In The News

Sars Crisis: A Case of Too Much Democracy?

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray May 13, 2003
In times of crisis, governments tread a delicate balance between democratic ideals that guarantee civil liberties and autocratic measures for the common good. The ways in which Asian countries have responded to the SARS crisis provides an important case in point. China failed to take stringent measures to pre-empt the spread of SARS, and now it faces a national SARS epidemic that has enormous...

The China Syndrome

Paul Krugman May 13, 2003
While American critics of China blame media censorship for Beijing's initial mishandling of SARS, this opinion piece in The New York Times argues that the US is no less vulnerable to the influence of the state. According to economist Paul Krugman, although media companies in the United States are privately owned, they remain deferential to the political regime. The nexus between the US...

U.S. to Blame for Derailing Process of Denuclearisation on Korean Peninsula

May 12, 2003
As the new South Korean Prime Minister begins his first official visit to the United States, North Korea's Central News Agency released a report detailing the central role the United States has played and continues to play in the nuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The report is a scathing indictment of US foreign policy and holds the US solely responsible for undermining North and...

Korea’s New Wave

Suki Kim May 10, 2003
North Korea and South Korea have vastly different political systems and economies, and occupy distinct positions in world politics. Yet in recent years, people in North and South Korea seem to be share a growing resentment towards American involvement in Korean affairs. In spite of the apparent ‘Americanization’ of South Korea, most South Koreans believe that American involvement has impeded a...

Why the Security Council Failed

Michael J. Glennon May 1, 2003
The UN was weak and irrelevant long before the divisive US-led war on Iraq made this painfully obvious, International Law scholar Michael Glennon maintains. He explains that Iraq is more a symptom of UN structural problems and changes in its geopolitical environment than a cause.. The UN was created to preside over a multi-polar world and now finds itself dealing with an unrivalled US hegemony...

Winning the Postwar

Suzanne Nossel April 28, 2003
The Bush Administration has thus far opposed the authority of an International Law regime. However, the current job of rebuilding and democratizing Iraq provides the US with an opportunity to change its policy toward International codes of conduct. If the US were to adhere to the International Law of Occupation, which has been in effect since 1907, perhaps they could convince a wary world that...

A New War Over Iraq

Joshua Chaffin April 27, 2003
Although the dust has barely settled from the fighting in Baghdad, international companies are already lobbying intensely for lucrative contracts to rebuild Iraq. The extent of reconstruction, the risks involved, and the specific roles for local, national and international stakeholders is yet to be determined. The success of the reconstruction efforts also depends on the development of...