In The News

The Patent Controversy

Rajeev Dhavan December 10, 2004
As India's Parliament rushes through the Third Patents Amendment, the important social justice and equity issues are being ignored, says the author in India’s newspaper, The Hindu. The pressure to pass this law before January 1, 2005 came from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the US, which hold the implicit threat of retaliation and non-compliance under WTO provisions. However, argues...

Learning the Hard Way in Kosovo

Alkman Granitsas December 9, 2004
A newly released report on UN reform suggests that the path be cleared for the world organization to intervene in sovereign nations and send peacekeepers to places like Darfur or Rwanda. But before rushing the blue berets to the next political crisis, the international community would do well to learn from past missteps in other parts of the world. In the past 15 years, the nature of peacekeeping...

Australia's Howard Wants to Have the Cake and Eat It Too

Ross Peake November 29, 2004
Fresh off a convincing victory in recent elections, conservative Australian Prime Minister John Howard has stuck to an uncompromising approach to regional security issues. As the first Australian leader to attend a meeting of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN), Howard managed to upset neighboring countries by refusing to sign a non-aggression treaty. This leaves Australia politically...

Microentrepreneurs' Contribution to Microcredit Too Long Ignored

Ron Luhur November 17, 2004
Banks and credit facilities have long been hailed for providing small loans, or microcredit, to the poor so they can start businesses and thus raise themselves from poverty. And indeed, thanks to these loans, 94 percent of the business entities in Indonesia are small businesses, employing over 136 million people, or two-thirds of the population. But credit institutions are not alone in igniting...

A Rampaging Market, but a Long Way from Global Power

Isabel Hilton November 13, 2004
Many observers in the West have in recent years greeted China's steamrolling economic growth with unabashed optimism and glee. Yet amidst predictions of imminent superpower-dom, China faces stark internal inequalities that threaten to derail its lofty aspirations. While much of its urban population enjoys the material advantages and growing freedoms of recent reforms, 900 million people...

Grassroots Versus Globalism

Janadas Devan November 12, 2004
When India's ruling party suffered a surprising defeat in April elections, a myth that had been woven through the nation came unraveled. Though the Indian government had beamed optimistically about its robust economic growth and burgeoning urban middle class, most Indians remained in rural areas mired in poverty. The losing BJP party had failed to reconcile the major paradox of globalization...

From Boom to Bloom

November 10, 2004
The lifting of millions of Chinese out of poverty constitutes one of the world’s greatest success stories in economic development. Yet behind the bold headlines touting this miracle remain problems that could undermine China’s success. The central government recently raised interest rates in order to prevent economic growth from overextending the country’s resources. And it has also committed...