In The News

In Search of Common Sense

Bo Ekman October 12, 2007
Globalization and an unchecked quest for economic growth have rapidly changed the world. Growing numbers of people expect a standard of living substantially higher than what the earth has capacity to provide. Humans increasingly confront problems global in scope, yet the world lacks a cohesive form of governance that efficiently addresses issues that surpass national boundaries. The world could...

Promises to Keep

Ayman El-Amir October 11, 2007
The United Nations' membership and mission has grown significantly in the six decades since its founding. Ayman El-Amir, a former director of UN Radio and Television, suggests that a proliferation of issues and the bureaucracy designed to address them have made the organization incapable of efficiently tackling the world's major problems. The stalling of reform initiatives begun in 1997...

Crouching Alliance, Hidden Angst?

Yu Bin October 10, 2007
Recent military exercises by the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, particularly Russia and China, have prompted speculation about an emerging military alliance between the two Asian powers, standing in opposition to the United States. However, Yu Bin, senior fellow for the Shanghai Institute of American Studies and political science professor at Wittenberg University, argues that...

Outsourcing Is Too Wild to Fit Economic Theory

Andy Mukherjee October 9, 2007
Firms that consult and perform outsourcing work make use of all available space, time and labor. Global outsourcing is highly unpredictable and firms can perform projects from many locations, explains Andy Mukherjee for Bloomberg.com. Mukherjee provides an example: When Satyam Computer Services did one project for John Deere in Illinois, the firm rented nearby space, assigning 10 engineers to...

Fewer Babies Pose Difficult Challenges for Europe

Joseph Chamie October 8, 2007
Over the next few decades, Europe's population level is expected to fall by nearly 70 million people, or 10 percent of its current level, even accounting for policies that promote immigration and reproduction. Birth rates have fallen significantly below replacement levels throughout Europe, and the continent's median age steadily climbs. As Joseph Chamie of the Center for Migration...

In Greenland, Potatoes Thrive as Seal Hunting Wanes

Colin Woodard October 8, 2007
Rising average temperatures may transform life for millions over the coming decades, and dramatic changes in Greenland, near the Arctic Circle, could foreshadow some of the turmoil for the rest of the world. For centuries, the island's residents lived off ice fishing and seal hunting, accessing resources by dog sledding across the frozen sea. Today, however, climate change has thinned the...

Number of Obese Growing on Global Scale

Stephen J. Hedges October 5, 2007
While some countries suffer from hunger, a growing part of the world struggles with the opposite problem of obesity. The problem is no longer confined to rich countries: Nigeria and Uganda struggle simultaneously with hunger and obesity. With a 2000 percent increase in the share of China’s population considered obese, the growth in waistlines outpaces the nation's economic growth. Obese...