In The News

The Forgotten Virtues of Free Trade

Frank Trentmann December 1, 2008
As an economic recession sweeps the world, the countries that have benefited most from free trade have now become wary. “Free trade is far from perfect, but the alternatives are worse,” insists Frank Trentmann, professor of history, in an essay for Project Syndicate. “Protectionism is bad for wealth, bad for democracy, and bad for peace.” Nations may attempt to protect a few select industries,...

Lucrative Piracy Business Thrives Off Somali Coast

November 20, 2008
Piracy represents a major source of income for the desert nation of Somalia, fragmented politically and lacking any central authority since the early 1990s. The nation on Africa’s eastern coast is desperately poor, with a per-capita GDP of $600. Poaching of fish stocks has stripped coastal waters, and years of conflict have left plenty of weapons in Somali hands. So some Somalis, armed with...

When Chocolate Is a Way of Life

Jill Santopietro November 20, 2008
The Quichua people of Ecuador are no longer simply cultivators of cacao, transforming their role into manufacturers and owners, by forming their own cooperative known as Kallari. “Chocolate making has always been less common in cacao producing countries than it has been in Europe, where the technology to create chocolate bars was developed and where such a luxury could be more easily afforded,”...

A Sea of Unwanted Imports

Matt Richtel November 19, 2008
Even as US automakers plead for government bailout funds, millions of dollars worth of foreign cars pile up at US docks. US Dealers decline the new vehicles because of a global credit crunch and consumer wariness about job loss. Japanese and German car companies resort to leasing space in US ports, and “They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking...

China’s New Foray Into Latin America

David Shambaugh November 17, 2008
The world’s most populous nation is rapidly forming trade, investment, technology, security, and cultural ties with developing nations around the globe and in particular Latin America. Latin America is “no longer content being the ‘backyard’ of the United States,” explains David Shambaugh, director of the China Policy Program with George Washington University and also with the Brookings...

Not a Bad Weekend’s Work

November 17, 2008
The Group of 20 meeting of world leaders did not offer solutions on the global economic crisis, but did produce a detailed plan for financial reform, including reviving the Doha Round on trade and pledging to avoid protectionism. “This was the first time that the leaders of all these rich and emerging economies – which between them represent almost 90% of global GDP – had gathered for an economic...

Renewal or Irrelevance: With Asia's Rise, Global Governance Must Be Reformed

Hitoshi Tanaka November 14, 2008
Existing global governance systems have foundations in the consequences of World War II and the Cold War, and Asia's recent emergence necessitates a shift in the power structure of these global institutions. Hitoshi Tanaka, former deputy minister of Japan and senior fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange, sees Asia's rise as a departure from the postwar recoveries of...