In The News

People Will Pay if Army Fails Challenge of Political Islam

Amin Saikal August 15, 2013
Political Islam in Egypt – with the democratic election of Mohamed Morsi and one chaotic year in office – took an ideological approach to government, failing to compromise with other forces in society that led the revolution against Mubarak’s dictatorship. After deposing Morsi, the Egyptian military has cracked down on his party, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other supporters. Conservative...

Egypt Highlights Race Between Trade and Terror

Humphrey Hawksley August 15, 2013
The Arab Spring protests, with demands for representative government and economic stability, have disintegrated into violent power struggles. After one year, Egypt’s military removed the first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, from power and cracked down on protests by his supporters, leaving more than 500 dead. Violence unfolds in Syria, Libya, Tunisia and Iraq, too. Building...

The Asian Overhang

Nayan Chanda August 8, 2013
Investors in search of high returns move quickly in selecting economic winners and losers – and they have become wary about the potential for growth in emerging markets. The International Monetary Fund has pared early projections of global growth. “China’s failure to come to grips with its debt overhang and India’s fatal attraction to populist economic policies could combine to drag the world...

For Stability, Japan Needs Political Reform

Frances McCall Rosenbluth July 30, 2013
The political certainty that comes with a landslide victory in July and the Liberal Democratic Party’s control of both houses of the Japanese parliament may be short-lived. And while the conservative LDP has held steady power in Japan since 1955, except for two brief periods, a win does not mean the country is headed for one-party rule. The parliament remains fractured, showing fundamental...

Mob Rule

Christian Caryl July 26, 2013
Organized crime is linked to trade in illegal drugs, human trafficking, poaching, internet scams, tax evasion or counterfeit goods – and relies on greed to lure cooperation of some law-enforcement and political leaders. The World Economic Forum estimates illegal activities represent 8 percent of global trade. “Mobsters thrive on instability,” Christian Caryl writes for Foreign Policy, whether...

Why Egypt Matters

Sallama Shaker July 25, 2013
Democracy does not stop with elections, argues Sallama Shaker, a former Egyptian ambassador and former assistant minister of foreign affairs, who is now a visiting professor at Yale University. Transition of power in Egypt, with the military ousting the democratically elected president and promising elections soon, followed massive protests. Egyptians of all ages, placing their trust in the...

The Detroit Syndrome

Sanjeev Sanyal July 25, 2013
Emerging economies are urbanizing at a brisk pace, and mid-level cities should take note of the lessons from the bankruptcy filing of what was once the fifth largest in the United States, suggests Sanjeev Sanyal, global strategist for Deutsche Bank. The internet and other technologies have spurred growth of urban centers, rather than diminished it as analysts once predicted. The young gravitate...