In The News

Africa’s Success Story

John Feffer February 5, 2016
Though Botswana relied almost exclusively on its diamond wealth, its economy has grown steadily since 1966, rivaling China and South Korea’s growth rates. Good governance allowed Botswana to avoid the resource curse that afflicted many of its neighbors. Botswana’s diamond-producing industry is lucrative and provides well-paying, often unionized jobs to locals. Recently, diamond companies have...

Publish and Perish in Hong Kong

Frank Ching January 28, 2016
The odd disappearance of five staff members of a Hong Kong book publisher raises questions about China’s commitment to the “one country, two systems” arrangement with Hong Kong. One man was taken from Thailand, another from Hong Kong and three detained in China. Two are foreign nationals, and no charges have been filed. “By openly flouting its commitment to respect Hong Kong’s political system...

Is China the Next Mexico?

Jorge Guajardo November 5, 2015
China’s political and economic transformations should be compared with that of Mexico, suggests Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China, in an essay for Zócalo Public Square. In the 1990s, during the negotiations for the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, analysts cheered Mexico’s economic expertise and openness to free trade by the ruling party with its lock on power. “Lost in all...

Thank You for Not Smoking

Heather Wipfli October 7, 2015
The passage of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or FCTC, offers a critical case study of how international law can be harnessed to address public health issues. Heather Wipfli is author of “Global War on Tobacco: Mapping the World's First Public Health Treaty,” and an excerpt of her book was published in Foreign Affairs. With nearly 6 million tobacco-...

The Insecurity Underpinning Xi Jinping’s Repression

Jerome A. Cohen September 28, 2015
China is the world’s second largest economy and poised to surpass the United States as the largest. Economic progress brings change, and in an opinion essay for the Washington Post, law professor Jerome Cohen describes Xi Jinping as a leader who is insecure about domestic unrest whether over a financial downturn, corruption, the lack of good jobs and opportunity, or pollution and environmental...

Can Beijing Make AIIB Transparent?

Nayan Chanda July 2, 2015
The world will judge the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank by the rules being drafted. Asia needs infrastructure development, and China initiated the bank after global groups like the International Monetary Fund did not reform their structures in recognition of China’s growing contributions. The United States is not a founding member, but the AIIB curtailed criticisms on governance...

Islamic State Faces a Complex Web of Militant Groups and Violence in Pakistan

Samira Shackle May 4, 2015
The Islamic State terrorists have made no secret of plans to extend their so-called caliphate across Muslim nations beyond the Middle East, and their extreme ideology is attracting supporters throughout South Asia, including Pakistan. Pakistan has plenty of militant groups, including the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, with acts of violence taking place every day. The...