Recent YaleGlobal Articles

Dilip Hiro
June 18, 2014
ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, began as an Al Qaeda offshoot in Iraq and is described as more fanatical than the parent group. With up to 5000 troops, ISIS controls an area of Syria and now storms through northern Iraq exploiting...
Chandran Nair
June 17, 2014
Complaints about inequality have taken the West by storm, and that accounts for the success of the book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by economist Thomas Piketty. Inequality is not a new topic for developing nations, notes author Chandran Nair. “Piketty, like every other economist, seeks...
Priyamvada Natarajan and Ravi Sankrit
June 12, 2014
In March, a team of physicists announced that data from the BICEP2 telescope, at the South Pole, offered evidence for cosmic inflation, thus confirming the Big Bang Theory. The event went viral online. Scientists around the globe weighed in, pointing out that the team may have underestimated the...
Alyssa Ayres
June 10, 2014
In anticipating India's foreign policy under newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, many have focused on his pragmatic growth policy based on international trade and investment while wondering if he would first turn to East Asia. Early signals suggest that Modi will focus on building...
Pallavi Aiyar
June 5, 2014
Immigration, transfer of new technologies and evolving work ethics have put entire industries in flux. This has stirred anti-immigration fervor in some communities as demonstrated by big gains of far-right parties in the European Parliament elections. Author Pallavi Aiyar analyzes the forces of...
Johan Lagerkvist
June 3, 2014
China’s communist leaders orchestrated a steady march towards great power status, accompanied by rewriting history and erasing tragic moments. Author Johan Lagerkvist reflects on the 25th anniversary of what has come to be known as Tiananmen Square massacre and points out how “the mindset behind...
David R. Cameron
May 29, 2014
Less than half of registered voters turned out for election of members in the European Parliament, but those who did boosted representation of parties that oppose the continent-wide governance. David R. Cameron, director of the Yale Program in European Union Studies, analyzes election results for...
Jean-Pierre Lehmann
May 27, 2014
The United States is not alone in its pivot toward Asia. The Asia Pacific region is a center of bustling potential and security pitfalls. And China is the center of that region, notes Jean-Pierre Lehmann, international political economist. The United States claims its pivot is not intended to...
Loro Horta
May 22, 2014
Timor-Leste shares the island of Timor and a bloody history with Indonesia. The former Portuguese colony was part of Indonesia from 1976 until 2002, when it was declared an independent state. The country’s small population is less than half of 1 percent of that in neighboring Indonesia, and one...
Walter Andersen
May 20, 2014
The parliamentary victories of the Bharatiya Janata Party in India were decisive. Narendra Modi will take the oath as prime minister later this month, and economic growth and nationalism will be likely drivers of Indian foreign policy, notes Walter Andersen, an expert on the BJP who heads the South...
Murray Hiebert
May 15, 2014
China has moved a huge oil exploration rig in disputed waters claimed by Vietnam. The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations is divided over how to react, writes Murray Hiebert of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Nations quarrel over small groups of islands to control...
Amrita Nandy
May 13, 2014
Valuing biological parenthood over other forms and the shame over childlessness is worldwide and can be pernicious. “Defining human relatedness through genes and blood has been a predominant and often unquestioned notion across most cultures,” explains Amrita Nandy, a Fox International Fellow at...
Farok J. Contractor
May 8, 2014
The Chinese currency may be under-valued, but not by much. The renminbi has appreciated by 35 percent since 2005 amid persistent inflation in China’s manufacturing sector, and further appreciation is unlikely, reports Farok J. Contractor, management professor. The semi-annual US Treasury report...
Alistair Burnett
May 6, 2014
Brazil, the world’s seventh largest economy and sixth most populous nation, is host to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. The global focus highlights the nation's ongoing need to confront social challenges at home including deficits in infrastructure investment and development, suggests...
David R. Cameron
May 1, 2014
Ukraine concedes that its eastern part is in pro-Russian hands, and Russian buildup along the border continues. Russia’s security concerns in Ukraine trump any discomfort over sanctions. Russia contends the removal of Ukraine’s corrupt president defied constitutional limits that allowed replacement...
Lamin Sanneh
April 29, 2014
Boko Haram, a Salafist extremist group continues to terrorize northern Nigeria in a quest for a strict Islamist state. A bomb killed 75 in Abuja, April 14, followed the next day by the kidnapping of more than 200 girls from a school in Chibok. The group’s Arabic name suggests intention to wage...
Michael Mandelbaum
April 24, 2014
Politicians opposed to immigration are making electoral gains throughout Europe, and legislators in the United States are also polarized over immigration reform, especially the status of an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. Michael Mandelbaum, author and international studies professor...
David Dapice
April 21, 2014
President Barack Obama begins travels this week to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines as the United States strives to convince Asian allies that a pivot to Asia is real. An indicator of US policy success is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact being negotiated by 12 Pacific Rim...
Pallavi Aiyar
April 17, 2014
Unity in Diversity is a motto for both India and Indonesia, and ongoing elections demonstrate that Asia’s two largest democracies have much in common, explains journalist and author Pallavi Aiyar. Election operations are complex and impressive, considering that India has more than 800 million...
Riaz Hassan
April 15, 2014
Perhaps no country depends more on stability in Afghanistan – as determined by fair elections, smooth withdrawal of foreign forces, long-term military agreement with the United States, and ongoing foreign aid – than Pakistan. Because of demographics and a history of conflict, Pakistan may well be...
Subscribe to Featured Articles