In The News

Beyond Factory Floor: China’s Plan to Nurture Talent

Xu Liyan, Qiu Jing September 10, 2012
China is determined to evolve into a global hub for innovation. With climbing college enrollment and a R&D staff exceeding 1.5 million, the nation is reforming its higher-education system, hiring practices and immigration regulations; encouraging cooperation with industry; developing new majors in the sciences in areas like alternative energies and new-materials engineering; and offering...

Beijing Unflustered by Cool Ties With Seoul

Scott W. Harold August 14, 2012
China displays keen indifference to improving relations with South Korea. South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has set up a chat-room to solicit public input on improving ties, but Scott W. Harold, China specialist for the RAND Corporation, is pessimistic about new foreign-policy approaches. He lists wide policy differences. South Korea hopes for eventual reunification with North...

How Weibo Is Changing China

Mary Kay Magistad August 9, 2012
Weibo, China’s microblog that’s celebrating its third anniversary this month, offers a national platform for ordinary citizens to hold the powerful to account. In an instant, an ordinary citizen can launch a public debate or shame government and corporate officials by posting photos, videos, comments and messages. Weibo has some 350 million users, and China's leaders are torn between...

Reform Sprouts in North Korea?

John Delury July 26, 2012
North Korea, among the world’s most secretive, isolated and impoverished countries, is led by the world’s youngest head of state. Analysts are uncertain about many details of Kim Jong Un’s life, including his age or the extent of his education with a stint in Switzerland. Since taking power in April, the young leader has taken steps to transform his nation: dismissing the country’s top military...

Three Myths About the Arab Uprisings

Ellen Lust and Jakob Wichmann July 24, 2012
The series of protests in 2011 that overturned governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have ushered in activism and new debate in the Arab world. Analyzing the reasons behind the surge of discontent requires an understanding of each nation’s history, regional relationships, demographics and governance failures. Achieving representative government and social justice is not a matter of simple...

Emerging Economies – Rich And Confident

Bruce Stokes July 12, 2012
The emerging economies account for an increasing share of the globe’s billionaires. But widespread public attitudes can wield far more influence over an economy than the wealth of a few hundred people, suggests Bruce Stokes, director of Global Economic Attitudes at the Pew Research Center in Washington. While people polled in the US and Europe are pessimistic about their future prospects,...

Is Islam to Blame for Freedom Deficit in Middle East?

Riaz Hassan July 5, 2012
The fury of the Arab Spring, with widespread demands for freedom quickly followed by a re-emergence of authoritarian ways, has renewed debate about Islam and democracy in the Middle East, notes sociologist Riaz Hassan. Circa 1000 AD, the Middle East represented 10 percent of global GDP, as compared to Europe’s 9 percent – religious powers in both regions protected elites and the status quo. Seven...