In The News

The Court Rules in Pakistan

Paula Newberg June 21, 2012
Pakistan has a history of its civilian government being removed from power by the military, and last week the country’s Supreme Court mounted what could be the first judicial coup. As Pakistan faces terrorist challenges, political turmoil and economic crises, the activist Supreme Court has compounded the challenges – ruling that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani’s contempt-of-court conviction...

Standoff in the South China Sea

Carlyle A. Thayer June 12, 2012
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, designates boundaries for the seas, sorting out nation’s rights to fish and exploit other resources, including gas and oil. An offshore island, defined as a naturally formed feature with an economic function, is entitled to a 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone; rocks are entitled to 12 nautical miles of territorial waters, but not an...

China’s New Flexibility on Foreign Intervention

Johan Lagerkvist May 29, 2012
Authoritarian regimes around the world took note as protests spread swiftly throughout the Middle East, spurred by deep societal anger and the internet. Global powers had to take a stance, whether to side with brutal, corrupt, even delusional dictators or with citizens demanding justice and human rights. With its investments reaching every corner of the globe, China has struggled to rationalize...

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...

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...

Why Did the Arab League Tyrants’ Club Finally Turn on Syria?

Shashank Joshi November 22, 2011
Member states of the Arab League are notorious for harsh treatment of their citizens and nonchalance about neighbors. But greater concern about regional stability and its effect on their own power have transformed attitudes. In March the league supported Western intervention in Libya and in November voted to suspend Syria for its relentless crackdowns on protesters. Civil war in Syria would be...

Europe Sneezes, India Catches a Cold

Nayan Chanda November 2, 2011
Cooperation could prevent contagion stemming from the Greek debt crisis, explains Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal’s editor, in a column for the Times of India. The 17 members of the eurozone shared a monetary policy without common fiscal regulation. Reckless borrowing ensued. A negotiated bailout requires setting up a $1.4 trillion rescue fund along with reforms. So far, Greece and Italy resist...