In The News

Turkey Seeks to Lock in Long-Term Security

Soner Cagaptay November 18, 2013
Turkey briefly tried isolation until the Arab Spring when it pivoted toward the United States: “The two nations worked with other countries to oust Moammar Gaddafi in Libya that year and, early on, coordinated policies against the Assad regime,” writes Soner Cagaptay. But the United States could not win UN Security Council approval for sanctions or intervention in Syria, due to vetoes from...

The Dilemma of Desperation Migration

Joseph Chamie November 14, 2013
Poverty, conflict and overpopulation have historically forced migrants to pursue opportunity in wealthier nations. Modern migrants have more options for low-cost travel, yet nations have more organized registration, border surveillance and enforcement tools, explains Joseph Chamie, former director of the UN Population Division. Thus, transit countries face new pressures. The desperate in North...

Should Extremist Parties Be Banned?

Jan-Werner Mueller November 8, 2013
Some political organizations, formal or informal, often seem bent on fomenting anger, attracting attentionby excluding citizens based on race, religion, gender or other characteristics rather than practicing good governance and solving problems. “Is there a place within liberal democracies for apparently anti-democratic parties?” asks Jan-Werner Mueller for Project Syndicate. He examines the...

Economic Doghouse: Complaints About German Exports Unfounded

Alexander Jung, Christian Reiermann, Gregor Peter Schmitz November 6, 2013
One country’s success with exports should generate appreciation for competition and not envy, suggests a German publication. The US Department of Treasury released a report that notes “Germany’s anemic pace of domestic demand growth and dependence on exports have hampered rebalancing at a time when many other euro area countries have been under severe pressure to curb demand and compress imports...

US Health Care Reform Is Only Getting Started

Elizabeth H. Bradley, Lauren A. Taylor November 5, 2013
In Scandinavia, health care is a social good, and for the United States, it is a business. The differences on costs and outcomes are glaring. The US invests $8604 per capita on its system, compared with $5674 for Norway, $4564 for Denmark and $3870 for Sweden, according to the World Health Organization. Elizabeth H. Bradley, professor of public health at Yale University, and Lauren A. Taylor of...

The Danger of High Home Ownership: Greater Unemployment

David G. Blanchflower and Andrew J. Oswald November 4, 2013
Home ownership is a common goal for societies and individuals. Yet statistical patterns suggest that a high rate of “home ownership weakens the vitality of the labour market and slowly grinds out greater rates of joblessness,” report economists David G. Blanchflower and Andrew J. Oswald in a paper for Chatham House. Home ownership may disrupt efficient functioning of the labor market by reducing...

NHS “Can Save £500m” on Foreign Care

Nick Triggle November 1, 2013
A survey by BritishFuture.org suggests that more than 70 percent of respondents consider the National Health Service a symbol of “what is great” about Great Britain. But health care is costly, and British officials contemplate being more proactive in recouping treatment costs from foreigners. “Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he did not want to ‘turn GPs into border guards’ and no-one would be...