Speculating about China’s possible political futures is an intellectual activity that intrigues some and puzzles many. The conventional wisdom is that the entrenched Chinese Communist Party (CCP), so determined to defend and perpetuate its political monopoly, has the means to survive for an extended period (though not forever). A minority view, however, holds that the CCP’s days […]
The space for NGOs and civil society workers appears to be shrinking as they receive threats, several have been killed and others forced to go into hiding. There appears to be less protection for NGO workers at a time they are badly needed as the state fails to carry out basic functions such as education […]
There are exceptions to this pattern. Ecuador is attempting to solicit payments in exchange for not developing oil in its Yasuni National Park, though it has only raised $300 million out of the total of $3.6 billion it is seeking. Considerably more thought has gone into a closely related area of low-carbon development for the resource-rich: charting alternative paths for highly […]
Europe, and indeed much of the world, is facing a crisis of democracy. The economic crisis is not the cause of public unrest; rather it has provided an opportunity to bring public concerns about the way they are governed into the open. Eurobarometer figures show a pervasive loss of trust in government and in political […]
Last week, after two years of watching the Syria crisis unfold with quiet unease, Israel departed from its policy of restraint and staged an aerial raid near Damascus. The facts are still murky. Israel issued no statement and took no responsibility for the strike, although Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, speaking at a major security conference […]
President Barack Obama will describe his plan for spurring the economy in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, offering proposals for investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy and education, a senior administration official said on Saturday. In the annual presidential address to Congress, Obama plans to show he has not lost sight of […]
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday reiterated his desire to engage in direct talks with the United States, on the condition that the West stop pressuring his country. “Take your guns out of the face of the Iranian nation and I myself will negotiate with you,” he said at an event attended by tens of […]
IN THE months since China implemented its once-a-decade leadership transition, American policymakers have been watching closely to see whether changes in personnel might augur any change in Chinese policy toward the United States. As the year of the dragon draws to a close and Barack Obama busies himself trying to replace many of his most […]
China surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s biggest trading nation last year as measured by the sum of exports and imports of goods, a milestone in the Asian nation’s challenge to the U.S. dominance in global commerce that emerged after the end of World War II. U.S. exports and imports of goods last year […]
There is a consensus among commentators that the visit of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Egypt – complete with red carpet and kiss on both cheeks from President Mohammed Morsi – does not amount to a breakthrough. The view of US think-tanks is that it does not amount to very much at all, and […]
looking beyond borders 