In The News

Chinese Cell Phone Breaches North Korean Hermit Kingdom

Rebecca MacKinnon January 17, 2005
International interest in Northeast Asian affairs has focused primarily on the stalemate between Pyongyang and Washington. Across North Korea's northern and southern borders, however, business and technology - particularly in the telecommunications industry - are booming. With Chinese telecom companies setting up relay stations near the border, an increasing number of North Koreans may now...

What Place for Women?

Mona Makram Ebeid January 14, 2005
Women's participation in politics has increased greatly in the past few decades, as governments, interest groups, and United Nations agencies pushed for various national measures. Even some Arab countries, which generally bear the world's lowest percentages of female representation, have achieved impressive numerical leaps. Behind these improvements are measures such as quotas for women...

Quality Drugs, by the Kilo

Paul McGeough January 13, 2005
Three years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the country's narcotics industry is booming. Last year, 87 percent of the world's opium originated from the Afghan trade, and the United Nations has recently warned that the country - trading about US $2.8 billion in drugs - is becoming a "narco-state." And thus, despite the West's tough talk about eliminating the...

Japan's Laborious Dilemma

David McNeill January 13, 2005
The Japanese approach to immigration has been characterized as xenophobic, at worst, and ambivalent, at best. While a free-trade agreement with the Philippines was celebrated for allowing increased access for overseas caretakers, a subsequent policy restricting entertainment visas may result in a net loss of over 70,000 foreign workers. According to David McNeill, Japan's consistently...

Is the World Falling Out of Love with US Brands?

Dan Roberts January 5, 2005
A recent marketing survey revealed that 64 of the most significant global brands belong to US companies. But according to this Financial Times piece, American brands may be losing their international dominance. With the unpopular military campaign in Iraq and allegations of human rights abuses, US foreign policy has inspired ire among many of the world's citizens. Now, some experts...

A Thaw in South Asia? – Part II

Huma Fakhar December 27, 2004
Improved relations between South Asia's two most prominent states, India and Pakistan, are crucial to the region's ascending global profile, write Huma Fakhar and Jean-Pierre Lehmann. Encouraging diplomatic developments have diluted some of the hostile sentiments of shared by the two countries, which were once on a path to nuclear war. If intra-regional trade would heat up, as well,...

Turkey's Muslim Identity Did Not Prevent Turkey's Intense Relations with Europe

Abdullah Gil December 16, 2004
The debate surrounding Turkey's inclusion as a member of the European Union has prompted a process of political and economic reform that has been remarkably successful and has received widespread popular support. Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul writes that his country has demonstrated a commitment to internal restructuring merits recognition by the European and global community....