In The News

Spirit of the Wombles

Libby Brooks May 20, 2008
The anti-globalization movement captured world attention in the 1990s. But media coverage quickly shifted to terrorist attacks, wars, climate change and other problems, writes Libby Brooks for the Guardian. “Even if 9/11 hadn't happened, it's doubtful whether the anti-globalisation movement could have been sustained,” writes Brooks. “Its membership was too disparate, its aims too vague...

Crisis and Response – Part I

Ramesh Thakur May 19, 2008
In today’s connected world, news of human disaster anywhere brings immediate sympathy and offers of international assistance. The recent tragedy to hit Burma is no exception. What’s different is the attitude of the ruling military junta, which declined most assistance, denying entry to relief workers and insisting the country could manage the aftermath on its own. Nothing could show the contrast...

Balance of Payments: What a Bash

Bruce Stokes May 16, 2008
Americans voters have soured on “free trade.” US politicians, however, have remained remarkably restrained in their criticism of one of their nation’s most high-profile trading partners – the People’s Republic of China. US presidential candidates have spared China the criticism that has otherwise been directed towards economic bogeymen like NAFTA, even as some segments of the US public, such as...

For Talks to Succeed, China Must Admit to a Tibet Problem

Michael C. Davis May 16, 2008
China’s hard-line policy towards Tibet creates more problems than it solves. Beijing’s recent crackdown on Tibetan protesters has attracted condemnation from around the world, but did nothing to address the underlying problems in Tibet itself. If Beijing is serious about securing Tibet’s long-term future as part of China, it needs to put aside its past enmity towards the Dalai Lama – and...

Superclass and the Inequity of Globalization

David Rothkopf May 14, 2008
The free-market principles that drive global trade of goods, services and ideas often run counter to notions of institutional regulation. According to David Rothkopf, author and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, this void in global governance has facilitated the rise of a “superclass” of elites, numbering about 6,000, whose actions impact millions of lives. The...

McCain's Gift to the Green Movement

Eric Pooley May 14, 2008
With US presidential candidates in agreement on the need for action on climate change, debate has been limited on the topic, thus disappointing environmentalists. The Republican candidate, John McCain, has had to distance himself from the policies of a fellow Republican – President George Bush. Climate change is one area, with McCain opposing his party’s stance since 2000. With presumptive...

Why White Zimbabwean Farmers Plan to Stay in Nigeria

Sarah Simpson May 13, 2008
Zimbabwe was in a state of confusion before the March 29 elections. By most accounts, the opposition party won, but the ruling party of President Robert Mugabe continues to contest the results and harass the winners. Under Mugabe’s mismanagement, the one-time rich agricultural nation has inflation of 165,000 percent, 80 percent unemployment, with malnourishment afflicting nearly half the...