In The News

IT-Savvy Army Takes Modi’s Campaign to New Levels

Victor Mallet May 19, 2014
Candidates who gain the early support of young workers in the IT and finance industries can distribute their messages far and wide. High-tech projectors and satellite dishes allowed Narendra Modi, now India’s prime minister-designate, to address more than 100 simultaneous meetings each night. “The nationwide deployment of 10-foot high holograms of Mr Modi – requiring scores of shipping containers...

India’s Shinzo Abe

Brahma Chellaney May 16, 2014
Indian voters have handed a landslide victory to the Bharatiya Janata Party, ushering in Narendra Modi as prime minister. For the first time in 30 years, India will not need to hobble together a coalition government. Brahma Chellaney, of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, compares Modi to Japan’s Shinzo Abe: “Like Abe, Modi is expected to focus on reviving India’s economic fortunes...

Central Demands

Nayan Chanda May 8, 2014
Corruption and economic stagnation go hand in hand, and voters in India are hungry for change, suggests Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online. But big challenges – including a lack of jobs for the young, budget deficits, inflation and a regulatory morass – along with the need for coalition partners could delay change. “The formation of a new government may well alleviate some investor...

Yingluck’s Out. Now What, Thailand?

May 7, 2014
Polarization and a rural-urban divide are paralyzing Thai politics. A court removed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, opening “a new and dangerous chapter in the implacable eight-year struggle between an amalgam of royalists, businessmen and the Bangkok elite, on one side, and the political empire headed by Yingluck’s brother, fugitive tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, on the other,” reports Asia...

In Global Health, Abortion Bears the Scarlet A

Jill Filipovic April 30, 2014
Abortion poses a moral dilemma – ending the life of a child, but sometimes saving lives of individual women. Illegal, unsafe abortions have been cited as a leading cause of maternal death globally and a driver of gender inequality. “U.S. foreign policy exacerbates this global public health crisis, perpetuating a culture of stigma, silence and inaction around a leading killer of women,” argues...

Differing Approaches to Immigration on Two Sides of the Atlantic

Michael Mandelbaum April 24, 2014
Politicians opposed to immigration are making electoral gains throughout Europe, and legislators in the United States are also polarized over immigration reform, especially the status of an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. Michael Mandelbaum, author and international studies professor, argues that “immigration has become a major and contentious political issue in the world’s...

Asia’s Big Democracies Head to the Polls

Pallavi Aiyar April 17, 2014
Unity in Diversity is a motto for both India and Indonesia, and ongoing elections demonstrate that Asia’s two largest democracies have much in common, explains journalist and author Pallavi Aiyar. Election operations are complex and impressive, considering that India has more than 800 million registered voters and Indonesia has nearly 200 million. “Noisy political rallies, outspoken trade...