In The News

Hungry World: A Silent Crisis Calls for Urgent Action

Marshall Bouton July 7, 2009
When the leaders of the eight industrialized countries meet in Italy this week, they will need to urgently address a silent crisis of hunger. With over a billion hungry people around the globe, it is critical that the developed world takes measures to increase agricultural productivity, writes Chicago Council on Global Affairs president Marshall Bouton. Such a solution is ever more pressing given...

Zimbabwe’s Slow-Burning Crisis Could Affect Africa

Donald Steinberg June 30, 2009
Zimbabwe was in world headlines when its opposition politician Morgan Tsvangirai was mercilessly beaten by government thugs. But now his joining a unity government has pushed the country to the background, even though Zimbabwe remains in dire straits. Deputy President of the International Crisis Group, Donald Steinberg analyzes the reasons for this lack of interest and argues that paying...

China’s Quiet Activists

Shawn Shieh February 25, 2009
The Sichuan earthquake in May 2008 devastated entire communities, but it also witnessed the sprouting of grassroots organizations in the rubble. Notable among these has been the 512 Center, a grassroots group of activists who moved quickly to coordinate rescue efforts and alleviate suffering after the earthquake. What has also been notable is the government’s attitude toward this group. Normally...

The Crisis Gives the US New Financial Power

Ricardo Hausmann December 19, 2008
The global financial crisis has reduced savings of the world’s wealthiest nations, but that does not necessarily reduce their power, suggests Ricardo Hausmann, director of Harvard’s Center for International Development, in an essay for the Financial Times. Nations can retain power, depending on how they borrow or spend. “The financial meltdown has translated into a sudden stop in capital flows to...

Global Car Industry Fearful for Detroit

Nelson D. Schwartz December 16, 2008
Overseas operations have long helped carry the US car companies through hard times. But the current economic crisis is especially severe, as US car companies confront mounting health-care costs and reduced credit, an abrupt reduction in demand for oversized vehicles, volatile fuel prices which influence consumer choices, and a home base of customers who have sharply curtailed their expenditures....

A Question of First Things First

Clive Crook December 9, 2008
The ancient proverb of finding opportunity in crisis sounds wonderful, but the follow-through can be problematic. Transition staff working for US President-elect Barack Obama hope to enact health care reform and a clean-energy policy. But an economic crisis may not be the time to take on grand new initiatives, suggests Clive Crook, in an essay for the Financial Times. The Obama administration...

China’s New Foray Into Latin America

David Shambaugh November 17, 2008
The world’s most populous nation is rapidly forming trade, investment, technology, security, and cultural ties with developing nations around the globe and in particular Latin America. Latin America is “no longer content being the ‘backyard’ of the United States,” explains David Shambaugh, director of the China Policy Program with George Washington University and also with the Brookings...