In The News

Rethinking Labor Mobility

Harold James January 4, 2017
Trade, automation and other facets of globalization have eliminated some careers. One solution is for government to provide an unconditional basic income, but that may not eliminate resentment. Historian Harold James examines how artisans recovered after losing work during the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries: “many displaced workers emigrated – often long distances across...

The Stakes of Italy’s Referendum

Mario Margiocco November 28, 2016
Italy votes December 4 on a referendum on constitutional reforms –including reducing the size of the upper house of parliament and reinforcing separation of powers. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised to step down if voters reject the referendum. “A defeat for Renzi will be read as a victory for Italy’s two major populist parties: the Lega Nord and the larger Five Star Movement, led by the...

The Losers of Deglobalization

Pierpaolo Barbieri November 22, 2016
Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency both rode to success on a wave of nationalistic fervor, based on the view that globalization on balance harms the UK and the US. Yet the histories of those countries demonstrate that economic protectionism can lead to political instability and worse, total war. In the 1930s, devaluation of British and American currencies, in the aim of making their own goods...

China's Leaders Consolidate Power

Frank Ching November 3, 2016
China’s Xi Jinping is the second leader of the People’s Republic of China to be designated “core” of party leadership. Deng Xiaoping “invented the title ‘core,’ bestowing it on Jiang Zemin, whom he chose as the party leader after the tumult of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 and the downfall of General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, who had sympathized with protesting students,” explains...

The Decline of the West, and How to Stop It

Javier Solana and Strobe Talbott October 25, 2016
Western democracy’s many achievements are in jeopardy as cooperation erodes at both the global and national levels, warn Javier Solana, former secretary general of NATO, and Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution. “A vital lesson of the modern era is that internationalism has stabilized the world, while lapses into bellicose nationalism have wreaked havoc,” the two write. Nations...

China Turns on Charm Offensive for Bhutan

Bertil Lintiner September 22, 2016
Bhutan is nestled among the Himalayas and between Asia’s two giant powers – India to the south and China to the north. The small kingdom, a country of 750,000, has long had ties with India. So India watches closely as China steps up attempts to settle longstanding border differences and strengthen ties with Bhutanese leaders including Foreign Minister Damcho Dorji who visited Beijing in August....

Will South Africa Split Apart?

David Adler August 8, 2016
Majority control by South Africa’s dominant political party is slipping in metropolitan areas. “The ANC has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, but it faces growing threats from the left, from the right, and from within the party itself,” explains David Adler for Foreign Affairs, as voters reject “economic stagnation, official corruption, and poor public services.” The hope is...