In The News

Iraq Needs US Shield for Democracy to Work

Humphrey Hawksley December 10, 2008
Iraq has stood strong against three outside ideological forces that attempt to sway its future: the brutal violence of Al Qaeda, the rigid inflexibility Iran-inspired and aided Shia conservatives, as well as the US neoconservative vision that anticipated an instant switch to democracy and privatization, explains BBC correspondent Humphrey Hawksley. With the approval of a US-Iraq bilateral...

World Confronts a Choice Between Chaos and Order

Philip Stephens November 27, 2008
US President-elect Barack Obama will enter office in January with a host of priorities that require immediate action, as well as concern that US influence is on the wane with new multilateralism unfolding. “More likely, the trend will be towards fragmentation and instability as the new powers take what they want from the existing order while preserving a freedom of manoeuvre outside it,” writes...

Obama’s Global Tryst

Nayan Chanda November 24, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama enters office as the globe confronts grave economic crisis. He must continue supporting free trade, but at the same time assist hundreds of thousands of Americans who struggle with job loss, falling home prices and foreclosures, and immense economic uncertainty about health care, energy and other resources. At the same time, Obama must manage two wars, one he promised...

After US Breakthrough, Europe Looks in Mirror

Steven Erlanger November 21, 2008
Minorities all over Europe look to Barack Obama’s election as US president, with hope of one day achieving similar success, but most are skeptical of such change taking place in their respective countries. Nations such as France, Germany, the UK and Italy struggle to handle growing minority populations and their integration into society. There is small, if any, minority representation in Europe’s...

Obama's Wi-Fi White House Speaks to the YouTube Age

Paul Harris November 17, 2008
In the midst of economic crisis, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first “fireside chat” by radio on March 12, 1933, less than two months after entering office. President-elect Barack Obama did not wait that long, and two months before entering office, he turned to YouTube to share his thoughts with the public. “Technology and the internet are set to be a core part of the new...

Renewal or Irrelevance: With Asia's Rise, Global Governance Must Be Reformed

Hitoshi Tanaka November 14, 2008
Existing global governance systems have foundations in the consequences of World War II and the Cold War, and Asia's recent emergence necessitates a shift in the power structure of these global institutions. Hitoshi Tanaka, former deputy minister of Japan and senior fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange, sees Asia's rise as a departure from the postwar recoveries of...

Save Doha to Save the G20 Summit

Ernesto Zedillo November 12, 2008
Political leaders will gather for a G20 summit to address global economic governance. The summit could also be an opportunity “to exorcise the demons of protectionism,” suggests Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. Finding agreement on the Doha Round of trade talks, debated for seven years, would send a powerful signal for endorsing open trade. Zedillo...