In The News

Understanding Latin America’s New Political Paradigm

Ernesto Talvi November 11, 2016
In Latin America along with Europe and the United States, political parties that lean right are strengthening. Since the 1970s, social and political change is shown to be derived from cycles of “economic malaise,” writes Ernesto Talvi for the Brookings Institution. Corruption scandals combined with economic doldrums, as in the case of Brazil, have reduced popularity of left-leaning governments....

Crazy Campaign Ends With Upset, and Hard Work of Governing Begins

David Dapice November 10, 2016
US voters elected Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, and globalization was pummeled. The United States is deeply divided over policies on trade, immigration and alliances for financial, environmental and national security. Democracy was tarnished, too as some politicians threaten US governance by refusing to compromise. Economist David Dapice reviews the many challenges...

What the Tea Party Tells Us About the Trump Presidency

Vanessa Williamson November 9, 2016
The Tea Party movement foreshadowed Donald Trump’s winning the US presidential race. Vanessa Williamson, writing for Brookings, describes the grassroots activists as a coalition of older, white conservatives and a conservative media infrastructure funded by ideologue billionaires who oppose taxes and regulations. “Donald Trump was willing to address immigration in terms substantially more extreme...

The World Is Watching America's Election

Frida Ghitis November 8, 2016
The US election had its bizarre moments, and global interest runs high. Citizens of Canada, Mexico and elsewhere sense that their countries have a huge stake in the outcome. Newspapers around the globe detail poll closing times for the 50 states, and small crowds gather around televisions, laptops and smartphones to monitor results. “But watching America is not just a spectator sport -- people...

The Rise and Rise of Fake News

November 7, 2016
News spreads quickly via the internet, and research suggests that increasing numbers of US adults rely on social media for their news. “There are hundreds of fake news websites out there, from those which deliberately imitate real life newspapers, to government propaganda sites, and even those which tread the line between satire and plain misinformation,” reports BBC News. The purpose of some...

In the Art World, Globalism’s New Spin

Holland Cotter November 7, 2016
When the struggling US economy turned to globalization as its saving grace in the 1990s, the art world embraced globalism as a key principle. However, the promise of economic globalization has faded for many, and similarly, globalism fell out of favor among some curators. Globalism is returning to the world of contemporary art in the form of global consciousness, explains Holland Cotter of the...

Climate Change and the Risks of Denying Inconvenient Truths

Martin Wolf November 2, 2016
Many industries – including agriculture and insurance – anticipate major disruptions from climate change. Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator for Financial Times, is pessimistic about US leadership on the issue, expressing alarm that climate change was not discussed more during the presidential campaign. He points to two types of denial: Major denial from Donald Trump and the right stems...