In The News

Applying the Responsibility to Protect to Syria

Bennett Ramberg March 5, 2012
More than 9000 people have been reported killed in a year of Syrian unrest, after the government used troops and tanks to crack down on determined protesters, and thousands of Syrian refugees try to escape the violence by crossing into Lebanon and Turkey. Human rights advocates had lauded application of the United Nations’ Responsibility to Protect doctrine in Libya to end the violence by Muammar...

For US, Europe’s Debt Woes Are an Ocean Away

Bruce Stokes February 13, 2012
Ignoring the European debt crisis is reckless for a major economy like the US – though riots in the streets of Athens, a reaction to austerity measures, may prompt new heed. Bruce Stokes points to many reasons for the US to act swiftly on the euro-crisis: Nearly 60 percent of overseas profits for US multinationals come from the continent, with 20 percent of US exports headed to Europe; austerity...

Syrian Massacres: World Has No Appetite for Intervention

Fahad Nazer January 23, 2012
The Arab Spring galvanized Sunni Syrians’ discontent with Alawite dictator Bashar al Assad who has since used tanks and armed gangs in an unrelenting crackdown on protests. After recent suicide blasts, the Syrian government quickly blamed Al Qaeda, although no groups stepped forward to claim credit, while opposition leaders questioned if the government orchestrated the attacks to provide cover...

Global Implications of China’s Challenges – Part II

Borje Ljunggren January 18, 2012
Speculative bubbles and problematic governance in large economies can quickly spill over to disrupt other economies. This two-part YaleGlobal series analyzes global and local challenges facing China and their impact. In the second and final article, Borje Ljunggren, former Swedish ambassador to China, writes that a protest over corruption in the village of Wukan, Guangdong, shows in a microcosm...

A Global Consensus to Rise and Occupy

Laurence Brahm December 15, 2011
The year 2011 has given rise to a wave of peaceful protests around the globe. In Tunisia, Egypt, Europe, the United States and now even Russia, citizens organize via social media, convene in public spaces and protest policies that fail to protect the public interest. Alarm is building about governments and corporations that mismanage diminishing resources, argues Laurence Brahm, attorney and...

The Bloc That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Graham Usher November 24, 2011
The Arab Spring has brought to the forefront a dominant dichotomy in the UN Security Council between human rights and sovereignty: The US and EU tend to support the former, while Russia and China tend to advocate the latter. Global observers had hoped that the emerging powers known as IBSA – India, Brazil and South Africa – might break the deadlock. Indeed, they had promised a voice from the...

The Globalization of Protest

Joseph E. Stiglitz November 8, 2011
A protest movement against corporate power, inequality and governments that do not serve citizens has gone global. From the Arab Spring protests that began in Tunisia to the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, protesters question if the interests of a few trump the overall common good, explains Joseph E. Stiglitz in an essay for Project Syndicate. Stiglitz notes that “around the world,...