In The News

Refugees and the “Globalization of Indifference”

Uri Friedman April 20, 2016
In 2013, Pope Francis met with immigrants in Lampedusa and warned about a “globalization of indifference.” Three years later, steady flows of refugees continue. “Francis has made the plight of migrants and refugees a core component of his pastoral work… by saying Christians should build bridges, not walls,” writes Uri Friedman for the Atlantic. “He’s argued that the wanderings of the dispossessed...

Insulting Erdogan: Merkel Falls Flat Over Satirical Poem

Stefan Kuzmany April 18, 2016
Free speech vents anger, and an ability to ignore insults, instead pursuing debate and analysis of good policies, lends power. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is moving ahead on prosecution of a comedian who made a crude satiric comment about the Turkish president in a crisis of state that reveals poor judgment and diminished power from both heads of state. A German law prohibits the insulting of...

China, Russia Seek to Profit as the EU Beacon of Democracy Goes Dim

Humphrey Hawksley April 5, 2016
“Not long ago the European Union stood as an unassailable beacon, a model for how trade and shared values could override historical hatreds and how a disparate collection of nations could work together under a single set of political values,” argues Humphrey Hawksley, BBC correspondent, in this YaleGlobal esssay. The EU is now vulnerable to the charms – and illusions – of authoritarian order....

Panama Papers: Leaks Spur Global Investigations

April 4, 2016
Investing funds in offshore accounts is not necessarily illegal, but avoiding taxes is a violation of local and national laws. “Eleven million documents were leaked from the secretive Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca,” reports BBC News. “They show how the company has helped some clients launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid tax.” The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists...

Rohingya Left Behind in Myanmar's Power Transition

Lucy Kafanov April 1, 2016
Inequality and an utter lack of health care, education and opportunity for a minority group of people does not reflect well on governance. “Denied citizenship and voting rights as well as access to proper medical care and education, the Rohingya have been largely left behind in Myanmar's widely-lauded transition to democracy following a November election that swept Aung San Suu Kyi's...

When Will the West Care About Terrorism in Pakistan?

Aaron David Miller March 29, 2016
European and US media devoted far more coverage to the March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels than those in Lahore on Easter Sunday. Coverage of attacks anywhere is generally shallow, alarmist and more descriptive than analytical. Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, criticizes the media and government response in the West by comparing casualty numbers,...

China’s NGOs Go Global

Reza Hasmath March 23, 2016
Economic growth has transformed China from aid recipient to donor nation, explains Reza Hasmath, a professor of political science: “[T]he majority of China’s overseas development assistance is directed at nations, notably in Africa and Southeast Asia, where it has a substantial stake in accessing natural resources and low cost human capital…. Suffice to say, China’s development assistance is...