In The News

Donald Trump, Viktor Orban and the West’s Great Walls

Gideon Rachman March 4, 2016
Fear encourages isolation, and in the course of a few decades, Republican politicians in the United States have shifted from demanding that East Germany tear down the Berlin wall to demanding a massive wall along the US border with Mexico. Europe, too, is adding barriers to block refugees fleeing war in the Middle East. “The journey from Reagan to Trump – from tearing down walls to putting them...

Free Trade Under Threat

Nayan Chanda February 29, 2016
Anxiety is spreading in the world’s wealthiest nations about unemployment, inequality and economic uncertainty due to outsourcing, global supply chains and big trade agreements. The wages of ordinary workers stagnate while corporate earnings soar. Sizable blocs of voters angrily resist trade agreements, immigration and protections for refugees. “The US presidential elections in November promise...

Africa’s Rising Middle Class – And Why It Matters

Tom Jackson February 25, 2016
There are varying reports on the exact size of Africa’s middle class. Depending on definitions and income levels, the middle class could represent 6 percent or 34 percent of the overall population, reports Tom Jackson for New Africa Magazine. Yet analysts agree that consumer markets, opportunities and technological advances are expanding. The population is young, and the continent’s median age...

Why More Defense Spending Could Slow Technology Growth

Satyajit Das February 24, 2016
Scientific research in any sector introduces innovations that deliver new products and jobs for society. The science during periods of peace may produce more innovations than the science of war, and Satyajit Das, writing for MarketWatch, points to the end of the Cold War as an example: “scientific and mathematical resources previously employed in the defense-industrial infrastructure were...

Opportunities, Not Oppression, to Stop Illegal Mining in the Peruvian Amazon

David J.X. Gonzalez February 18, 2016
Environmental degradation and human-rights abuses are often associated with small, illegal mining operations around the world. Peru, among the world's major gold producers, offers a case study on how local development could help solving a global problem. About 20 percent of Peru’s gold production comes from illegal and informal mines, and a crackdown on the small miners causes more problems...

Asia Should Not Delay on South China Sea Disputes

Humphrey Hawksley February 9, 2016
The US military is challenging China’s claims to 90 percent of the South China Sea that includes some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. “The unpredictability of the American presidential election now heightens the risk because inevitably it will come with ramped-up anti-China campaign rhetoric,” reports BBC journalist Humphrey Hawksley. The United States and countries in Asia are divided...

Africa’s Success Story

John Feffer February 5, 2016
Though Botswana relied almost exclusively on its diamond wealth, its economy has grown steadily since 1966, rivaling China and South Korea’s growth rates. Good governance allowed Botswana to avoid the resource curse that afflicted many of its neighbors. Botswana’s diamond-producing industry is lucrative and provides well-paying, often unionized jobs to locals. Recently, diamond companies have...