In The News

World After Covid-19: The Economist

Kishore Mahbubani April 23, 2020
Kishore Mahbubani, founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, has long observed that the era of Western domination is ending. The Covid-19 pandemic hurries the demise and marks the start of an Asian century. “The crisis highlights the contrast between the competent responses of East Asian governments (notably China, South Korea and Singapore) and the incompetent responses of...

Authoritarianism Going Viral: Project Syndicate

Patrick Gaspard April 20, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has created the opportunity for leaders with authoritarian tendencies to consolidate power and reduce human rights. Many governments have used the pandemic to discriminate against strongholds of political opponents as well as ethnic, religious or racial minorities. After the virus emerged in China, the government applied coverup efforts and punished whistle-blowers. India’s...

Plan for Future Nobody Can Plan For: Forbes

Alisa Cohn April 18, 2020
The world faces common challenges in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and reopening economies. Executive coach Alisa Cohen urges business and community leaders to develop plans that can handle uncertainty. This requires collecting information and data from diverse sources, being ready for constant changes and the ability to make swift adjustments, perceiving and accepting reality and...

COVID-19 Reshuffling the Global Power Deck? PRI

Indra Ekmanis April 16, 2020
In confronting the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries quickly abandoned international cooperation and leadership traditions. “A global response is critical to tackling the challenges posed by the virus – from sharing data that accurately models the crisis, to collaborating on a vaccine and its equitable distribution,” suggested Nicholas Burns, former US ambassador to NATO during an interview with...

George Orwell Lives: The Times of India

Nayan Chanda April 6, 2020
George Orwell’s novel 1984 describes an unsettled society under constant surveillance by a totalitarian government promoting ignorance and striving to control every action and thought. In the absence of trust, leaders expect citizens to agree mindlessly with any proclamation regardless of the facts. Nayan Chanda compares the novel to China’s propaganda and censorship in touting its leadership...

Global Pandemic Strategy: Project Syndicate

Josep Borrell April 5, 2020
The world confronts a common enemy in COVID-19, and choices made today will shape individual communities and the world in the months and years ahead, explains Josep Borrell for Project Syndicate. A natural instinct is to fend for one’s self. “Going it alone all but guarantees that the fight will last longer, and that the human and economic costs will be far higher,” he writes. “Although the enemy...

Threat to Western Multilateral Order: New Statesman

Paul Mason April 3, 2020
The COVID-19 may soon present a geopolitical and security crisis in addition to the health and economic challenges, as the disease spreads from advanced economies and cities to rural communities and the global South. Fragile states could collapse. The United States and Europe, under stress, have not displayed traditional leadership roles with early pandemic communications or orderly distribution...