In The News

New Yorker: Obrador, Trump and the Error of Comparison

Jon Lee Anderson July 4, 2018
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also known as AMLO, won 53 percent of the vote along with taking the majority of legislature seats. Issues in Mexico include the war on drugs, complacency against the Trump administration and failure to prosecute major criminal cases. By building grassroots support over two decades, López Obrador ended the 88-year-old hold grip on power by two parties, PRI and PAN....

The Economist: Trade War Between US and China Looks Likely

July 4, 2018
A transpacific trade war between the United States and China looms large, with the Trump administration alleging that China has stolen “America’s intellectual property” and engaged in “unfair industrial policy.” On June 15, the Trump administration offered two lists of Chinese products that would be subject to tariffs of 25 percent, worth about $50 billion. The first list comes into effect on...

Times of India: Globalization’s Revenge

Nayan Chanda July 3, 2018
Global leaders are uncertain about their relationship with the United States. Policies, whether promoting America first in trade or separating children from parents seeking asylum, have long-term consequences for other countries. Questions emerge about the meeting between the US president and North Korea’s leader, followed by Donald Trump’s assurances that the nuclear weapons problem had been...

CustomerThink: Globalization Impacts Small Businesses

Philip Piletic July 2, 2018
Small businesses can no longer expect to be strictly local in production, supply or markets. Globalization – the endless connections through people, products and ideas – is an ongoing process that imposes a variety of effects on businesses. For the average small business owner, these are mixed compared to the profits multinational corporations extract from the global economy. Downsides consist of...

Council on Foreign Relations: Global Implications of Justice Kennedy’s Retirement

Stewart M. Patrick July 2, 2018
US Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy had a lead role in sculpting a positive relationship between the United States and international law over his tenure. His replacement promises to be more conservative, with Donald Trump aiming to appoint a successor before midterm elections. “Foreign relations law,” regarding the place of international law in US jurisprudence, is a field that...

Foreign Policy: Mexico Could Take Left Turn on Foreign Policy

Richard G. Miles June 29, 2018
Mexican voters are expected to elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president on July 1– and “relations with the United States could fall into new depths,” reports Richard Miles for Foreign Policy. By taking the leftist turn, Mexicans may think they are resisting the far-right and anti-immigrant policies of the US president but they could actually be following his lead by embracing populism,...

The New York Times: Global Increase in Armed Groups

Kenneth R. Rosen June 29, 2018
The increasing number of localized armed groups worldwide poses a challenge for humanitarian workers. The groups, characterized as “looser, with less top-down control,” are generally informed on international humanitarian law, writes Kenneth Rosen. Humanitarian workers struggle to communicate with non-state fighters, and this adds to the challenges of treating wounded soldiers and civilians....