In The News

Filipino Catholic Church Continues to Fight Family Planning

Marilen J. Danguilan January 13, 2016
In 2012, the Philippines enacted the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, providing for family planning. But implementing the law has not been easy with opposition from the Catholic Church. “The law polarized the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, with a growing 100 million population,” writes Marilen J. Danguilan for Asia Sentinel. Opponents have removed funding for...

In Final State of the Union, Obama Lays Out “4 Big Questions” for Future

Gregory Korte January 13, 2016
US President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union addressed trends in globalization long analyzed by YaleGlobal Online: growing global concern and support for policies to stem climate change, the threat of terrorism lurking among civilian populations, increasing reliance on technology and changing nature of work, the need for global cooperation to combat disease, the dangers and distraction of...

The Spread of Wahhabism and the West’s Responsibility to the World

Karen Armstrong December 28, 2015
Colonial arrangements, business deals and support of authoritarian leaders have contributed to the instability of the Middle East, argues author Karen Armstrong for the NewStatesman. She is among the many analysts who key in on Saudi Arabia, using oil wealth to proselytize a fundamentalist form of Islam around the globe: “Wahhabism originated in the Arabian peninsula during the 18th century as an...

Number of Workers per Retiree Declines Worldwide

Joseph Chamie December 22, 2015
Most governments must juggle budgets and confront the fact that the world has fewer people of working age to support the swelling ranks of the elderly. Joseph Chamie, a demographer, analyzes the Potential Support Ratio, or PSR, and suggests the statistic could reveal more about the overall health of an economy than GDP or other common indicators. “The PSR has weighty implications for governments...

Coalition of the Unwilling: Merkel's Plan B Could Mean End of Schengen

Peter Müller, Ralf Neukirch and Andreas Ulrich December 11, 2015
European leaders are meeting behind closed doors to tighten the continent’s external borders and stem the flow of refugees from areas of conflict in the Middle East. Spiegel Online reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks to finalize a deal that includes Turkey: “Essentially, it calls for Europe to provide billions in aid to Turkey in exchange for Ankara doing all it can to prevent...

The World Reacts to Candidate’s Proposed Ban on Muslims Entering US

Annie Gowen December 8, 2015
The leading Republican candidate for US president handed the Islamic State terrorists a new recruiting message by proposing a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Other candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, swiftly condemned the proposal as “unhinged” and “unconstitutional.” The billionaire, a former reality television star known for extemporaneous and shocking comments, called for “a...

How the One-Child Policy Changed China

Aileen Clarke November 30, 2015
Before China imposed its one-child policy, Mao Zedong banned contraception and encouraged reproduction. “China’s food supply was strained and the government reversed the campaign against contraceptives,” writes Aileen Clarke for National Geographic. “From 1959 to 1961, the Great Chinese Famine killed an estimated 15 to 30 million people.” The country backtracked. The one-child policy eventually...