With bipartisan momentum mounting for comprehensive immigration reform, cautious optimism has emerged that 2013 will be the year for action. Most Americans agree that our immigration system is flawed, but there remains a lack of understanding about the real effects that new immigrants have on wages, jobs, budgets, and the U.S. economy in general. Two […]
Say what you want about Benigno Aquino, but the Philippine president has some brass. First he arrested predecessor Gloria Arroyo on corruption charges and ousted her Supreme Court chief justice. Then he took on the powerful Catholic Church, shepherding free-contraception laws that enraged the Vatican. Next he ran afoul of the local tycoons by backing […]
“We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully—not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear,”President Obama said in his second inaugural address. How exactly does the international community “engage” hostile states? Take China, for instance. Xi […]
The nature of world politics has changed more rapidly in the past four years than anyone expected. From the fall of the Berlin Wall up to the financial crisis of 2008, the United States had enjoyed a unprecedented period of hegemony. A decade ago, the US defense budget by itself was larger than the combined […]
POOR countries have long been a popular destination for the rich world’s toxic trash. In 1987 an Italian importer sparked international outrage by dumping 8,000 leaky barrels in the Nigerian village of Koko. On January 9th Nigeria fined importers $1m for trying to bring in two 12-metre containers full of defunct televisions, computers, microwaves and […]
On Friday, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that income inequality in the country exceeds a warning level set by the United Nations. China’s publication of its Gini coefficient – a widely used measure of economic equity – drew attention for a number of reasons. For one, China has not published its Gini coefficient since 2000. More […]
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will leave her post on Friday, has said that the United States wants to see a cooperative, comprehensive and positive relationship with China. Clinton said that together, the two countries will defy history. “Historically, a rising power and a predominant power have had clashes, whether they were economical […]
Whether East Asia’s politicians and pundits like it or not, the region’s current international relations are more akin to nineteenth-century European balance-of-power politics than to the stable Europe of today. Witness East Asia’s rising nationalism, territorial disputes, and lack of effective institutional mechanisms for security cooperation. While economic interdependence among China, Japan, South Korea, and […]
Cambodia has never enjoyed the kind of political clout its neighbors Thailand and Vietnam have been able to assert on the international stage. This issue does not sit well with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who wants to see his country’s standing improve significantly. But the key to raising Cambodia’s stature is Hun Sen’s own success. […]
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepares to hand the reins of foreign policy over to Senator John Kerry, her legacy is a matter of hot debate. To be sure, with much of the Middle East in turmoil and U.S. relations with Russia and China shifting, broad assessments of her tenure, no matter how heated, […]
looking beyond borders 