In The News

Dodging the Curse of Diamonds and Gold

Desha Girod August 11, 2005
As the G-8 unveiled an ambitious plan to lift Africa from the mire of debt and double foreign aid, a debate concerning the efficacy of aid has re-emerged. Many critics contend that additional aid money will merely benefit the corrupt leaders of a troubled continent, rather than support the reforms those nations sorely need. Desha Girod counters that, in certain circumstances, aid can be highly...

Latin America’s Dysfunctional Democracy

Denise Dresser August 3, 2005
Most Latin American nations have democratized over the last ten years in terms of free and fair elections. With falling living standards and stagnating income, however, the region continues to be mired in poverty and democracy remains dysfunctional. Governments have produced skin-deep democracies in which people have a vote, but don’t really have a stake, in which wealth is increasingly...

Bush's UN Agenda Is Well Under Way

Steven R. Weisman August 2, 2005
President Bush's decision to appoint John Bolton to the post of UN Ambassador during the US Senate's recess sparked ire among those who see the appointment as a sign of the administration's disdain for the UN. But these objections may be moot: Bush's plan for UN reform was in the works prior to yesterday's appointment, and is already close to fruition. Highlights of the...

Tech That, And That

S. Enders Wimbush July 29, 2005
Throughout history, democracies have allied with one another. The emerging ties between the US and India, however, are not due to a shared democratic ideology, but can be attributed to a recent convergence of interests. In this Outlook India article, S. Enders Wimbush argues that the recent agreement between President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was motivated less by a desire to ‘...

The Cracks in Europe’s Expanding Empire

Mikhail Gorbachev July 26, 2005
The referendums on the EU constitution in France and the Netherlands shocked the European elites, reflecting a deep chasm dividing the ideologues and the public. The rapid expansion of the EU has caused widespread anger among citizens of the “Old World,” whose are afraid of losing their jobs to the influx of cheap labor from eastern Europe. Speculating that two separate systems in eastern and...

How to Save Myanmar

July 21, 2005
For the past 17 years, the generals who massacred thousands of demonstrators in Myanmar have doggedly held onto power, and neither sanctions from the West nor incentives from the East have convinced them to make any concessions towards democratic reform. This year, Myanmar is again in the spotlight as it takes chairmanship of ASEAN. In this article, The Economist reminds readers of Myanmar’s...

Shifting Balance in Central Asia

Vladimir Radyuhin July 20, 2005
Following stirring political revolutions in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the balance of power in Central Asia is shifting in favor of Russia for the first time since 9/11. Accusing the West, particularly the United States, of trying to install pro-Western regimes in the former Soviet region, Central Asian states have recently turned to Russia for military and political assistance. Meanwhile,...