In The News

Extremism and authoritarianism are rising, and Helena Norberg-Hodge, writing for the New Internationalist, blames economic globalization. She writes about Ladakh, an area administered by India that opened to tourism and development in mid-1970s. With increased economic development and external funding, local farming went into decline. Competition for jobs increased, contributing to ethnic and...

Although Haitham bin Tariq’s accession to the position of Oman’s sultan, while surprising, went out with a hitch. Haitham plans to continue down the path laid down by the late Qaboos bin Said. In 1970, backed by the British, Qaboos took the throne from his reclusive father and charted a course towards steady development. As a recent article for the Economist notes, “though it is not as oil rich...

UPDATED: Sinn Féin won nearly 25 percent of the vote in Ireland’s February 8 election. “In a surge that upended Ireland’s traditional two-party system, the left-wing nationalist party beat both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the centrist parties that have governed Ireland since it won independence from Britain a century ago,” reports the Associated Press. “Sinn Fein’s left-wing proposals for tackling...