In The News

U.S. Independence Day

July 4, 2002
A recent series of developments – from the US rejection of the Kyoto Protocol to the imposition of tariffs on steel imports to opposition to the International Criminal Court – has been raising questions about American leadership in a globalized world. An editorial in the Jakarta Post notes “Perhaps it is in the nature of a sole superpower to act unilaterally on major global issues without wasting...

Pakistanis Fume as Clothing Sales to the U.S. Tumble

Keith Bradsher June 23, 2002
Local and domestic interests are often at odds with broad issues of global concern. However, a recent New York Times dispatch from Pakistan shows how competing global policies can also create conflict in the local sphere, resulting in global ramifications. By pursuing trade 'fast-track' authority, the Bush administration has adopted a course of action that could directly impinge upon...

Managing Terrorism: An Indonesian Perspective

Matori Abdul Djalil June 4, 2002
Matori Abdul Djalil, the Minister of Defense of Indonesia, argues for a multilateral approach to fight terrorism in an address before the Asian Security Conference. He also notes the worry that this war will be seen as battle between the Western and Islamic world. Djalil places the war against terrorism as one priority in many for Indonesia. In the post-Suharto period, fostering democracy and...

The War on What?

Thomas Friedman May 8, 2002
With the end of the Cold War, the United States shifted its policy of supporting any regime that would repel communism to supporting the expansion of democracy. This policy change helped overthrow the Indonesian military dictator, Suharto, and strengthen a budding democratic system. New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, writes that Indonesians now are worried that the newest US policy shift...

Foreign Distillers Seek to Slake India's Thirst

Saritha Rai May 5, 2002
Diminished social disapproval of alcohol consumption among India's middle class, coupled with a national economy increasingly open to foreign investment, is attracting big foreign distillers to India. For decades, India vigilantly regulated foreign investment, choosing instead to bolster and develop its local industries. With increased pressure from the World Trade Organization (WTO) to...

Bush Trades His Principles

Jagdish Bhagwati April 17, 2002
President George W. Bush is supposed to stand for free trade and open immigration. However, his recent policies speak otherwise. New steel tariffs have been applied in a preferential fashion, and immigration initiatives favor Mexicans. While some friends of the U.S., like Brazil, South Africa, and South Korea, are exempt from steel tariffs, the E.U. is not. And although the Immigration and...

The War on Terrorism Takes Aim at Crime

James Dao April 7, 2002
The United States has expanded the global war on terrorism to include fighting drug and crime syndicates that operate in countries across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. Officials are targeting these networks because evidence shows a complex nexus between crime, drugs, and terrorism. The link between these networks has strengthened since the end of the Cold War, when terrorist...