Recent YaleGlobal Articles

Tested: Preparing for COVID-19

Susan Froetschel
February 27, 2020
COVID-19 has spread around the globe, with more than 80,000 cases reported in 45 nations, the bulk of them in China. The World Health Organization has yet to declare a global pandemic but public health agencies and researchers around the world prepare while sharing data and findings. A challenge is...

#SiberiaOnFire: Crisis Communication in Russia

Natella Nuralieva
 February 25, 2020
The internet, smartphones and social media have transformed crisis communications even in countries where leaders strive for tight control. The public expects fast, regular updates, and refusing comment is no longer an option. Russia learned this during summer of 2019 as wildfires raged in Siberia...

China’s Leaders Obsessed With Secrecy

Frank Ching
February 20, 2020
When problems emerge, the instinct for China’s leaders is to shut down reporting. After detecting multiple cases that resembled SARS, Wuhan physician Li Wenliang sent a WeChat message to medical school alumni in late December. Local authorities wasted valuable time by targeting Li, pressuring him...

Xi’s Party-State at 70: Feeling the Itch

Börje Ljunggren
 February 18, 2020
The coronavirus and economic challenges notwithstanding, China’s leaders are ambitious, determined to be second to none. For now, the Chinese Communist Party is intent to avoid the fate of the Soviet Union, which rose in December 1922 and fell in December 1991. Modern China, impoverished in 1949,...

Global Impact: China’s 1989 vs. Hong Kong’s 2019

Jeffrey Wasserstrom
February 13, 2020
The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests led to iconic images, like the lone man, his identity unknown, confronting a line of Chinese People’s Liberation Army tanks. The ongoing protests in Hong Kong, which began in 2019, have already lasted more than twice as long as the Umbrella Movement and more than...

World Population: 2020 Overview

Joseph Chamie
February 11, 2020
Understanding global demographic trends is essential for government and business planners, offering insights into resolving numerous challenges. World population growth is slightly ahead of what was projected a few years ago, reports demographer Joseph Chamie. More than half the world lives in...

How the Wealthy Sell Treasures Tax-Free

John Zarobell
 February 6, 2020
Governments have long encouraged minimal or no taxation in free trade zones and freeports to encourage commerce and economic activity, and the concept of secure warehouses for luxury goods in transit began with the Geneva Freeport in the late 19th century. Such complexes expand worldwide as...

West Africa Plans Common Currency

Simon M. Mutungi
 February 4, 2020
Fifteen West African nations plan to launch a common currency this year under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States. That group strives for economic integration and development, and the new currency could help with creation of a single market for goods and services, as...

Extensive vs Intensive Farming

Pablo Vidal-González and Joel Bueso-Ródenas
 January 30, 2020
Historically, only the wealthy could afford to eat meat daily. Meat production has increased with population growth and global poverty reduction, yet consumers in the wealthiest nations question health benefits of meat and environmental impacts associated with intensive agriculture, including...

US Senate Poses Questions in Impeachment Trial

January 29, 2020
US senators can submit questions for 16 hours over two days during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Early questions are short and pointed, exposing partisan polarization, seeking affirmation rather than new information. Democrats want witnesses, especially testimony from former...

Turkish Gambit: Impact of Aggressive Foreign Policy

Mustafa Batman
January 28, 2020
Conflicts in the Middle East attract interventions by regional powers. The Turkish parliament’s approval of troop deployment to assist one side in the Libyan civil conflict reveals some themes, explains Mustafa Batman, an International Fox Fellow at Yale University. Turkey’s involvement in Libya,...

Sino-Russian Ties Imperil Strategic Arms Control

Richard Weitz
January 23, 2020
The last treaty limiting Russian-US nuclear weapons, New START, expires in February. The Trump administration would prefer a comprehensive agreement including more strategic weapons and countries, especially China, explains Richard Weitz, senior fellow and director of the Center for Political-...

Shifting Terrain for India’s Foreign Policy

Harsh V Pant
January 21, 2020
A decisive electoral victory in 2019 has emboldened India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in foreign policy. Ambition and confidence are useful for a fast changing global order, but can add to India’s challenges. A key example: Modi’s suspension of Article 370 via Clause 3 and autonomy for Jammu and...

Impeachment Trial Brief and Response

January 19, 2020
The US House of Representatives and the President have submitted trial briefs to the US Senate. The House brief, 100-plus pages in length, outlines efforts by US President Donald Trump’s personal attorney and others, including withholding aid and meetings, to convince Ukrainian leaders to announce...

Climate Change and Intellectual Dishonesty

Chandran Nair
January 16, 2020
The costs of climate change are mounting, yet the UN Climate Change Conference in December failed to reach substantial agreements on policies or funding for mitigation. Business and government leaders regard economic growth as paramount even as climate scientists warn that a warming climate will...

Iran Set to Undermine Trump's Electoral Prospects

Dilip Hiro
January 14, 2020
Iranians and Americans alike are weary of war in the Middle East and the many high costs. Both nations may try to harness that weariness. “By exercising restraint in responding to Washington’s provocations, Iran could play on American voters’ opposition to endless wars in the Middle East and help...

Putin at 20

Thomas Graham
 January 9, 2020
A nation is most powerful when its ability to influence others is sustainable. Systems that place power in the hands of a single individual are vulnerable. Vladimir Putin has led his country for two decades through daunting challenges. “During the 1990s, Russia endured a profound systemic crisis...

Oman Strives for Neutrality in the Middle East

Austin Bodetti
 January 7, 2020
Oman stands out in the Middle East for its deliberate pursuit of neutrality to ensure stability. “Omani officials have relied on their country’s relative anonymity to exercise considerable influence behind the scenes, maintaining contacts with competing regional powers such as Iran, Israel and...

Trump-Trọng Summit Remains in Limbo

Nguyen Quang Dy
 January 2, 2020
China continues aggressive moves in the South China Sea, extending into the exclusive economic zones of other nations. “A planned meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Nguyễn Phú Trọng could be pivotal for a strategic partnership, but is unlikely to happen any time soon,” explains Nguyen...

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