To call yourself a state, a government, you must have people you can deploy to carry out the functions of government. In an earlier column, i shared with readers the abysmal figures in India. The Indian problem is not too many officials; it is, instead, that we have too few to deal with the millions […]
The latest cover of the Economist, the weekly news magazine that likes to call itself a newspaper, featured inequality, which it believes is the new big problem facing the world at large. Belatedly, the world is finally beginning to acknowledge an endemic problem, which is so anecdotally visible in the new India defined by glitzy malls […]
“Potemkin villages,” I scribble onto a scrap of paper for the interpreter, Mr. Kim. “What does that mean?” he asks. “It means that you are just showing us facades here to feign growth and progress, just as the Russian Prince Potemkin once did,” I reply. “You should google it. “That, though, is not an option […]
Populist economics is on the rise in Southeast Asia. Politicians have been actively adopting policies that aim to impress upon the poor that governments are doing something, however trivial, to improve their conditions. It is generally a positive development but is it sustainable? Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted as Prime Minister in 2006 but has remained popular […]
A hard landing in China could expose a large number of countries to unforeseen consequences and dash hopes of a global recovery. China’s plight also drives the final nail into the coffin of the once fashionable theory of “decoupling”, which argued for an autonomous economic sphere around China that could soar even as the US […]
We see a positive trend of significant expansion of democracy, particularly in the second half of the 20th century. Democracy expanded in many regions of the world. It also swept Indonesia in 1997 – and changed us for good. As a result, the political map of the world was significantly changed, with all its strategic, […]
The current trade dispute between the United States and China isn’t the first and won’t be the last. This one involves auto parts. Earlier it was solar panels. Before that: rare earth minerals. Next it will be something else. All of these disputes will be resolved in due course. They are important for many reasons. […]
SINGAPORE — The bitter dispute between China and Japan over their rival claims to ownership of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea has severely strained bilateral political relations. Mishandling or mistakes by either side could trigger a clash between their paramilitary ships, drawing in regular forces and leading to a wider war. As […]
Politics and organised crime are not strange bedfellows in any country, but what makes a country like Thailand stand out is that it’s a norm, rather than an exception. It is well practised and celebrated, out in the open and in the face of society, rather than skeletons hidden in the closet. To understand this […]
Every morning that President Barack Obama chooses to receive the daily intelligence briefing in person, Vice President Joe Biden sits by his side in a matching armchair in the Oval Office. Biden attends — and often speaks volubly at — the “principals meetings” of the president and his top national security officials, as well as at […]
looking beyond borders 