In The News

A Recipe for Disaster

Nayan Chanda May 9, 2016
Widening inequality has fueled a populism in democracies like the United States and France that counters the agenda of political elites. “Now the Panama Papers revealing a massive tax avoidance scheme by the world’s elite have added another black mark to globalization,” explains Nayan Chanda, founding editor of YaleGlobal Online in his column for Businessworld, referring to a massive leak of bank...

The Myth of the Islamic State: The History of a Political Idea

Mohammed Ayoob May 4, 2016
The goal of a worldwide modern caliphate may be impossible for diverse Muslim nations that lack consensus over universal standards on governance. Phrases like “golden age” are tossed about, yet ignore the challenges, explains Mohammed Ayoob for Foreign Affairs. The Prophet Mohammed died in the year 632, when the world’s population was about 200 million, and Ayoob details the history of the early...

Everyone Says the Libya Intervention Was a Failure: They’re Wrong

Shadi Hamid April 15, 2016
US President Obama suggested that one of his biggest regrets failure to plan for Libya after the 2011 NATO intervention. Libya is a failed state, but that does not mean intervention was wrong, argues Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, for Vox. “The goal was to protect civilians and prevent a massacre,” he notes. “In fact, the civil war had already started before the...

Rohingya Left Behind in Myanmar's Power Transition

Lucy Kafanov April 1, 2016
Inequality and an utter lack of health care, education and opportunity for a minority group of people does not reflect well on governance. “Denied citizenship and voting rights as well as access to proper medical care and education, the Rohingya have been largely left behind in Myanmar's widely-lauded transition to democracy following a November election that swept Aung San Suu Kyi's...

Quietly, Symbolically, US Control of the Internet Just Ended

Maria Farrell March 16, 2016
Governments and Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, reached an agreement to shift control over the internet from the US government to a global group of stakeholders, explains Maria Farrell, former Icann employee, for the Guardian. The organizers will downplay the shift. “When Icann was founded in 1998, the plan was to keep its anchoring contract with the US National...

Corruption Threatens Ukraine's Hard-Earned Freedom

Chris Miller March 14, 2016
The abrupt resignation of Ukraine’s respected minister of economy and trade, his refusal to “serve as a cover-up for covert corruption,” has triggered political crisis and an onslaught of recriminations about inept governance. More resignations may follow, and the crisis comes during a treacherous period as the West and Russia battle for influence over the country of 45 million. “Notably, the...

States of Disorder

Philip Bobbitt March 8, 2016
In the early part of the 21st century, organizations like the G8, the European Union and NATO welcomed new members, and then the global economic crisis of 2007-2008 stalled the quest for increasing regional and global order. Many countries have taken a nationalistic turn, with governments cracking down on critics, and that may encourage opposition. Philosopher John Gray has pointed out that...