In The News

China Turns on Charm Offensive for Bhutan

Bertil Lintiner September 22, 2016
Bhutan is nestled among the Himalayas and between Asia’s two giant powers – India to the south and China to the north. The small kingdom, a country of 750,000, has long had ties with India. So India watches closely as China steps up attempts to settle longstanding border differences and strengthen ties with Bhutanese leaders including Foreign Minister Damcho Dorji who visited Beijing in August....

Rise of Right-Wing Populism: A Manifesto for the Moderate Left

Pranab Bardhan September 15, 2016
Populists take advantage of the real pain of inequality and the economic disruptions of new technology and globalization. Sympathetic and angry, they promise quick fixes and resist compromise. Such “demagogues thrive when the institutions of democracy are hollowed out,” argues economist Pranab Bardhan, and he offers recommendations for citizens whose politics lean left of center. Trade unions...

Uzbekistan Juggles Ties With Russia, China, Other Great Powers

Dilip Hiro September 13, 2016
Uzbekistan in Central Asia commands enormous attention from great powers, and Islam Abduganievich Karimov was adept at exploiting such interest. His death will do little to change the country’s manipulative or authoritarian ways, suggests author Dilip Hiro: “Karimov succeeded in getting the better of all three world powers, offering them what each needed at a particular time: local oil and gas...

A Problem for Merkel and Germany

Sebastian Fischer September 7, 2016
State parliament elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were widely regarded as a referendum on immigration. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union lost to a right-wing populist party. Alternative for Germany, formed in 2013, initially opposed the euro and eurozone bailouts, later shifting focus to target immigration, refugees and Islam. Merkel’s position as chancellor...

Meant to Promote Cooperation, G20 Meeting Shows Discord

Chris Miller September 6, 2016
Fear is growing that globalization has spun out of control, with too many decisions at the local level left by the wayside. Contending with home-front discontent, leaders of the world’s major economies gathered for the G20 summit, encountering many reminders that nations are part of a global community and struggle is sure for any that try to withdraw and resolve big challenges on their own. Even...

Despite Chinese Shadows, Southeast Asian Friendship With US Worth Cultivating

Satu Limaye September 1, 2016
The United States and China are among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' dialogue partners. Under President Barack Obama, the United States has forged closer ties with the regional group that will endure, explains Satu Limaye, director of the East-West Center in Washington and the Asia Matters for America initiative. The ASEAN summit in Vientiane, Laos, will be Obama’s last as US...

Two Faces of Global Trade

Nayan Chanda August 30, 2016
A steel glut in China – due to stimulus funding and weak economic recovery since 2007 – has led to a trade war. China controls half the world’s steel production, and the United States, Europe and others have responded with new duties on steel imports. “Cut-price steel causing unemployment has emerged as a lightning rod for discontent about globalization,” explains Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal...