In The News

Fewer Babies Pose Difficult Challenges for Europe

Joseph Chamie October 8, 2007
Over the next few decades, Europe's population level is expected to fall by nearly 70 million people, or 10 percent of its current level, even accounting for policies that promote immigration and reproduction. Birth rates have fallen significantly below replacement levels throughout Europe, and the continent's median age steadily climbs. As Joseph Chamie of the Center for Migration...

Thanks China, Now Go Home: Buy-up of Zambia Revives Old Colonial Fears

Chris McGreal October 5, 2007
Sino-African trade has reached unprecedented levels, but the debate over its benefits for Africa rages on. Intent on acquiring natural resources to continue its blistering rate of economic growth, China turns to African nations for oil, metals and other valuables. In return, African governments, like the one in Zambia, receive huge aid and development packages and loans at below-market rates...

Trade and Security Trump Democracy in Burma – Part II

Salil Tripathi October 4, 2007
Human-rights abuses in Burma have caused worldwide outrage, with no effect on the regime. This series analyzes external influences on the junta that controls Burma. Western activists who pressure businesses rather than supportive governments do not maximize their resources or influence, argues writer and Asian specialist Salil Tripathi, in the second article of the two-part series. Assuming that...

Trade and Security Trump Democracy in Burma – Part I

Bertil Lintner October 3, 2007
Burma, called Myanmar by its current rulers, is rich with natural resources, yet one of the poorest nations in Asia. All resources go toward keeping the current regime in power, and the military junta relies on violent repression to stop Buddhist monks and activists marching in protest to seek political and economic reform. This two-part YaleGlobal series analyzes the international response. In...

The New AIPAC?

Mira Kamdar October 3, 2007
Inspired by the success of AIPAC and other lobbying organizations in forging a pro-Israeli American foreign policy, Indian-American groups are beginning to hit their stride. The biggest success for what World Policy Institute fellow Mira Kamdar calls the "India lobby" has been the overwhelming passage through the US Congress of a nuclear-cooperation deal that would legitimize India...

Burma's Brutal Crackdown Continues

October 3, 2007
Although the streets of Yangon, Burma's largest city are now quiet and empty of protesters, the killing has not stopped. Der Spiegel correspondents report that police forces have invaded monasteries in the area, imprisoning and executing dissenters under the cover of darkness. Although the world condemns violence against unarmed protesters, some authorities see cause for hope. British...

Towns Rethink Laws Against Illegal Immigrants

Ken Belson October 1, 2007
An anti-immigrant fire has swept the American landscape over the past two years, and immigrants are not the only ones scorched. Laws passed in more than 30 US towns, penalizing anyone who employed or rented to illegal immigrants, sent thousands running and left local businesses empty of customers. The laws, intended in part to eliminate the wage suppression typically associated with large illegal...