In The News

Foreign Policy Challenges for the New US President – Part I

Imtiaz Ali October 31, 2008
States that ignore the aspirations of their people and neglect festering pockets of poverty, paying little heed to the need for education, health, jobs or fair wages, years later may discover a changed country, with new motivations and goals. This YaleGlobal series explores how poverty and demography can undermine democratic governments and bring security challenges not only to the government in...

Islamic Challenge to Indonesia’s Democracy

Sadanand Dhume October 15, 2008
Gains by radical parties around the globe highlight democracy’s ongoing vulnerability to anti-democratic movements. Indonesia – with its free press, stable economy, free elections, tolerant and inclusive policy – is no exception. But in local Indonesian politics, the radical Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has made dramatic gains, with extremists pressing for dress codes, Koran reading...

The Russian Challenge – Part II

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller October 6, 2008
For enduring success in this era of interdependence, negotiation rather than military power might prove more effective. Neighboring and competing states automatically flinch from those who employ bullying tactics, and long to follow countries that lead by example. This YaleGlobal series examines Russia’s relationship with Europe and the US, and in the second part of the series, former diplomat...

The Russian Challenge – Part I

Katinka Barysch October 3, 2008
The US and Europe increasingly seem at odds over an assertive Russia, flush with oil money, strong militarily and ambitious with an educated, nationalistic population. This two-part YaleGlobal series explores the implications for Europe, the US and the world. In the first of the series, Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the European Centre for Reform notes many common interests held by the US...

Rise of the Rest: The Challenges of the New World Order

Wolfgang Nowak October 3, 2008
As the US confronts economic crisis and immense debt, the nation can no longer readily afford initiatives that benefit the globe, from funding research to removing dictators. Power has shifted from the US and Europe toward India, China, and Russia, as well as the Arabian Gulf states; lacking a single dominant power that can act alone, the world must adjust to groups of nations resolving global...

The Fragility of the Global Nuclear Order

Graham Allison October 1, 2008
In 1968, the international community joined forces on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, taking decisive action before crisis hit. Forty years later, “global trend lines in all things nuclear are worsening,” note Harvard professor Graham Allison and Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico and director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, in an essay for the Boston Globe. Both...

Pakistan on the Brink

Ahmed Rashid September 19, 2008
The US shotgun marriage with Pakistan, arranged after the 9/11 attacks in order to launch the US “war on terror,” has begun to fall apart, and in the process endangers the very state of Pakistan. The US detoured to Iraq and relied on Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf as an ally to manage the region. He’s gone and during the long period of US neglect, both Afghanistan, original...