as straightforward as a simple percentage of questions answered correctly. [Brian Jacob weighs] the implications of some of the current approaches to generating test scores and urges for greater transparency in the design and assessment of standardized tests. Americans are still voting for incumbents. Like many of his fellow incumbents, Speaker Paul Ryan easily won his Republican primary on Tuesday. [Elaine Kamarck explains] that, despite the rise of outsider candidates in the presidential race, Americans have demonstrated surprising complacency in most of the country’s congressional primaries thus far. What our experts are reading [Interesting piece] on political escapism among young Iranians. ([@MaloneySuzanne]) [How the Most Dangerous Place on Earth Got Safer] (thanks to the efforts of the U.S.), via the New York Times. ([@RichardBushIII]) [The candidates and your taxes in one graphic] via PBS NewsHour. ([@davidmwessel]) [Follow Us On Twitter] • [Like Us On Facebook] • [Come to An Event At Brookings][Get The Latest on the Brookings Now Blog] [Share on Facebook] [Share on Twitter] [Share on Email] The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars. © The Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 You received this email because you signed up to receive the Brookings Brief. [Receive the Brief less often] | [Update your subscriptions] | [Unsubscribe from all Brookings email]