In The News

Fraying of a Latin Textile Industry

Ginger Thompson March 28, 2005
The garment and textile industry has, for decades, been a source of employment and economic vitality for many South and Latin American nations. In El Salvador, the industry has been crucial to improving the standard of living for its people. But across the region, garment workers are being blindsided by changes in global trade. January 2005 saw an end to textile quotas worldwide, and companies...

Social Change in Qatar, One Degree at a Time

Otto Pohl March 24, 2005
Qatar is not known for being a liberal democratic country – indeed, there is little room for political dissent. Surprisingly though, this small Middle East country is pushing through one of the world's most revolutionary experiments in higher education. With increasing security restrictions limiting access for foreign students to attend top US universities, Qatar has decided to import...

Cheap AIDS Drugs Under Threat

Randeep Ramesh March 23, 2005
Recent legislation passed by the Indian government will hamper the ability of poorer nations and individuals to treat the HIV virus. In order to comply with the World Trade Organization's patent licensing policies, India has criminalized the copying of patented drugs, which include the antiretroviral drugs used to treat AIDS. India's generic pharmaceuticals have treated almost half the...

The Global Footprint of an Indian Outsourcing Giant

Joe Bolger March 21, 2005
Bombay businessman Subramaniam Ramadorai and his company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), are looking for farther shores and a broader base to operate their ever-growing partnerships with western businesses. TCS, a multibillion dollar group based in India, has been among the strongest actors in the movement to outsource work from the West. The firm has many prominent big-business clients in...

The Limits of Transparency

Jacqueline Best March 18, 2005
After the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, critics chalked up the catastrophe to a lack of transparency in the region's business practices. The concept has since then become the latest Holy Grail in global finance reform. Yet because of inherent power structures built into the concept, transparency is an unhealthy obsession, argues Jacqueline Best. Besides being an oversimplified solution,...

Indian Diplomacy Energized by Search for Oil

Pramit Mitra March 14, 2005
China and India have faced parallel challenges attendant to their booming economies; the most recent is energy security. As Pramit Mitra writes, India will emerge as the fourth-largest energy consumer by 2010. And like China, in its quest to secure adequate resources, India has forged strategic alliances, several of which may render the United States none-too-pleased. On the plus side, India...

Dollar's Fall Silences Africa's Garment Factories

Michael Wines March 14, 2005
The fall of the US dollar has begun to have a real and tangible effect upon southern African economies. In countries like Lesotho, where the struggling economy is dependent upon the garment industry, closing factories have cost thousands of jobs in the past months. Competition from the giant Chinese apparel industry contributes to the sudden squeeze, but the key factor, writes the New York Times...