In The News

Do You Really Want This Job?

David Dapice October 24, 2008
An era of the US living beyond its means has come to an abrupt end, with a flailing stock market and credit freeze, mounting job losses, wages that do not keep pace with climbing housing prices, and the world’s costliest health care system that fails to cover all citizens. The next US president, to be decided in the November 4 election, will inherit a battered economy that restrains any US role...

The Russian Challenge – Part I

Katinka Barysch October 3, 2008
The US and Europe increasingly seem at odds over an assertive Russia, flush with oil money, strong militarily and ambitious with an educated, nationalistic population. This two-part YaleGlobal series explores the implications for Europe, the US and the world. In the first of the series, Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the European Centre for Reform notes many common interests held by the US...

Russia and a New Democratic Realism

Francis Fukuyama September 12, 2008
The weakened Russia of the 1990s has bulked up into a formidable nation that makes the former satellites of the Soviet Union uneasy. In the meantime, the US allowed negotiation opportunities and moral credibility to slip away. The US invasion of Iraq and support of separation for Kosovo handed an excuse to others that might invade sovereign states for regime change or disgruntled provinces that...

A Door Opens for Reform in Pakistan – Part I

Paula R. Newberg August 21, 2008
With President Pervez Musharraf finally gone, Pakistan has been celebrating amidst political chaos not unusual for a reborn democracy. Major powers and neighbors who have an interest in Pakistan’s success cannot afford a “wait and see” attitude, suggests Paula Newberg in the first article of a two-part series. The current government must work to restore citizens’ faith in institutions that are...

Triumph of the Witless

Joshua Kurlantzick July 16, 2008
The Burmese junta has been in power since 1962, and Cyclone Nargis did little to sweep them out of power. In the cyclone’s aftermath, the generals continue to exploit their strengths and resources, often at the expense of the Burmese citizens. For example, when the junta lost an election in 1990 but refused to relinquish power, they lost international support only temporarily, because Burma has...

The EU in an Irish Bog

Roger Cohen June 19, 2008
Winston Churchill once observed that the problems with democracy could be understood after talking five minutes with the average voter. Expressing frustrations en masse, voters are impatient, often lashing out at politicians or policies that would serve the long-term interests of society. Such an example is Irish voters’ rejection of renegotiation of the Lisbon Treaty, which would smooth...

Rid of Violence, a Reforming Bosnia Emerges as a Model

Humphrey Hawksley June 12, 2008
The history and circumstances of conflict in Bosnia and Iraq vary in many ways. But the bottom line is that swift US intervention succeeded in ending civil strife and genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The political planning for Bosnia since the 1995 peace agreement, with the international community deeply engaged in shaping it as a modern European state, could serve as a model for Iraq and...