In The News

Cambodia Garment Worker Dreams of Better Future

Kyle James February 14, 2014
Bargains for intricate fashions so plentiful in boutiques around the world are only possible because workers in less developed nations like Cambodia endure long hours, with a workweek that encompasses six 12-hour days, earning less than $3.50 per day. “This exhausting regimen is a reality for the majority of Cambodia's approximately 600,000 garment workers,” writes Kyle James. He profiles...

A Wary US Remains Open to Chinese Investments

Ziad Haider February 6, 2014
China with its fast-growing economy is on the hunt for global investments. The United States reviews most investments for national security implications with its Committee on Foreign Investment, chaired by the Department of Treasury, and Ziad Haider, attorney and writer, argues Chinese companies fare better than most would assume: “The volume and sophistication of Chinese firms looking to enter...

As the World Revolts, The Great Powers Watch

John Lloyd February 4, 2014
Intensifying internal conflict, destabilizing for governance, is underway in varying degrees for many countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand and Ukraine. Syria’s conflict is the most brutal with 125,000 dead and 6 million people dislocated amid the use of torture and chemical weapons. The struggle emerges when political factions, in the minority or majority,...

Reid Deals Body Blow to Obama on Trade

William Mauldin, Siobhan Hughes January 31, 2014
US President Barack Obama and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid share party affiliation as Democrats and are typically strong allies. But Reid has announced opposition to legislation that would provide fast-track approvals of major trade deals and prevent nitpicky amendments in Congress. “The move spells trouble for two sets of complicated talks” – namely the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the...

Growth and Globalization Cannot Cure All the World’s Ills

Gideon Rachman January 30, 2014
Global leaders and elites, such as those who gathered for the World Economic Forum in Davos, regard economic growth via globalization as the prescription for difficulty or political conflict, suggests Gideon Rachman for the Financial Times. But economic growth, globalization and capitalism do not necessarily curtail inequality, instability, environmental degradation, nationalist rivalries, jihad...

The Shape of Things to Come

Gideon Rose, Jonathan Tepperman January 27, 2014
Investors recognize that a security, business or weather event in one part of the world can quickly influence attitudes and economic activities thousands of miles away. Elite and small investors, even if only through mutual funds, pursue new opportunities around the globe, and closely follow the emerging economies and their relationships with the largest economies, including the United States and...

How Globalization Isolates Struggling Cities

Aaron M. Renn January 8, 2014
The government and businesses of Chicago probably have more to do with cities in Germany or Japan than Indianapolis, the capital city of a neighboring state about 300 kilometers away, as suggested by Richard Longworth in his book “Caught in the Middle: America’s Heartland in the Age of Globalism.” And communities increasingly embrace such long-distance connections: “In the age of globalization,...