In The News

Race and the Social Contract

Eduardo Porter April 3, 2008
The United States has a long history of both racial diversity and racial discord – a history that has traditionally distinguished it from many nations in Europe. The US also distinguishes itself from Europe on another score, by not adopting the large-scale spending on social programs that characterize the modern European welfare state. Eduardo Porter in the New York Times suggests that these two...

Tibetan Olympiad

Nayan Chanda April 1, 2008
China’s rise as an economic superpower since 1989 has justified Deng Xiaoping's open door policy. As the world’s second largest economy, China seeks to further strengthen global ties by hosting the Olympics. However, as China moves into the spotlight, the country is under extensive scrutiny and protest. Activists in Darfur wish China to end its support for the regime in the Sudan. Anti-...

Taiwan’s Success Could Show the Way for Tibet

Humphrey Hawksley March 31, 2008
Demands of the global supply chain and tightly interconnected trade have tempered both China’s rejection of capitalist ways and the West’s criticism of politics and human rights in the world’s largest communist country. But independence movements in Taiwan and Tibet have the potential for ruffling relations. The Taiwanese-Chinese relationship – avoiding direct political control while continuing...

EU Weighs Olympic Boycott Over Tibet

Robert Marquand March 28, 2008
As protesters in Tibet plead for religious freedom and other human rights from Chinese authorities, China insists that the Dalai Lama is the troublemaker, trying to disrupt plans for the August Beijing Olympics. But that claim has not convinced Europe, whose leaders call for restraint and point out that the Dalai Lama did not call for an Olympics boycott, reports Robert Marquand for the Christian...

Planned Chinatown Raises Hackles in Rural Germany

Markus Feldenkirchen March 25, 2008
The city council of rural Oranienburg has approved construction of a Chinatown for its community, but agreement has stopped there. While Germans demand meticulous and time-consuming documentation and construction that conforms to city codes, the Chinese would prefer informal and rapid “guan xi” decision-making. The definition of “home” can increasingly blur as local flavors change with the influx...

Iraq: Teachers Told to Rewrite History

Richard Garner March 19, 2008
A 1996 British law requires balance in the teaching of political issues. But on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, Britain’s biggest teacher union gives low grades to a lesson plan devised by the Ministry of Defence that includes no mention of Iraqi civilian casualties or the lack of United Nations’ approval for the war. The teachers question why the lesson plans rely on US spellings...

Are the Grandkids Worth the Money?

Eduardo Porter March 14, 2008
Any society can be judged by how much it cares for future generations - by preserving a record of history and also conserving resources and the environment. Some public spending reflects regard for future generations, and writing for the New York Times, Eduardo Porto poses the question: How much should the world sacrifice today to abate future costs of climate change? Much of modern society...