In The News

Elite Ponder Threats to Globalization

D. Ravi Kanth February 1, 2007
World leaders meeting for the World Economic Forum have identified plenty of problems, but few solutions for global challenges. Risks to globalization include global warming, sharp inequality and increasing conflict. Yet the consensus on the list of challenges has failed to push leaders into action. A poll revealed that more than half of chief executive officers for major corporations express...

A Global Mission for China and America

Robert Zoellick February 1, 2007
Cooperation and fair play do more to promote mutual and global prosperity than bickering or conflict. Former US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick points out seven concrete steps that China and its economic partners can take to ensure sustainable, responsible growth that minimizes harm both inside of China and outside. Among his recommendations, Zoellick proposes more international private-...

The Global Question: Who Needs the US?

Peter Gumbel January 30, 2007
Global trade has flourished in recent years, so much so that it’s no longer the province of developed nations. The US is the world’s leading economy, accounting for almost 30 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, yet the nation cannot sustain prosperity by living on funds borrowed from China and other nations that save. Economists remain divided about how much a disruption in any...

Questioning Milton Friedman’s Free Market and Freedom

Pranab Bardhan January 30, 2007
Not only democracies but dictators and authoritarian governments pursue the benefits of economic freedom. The recent passing of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman provokes economist Pranab Bardhan to reflect on the connections that these two individuals represented: political control and economic freedom. Friedman and other economists have long...

China's Missile Message

Elizabeth Economy January 26, 2007
China’s success in destroying one of its own satellites demonstrates rising power – but has left many analysts puzzled. Chinese leaders insist their goal is to use such power for peaceful purposes. Yet in truth, the challenges posed by a massive population – intent on devouring natural resources, desperate for clean water, well disposed for a pandemic – presents an unsettling vision for the rest...

The Not So United Nations

Richard N. Haass January 25, 2007
The UN has not accomplished much in recent years, but only because the major powers cannot agree, refusing to act on pressing global problems. Instead, powerful nations balk at coordinating action on genocide in Darfur, global warming or violence in the Middle East. “The UN reflects the ability of the major powers to agree – and to back up their agreements with resources,” writes Richard Haass,...

Asian Games: New Gold Standard in Measuring National Will

Sadanand Dhume January 25, 2007
Sport is an age-old metaphor for politics – and Asian affairs analyst Sadanand Dhume looks at the Asian Games in the light of the region's traditional rivalries. China captured more medals than any other nation, almost three times as many gold medals as runner-up South Korea. China’s geopolitical rival India was ranked eighth, with most of its medals won in more intricate, intellectual games...