In The News

President Bush’s Nation-Building

February 27, 2003
In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, President Bush announced plans for rebuilding Iraq in the wake of a war against Saddam Hussein. The plan would likely require hundreds of thousands of troops and years of occupation, not unlike the occupation of Japan and Germany after the Second World War. Turning Iraq into a democratic and peaceful nation would serve as a model for other...

The Galling Rise of English

February 27, 2003
English is spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, but until recently the European Union was a place where French sometimes dominated. The EU is headquartered in Brussels, and an elite group of French-speaking bureaucrats has influenced the organization for years. New EU member states have been increasingly English-oriented, however, and as more European students learn...

The Trans-Atlantic Aftershock of 9/11

Immanuel Wallerstein February 26, 2003
It has been long time in the making, but the debate over the wisdom of attacking Iraq has revealed how far apart the alliance forged after World War II has grown. In the past, despite reservations European countries may have had about specific US policies, they have tended to support the US because of shared security concerns. All that has changed with the rise of an economically strong and...

Food First or Trade First?

Vandana Shiva February 25, 2003
Implementation of the WTO’s trade liberalization rules marginalizes and hurts developing countries, says this opinion article in The Hindu, one of India’s largest newspapers. Trade liberalization is designed to eliminate tariffs and other barriers to trade, but developing countries cannot compete with foreign agricultural producers. The author further argues that developing countries should be...

Franco-German Shot at US Punctures Dream of European Power

Shada Islam February 14, 2003
The status of the US as 'the leader of the free world' has come under threat again this week, but the US may not be the only one to get hurt. In an unprecedented challenge to American leadership in NATO, France, Germany, and Belgium vetoed a US proposal to create contingency plans for Turkey. To do so, they claim, would be tantamount to conceding to Washington's desire to wage...

By Invitation Only: Cozy Free Trade Deals Subvert Global Integration

Bernard K. Gordon February 13, 2003
Against most predictions, the Bush administration successfully wooed both Singapore and Chile into free trade agreements, with huge perceived benefits for US investors. Paradoxically, this move away from multilateralism and global trade institutions is not in the interest of the US, the world's largest trader. Professor Bernard K. Gordon examines the paradox, and offers some general...

Schröder's back is against the wall

Elise Kissling February 7, 2003
Behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Great Britain, Spain, and several eastern European states has left France and Germany the only major EU opponents of war in Iraq. If France abandons German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder during the next UN war resolution vote, Schroder will be on his own in Europe. Schroder must maintain the support of antiwar Germans while earning the backing of his own Christian...