In The News

Syrians to Be Trained to Defend Territory, Not Take Ground From Jihadists, Officials Say

Rajiv Chandrasekaran October 24, 2014
One measure of military success is installation of sustainable and stable governance. But that seems unlikely in the chaotic Middle East. The United States is leading a coalition to fight the Islamic State, which has terrorized communities with beheadings and even reports of chemical attacks. The United States has limited its intervention to air attacks in Syria and Iraq. The plan is to identify...

Disappearance of North Korea’s Kim Jong-un Could Ease Path to Peace, Coup or No

Paul French October 14, 2014
Kim Jong-un fell off the public radar for five weeks and has since appeared. Rumors flew back and forth, at least in the South Korean and western media. Kim was absent from anniversary celebrations for the ruling party, and earlier videos show the corpulent young adult walking with difficulty; state media reported he is suffering from “discomfort.” Every official event, including a visit to South...

Democracy’s Messy Process Challenged in the Street

Humphrey Hawksley October 7, 2014
By definition, democracy entails both representative government and majority rule. Factions, minority or majority, who take a disliking to some government policies no longer bide their time, cooperating in the process while waiting for the next election. “The new reality is that tenure in office is set not through an agreed electoral cycle, but by ability to keep protesters off the streets,”...

Afghanistan Has New President; Vote Totals Kept Secret

Daniel Politi September 23, 2014
Afghanistan has concluded its first peaceful transfer of power, though the process with elections in April and June was possibly riddled with fraud and long-drawn with months of negotiations and costly recounts overseen by the United Nations. The outcome will lead to a new form of governance for Afghanistan as two finalists share power: Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai will serve as president, and opponent...

War in Ukraine Exposes Russia’s Weakness

Chris Miller September 16, 2014
The Eurasian Union, as conceived by Russia, was supposed to rival the European Union as a trade and economic force. “Most notable about the Eurasian Union is not the geopolitical vision that motivates it, but how badly the entire project has gone,” argues Chris Miller, a PhD candidate at Yale University and a research associate with the Hoover Institution. Russian aggression is unnerving former...

Global Governance Reimagined – An “Astonishing Diversity” of Cooperation

Keith Porter September 12, 2014
Global governance is a reality. Packages, medical advice, diplomacy cross borders every day – “All this (and much more) happens every day within well-established rules thanks to global governance, which formalizes cooperative problem solving among nations,” writes Keith Porter, president and CEO of the Stanley Foundation for its publication Courier. The venues for global cooperation have expanded...

China to Hong Kong: You Can Vote, We Select the Candidates

George Chen September 11, 2014
After Beijing’s promise of universal suffrage for the 2017 election, Hong Kong, which was handed over to China by the British colonial ruler in 1997, had anticipated more democracy. But China dashed such hopes by announcing plans to pre-approve candidates for the election of a chief executive, explains George Chen, financial editor for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and a 2014 Yale...