In The News

Each Nation for Itself?

July 28, 2003
The World Trade Organization's 146 member nations will have a lot to talk about when they sit down in Cancun, Mexico in early September. With 23 categories of trade issues on the agenda, says this editorial in Singapore's Straits Times, one may reasonably wonder how much agreement can be reached in five short days. Member nations seem to be more divided than together, with heavy...

Japan's Neglected Resource: Female Workers

Howard W. French July 25, 2003
Inequality in Japan's workplace is not only keeping Japanese women down, but also Japan itself. With population decline threatening huge labor shortages and possible economic collapse, it would seem Japan might be eager to tap into an underutilized segment of the population. Indeed, many experts maintain that expanding the role of women in the workplace could be the best stimulus for Japan...

Hail Britannia!

Immanuel Wallerstein July 25, 2003
In the lead up to the invasion of Iraq – and especially with the difficulties the US has encountered since – there is a renewed interest in the historical experience of past imperial efforts. Not surprisingly, the publication of British historian Niall Ferguson's provocative history of the British Empire has aroused special interest. In this review of the book, noted historian and World...

What the Millennium Development Compact Means

Romeo Austria Reyes July 23, 2003
Although slow progress in aid, trade, and debt relief casts doubt on the feasibility of the Millennium Development Goals and the sincerity of rich nations to the Millennium Development Compact, Indonesia is generally making good progress toward realizing the development objectives. However, inter-provincial inequalities are plentiful. To ensure the good national trend is matched at the sub-...

Norway vs. the Glass Ceiling

Lizette Alvarez July 14, 2003
Women could soon find themselves much more at home in boardrooms across Norway. Part of a legislative trend spreading across Europe, at summer's end Norway's parliament is expected to reconfigure the sex ratio of corporate boardrooms so that women will occupy 40 percent of board seats by 2007. The bill is drawing concern from domestic business groups but arrives at a time when the...

Can the Third World Spend the AIDS Money Well?

Alan Beattie July 13, 2003
At the upcoming international conference on AIDS, much of the discussion will focus on ways to improve how the developing world utilizes funds for AIDS education, prevention, and treatment. In the past, similar concerns over the use of anti-AIDS funds led to the creation of the Global Fund, which allows aid to bypass weak and often corrupt governments in developing countries. This centralized...

Immigrants May Be Forced to Learn German

Aaron Kirchfeld July 11, 2003
Under a proposed bill, all new immigrants and foreigners residing in Germany who receive welfare and unemployment benefits would be required to enroll in a German language course. Reduced welfare and unemployment benefits, apart from difficulty in becoming a permanent resident, would be the penalties for not taking the course. Proponents of the bill believe that language will reduce barriers to...