In The News

When Development and Tradition Clash

Joan Martínez-Alier May 11, 2007
Protests and violent clashes are becoming common throughout India, as business and government leaders team up to select agricultural land for industrial projects. Most citizens rely on farming in the world’s largest democracy, and many question the transfers. “If violence escalates, the result may be the undermining of civil rights and of the very fabric of Indian democracy,” write analysts Joan...

Filler in Animal Feed Is Open Secret in China

David Barboza May 4, 2007
Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China has come under increasing pressure to crack down on manufacturing of counterfeit and illegal goods within its borders. Beyond intellectual property concerns, safety fears are becoming increasingly prominent amid criticism of China’s lax enforcement against counterfeiters. Tales of fake medicines on US shelves and faithful replications of name-brand cars on...

Agni-III Missile Test: Asia’s Latest Great Power Joins the Game

Gwynne Dyer April 24, 2007
Once a nation test fires a missile, all cities and countries within the weapon’s reach can’t help but take pause to mull all possible messages, intentions and relationships. India successfully tested a missile that could reach the Middle East or China’s major cities of Beijing and Shanghai, a capability that could insert more tension into Asian affairs. Journalist Gwynne Dyer speculates that...

How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor

C. Ford Runge April 24, 2007
With rising oil prices and growing demand for ethanol as an alternative fuel, US corn producers anticipate a huge boost in profitability. Any spike in corn prices caused by increasing ethanol consumption, however, could devastate the developing world. Billions of impoverished people depend on corn and other staples for their caloric intake, but higher corn prices would decrease affordability of...

India Cannot Afford Rural Failure

Mira Kamdar April 20, 2007
Buoyant optimism about India’s economic prospects overlooks a critical weakness in the country’s well being. Long accustomed to price supports, India’s farmers confront open markets, government programs that favor large farms, overwhelming debt and changing weather patterns that reduce arable land and water supplies. The story of small farmers, struggling to repay predatory lenders and losing...

West Rises in China’s Back Yard

Ariana Eunjung Cha April 17, 2007
Social mobility in China means more comfortable and attractive homes, and developers move fast to build homes and offices with a Western aesthetic. In Beijing, small housing developments such as Venice Aquatic City and Thames Town are modeled after villages scattered throughout Europe. Many Chinese associate foreign styles with wealth, and view their investment in such developments as a step up...

As Globalization’s Benefits Grow, So Do Its Skeptics

David Wessel April 3, 2007
Global trade is suspect among some in the West because of globalization’s implied dichotomy of winners and losers. Fearing displacement of North American jobs, many US workers have little faith that globalization delivers wide-scale benefits. Citizens rally around globalization efforts more readily when combined with simultaneous investments in improving foreign relations, argues journalist David...