In The News

Citizenship of Convenience

Tyler Grant March 5, 2013
Lifting restrictions on travel visas is supposed to spur tourism. Yet a few citizens do quick cost-benefit checks of other nations’ laws, then hop on planes, relocating for benefits: With the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution providing citizenship to those born in the United States, thousands of pregnant women travel to give birth, thus ensuring those children access to US public education....

CIA Shifts Hollywood Gaze to Its Best Side

Richard McGregor February 26, 2013
Portrayed as heroes, not villains, the CIA and the US military have emerged as Hollywood winners, suggests Richard McGregor in the Financial Times: “The shift in the CIA’s popular portrayal is more remarkable for the fact that it coincides with the agency’s drone programme, a campaign of offshore assassinations on a scale that used to provoke public and congressional scandals.” Argo, a movie...

The Europeanization of America

Mark Leonard February 26, 2013
The United States and Europe each are coping with heavy debt and the prospect of decline, argues Mark Leonard, co-founder and director of the European Council for Foreign Relations. Polarized electorates and clumsy austerity programs add to uncertainty and compound economic woes. Leonard suggests that the Obama administration admires the Germany economy and pursues policies of “energy...

Guestworkers: Hard To Turn Off Flow

Jagdish Bhagwati February 25, 2013
Hispanics, about 17 percent of the US population, represented just 10 percent of voters in the nation’s 2012 presidential election, but soundly rejected harsh proposals on immigration, including rigid enforcement and no amnesty for those already in the country illegally. Since the election, both Republicans and Democrats recognize the need for prompt immigration reform, reducing illegal entry and...

Immigration Reform and the American Worker

James Surowiecki February 25, 2013
Misunderstandings and myths do not produce good policy. Many Americans oppose immigration reform because they’re convinced that more immigrants eliminate jobs and hurt the US economy, especially during the recession. Instead, “a host of studies have found that immigration has actually boosted wages for native-born American workers as a whole, and that while immigration has had a negative impact...

More Than 50 Countries Allegedly Involved in CIA Rendition and Torture

Nicolas Rochon February 20, 2013
A report from the Open Society Foundations has released a report that more than 50 nations, including the US, extra-judicially transferred suspected terrorists overseas for secret integration and torture. “Composed of information provided by various human rights organizations, the 214-page OSF report currently stands as the most comprehensive record of 136 individuals exposed to various methods...

Is the US Ready To Be Number Two?

Kishore Mahbubani February 11, 2013
In 1980, the US economy was more than 10 times larger than China’s, yet by 2017, China with its rapid growth could have the largest share of global GDP, more than 18 percent, according to International Monetary Fund projections. US leaders have not prepared their citizens for this “great convergence,” suggests Kishore Mahbubani, author and dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Still, much...