In a global age, national power rests less on issuing orders from top of a hierarchy than on being the center of a network. Countries depend on many tools besides military might – skilled diplomats, aid programs, educational and cultural exchanges and so on. Confronting a ballooning deficit, the US...
Click here for the article in Foreign Policy.
During the 1997-98 Asian currency crisis, the International Monetary Fund forced tough medicine on South Korea with a tough bailout package and strict conditions. The nation endured high interest rates, massive company and bank closures, and yet recovered quickly by clearing bad debt and investing...
Click here for the article in The New York Times.
While offshore call centers have become more commonplace, one US company has pushed this booming business to a new level: The Resource Group employs a "virtual receptionist." Though stationed in Pakistan, she receives phone calls, welcomes guests (via front desk flat screen), and places...
Click here for the original article on The Washington Post's website.
In response to mounting concerns about terrorism, as well as the attacks of July 7, Chatham House, an independent think-tank, has commissioned a report on counter-terrorism and security policy options for the UK as part of its New Security Challenges program. Frank Gregory and Paul Wilkinson...
Click here for the report in PDF format.
Increasingly, Europe finds itself struggling to answer the question of how it can simultaneously endorse free trade and preserve traditional industries and the jobs associated with them. In an age of inexpensive Asian imports, outsourcing, and bids for corporate takeovers from foreign entities,...
Click here for the original article on EurActiv's website.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, is inherently cautious in his choice of words. In the weeks leading to the Iraq war, Annan refrained from outright criticism of the grounds for invasion, and only recently did he warn of the dangerous precedents established by preemptive action. But in a recent...
The declaration of the United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, on the Iraq war was shocking in its simplicity. He described it for the first time as "illegal". No caveats. No equivocation. None of the ambiguity...
In an article in the New York Times, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says that Iraq's behavior shows it does not intend to cooperate with the United Nations resolution calling for its disarmament. Contrasting Iraq with other nations that have voluntarily disarmed in the recent...
Click here for the original article on The New York Times website.
Americans misunderstand their relationship with the Chinese, and that’s why little progress is made during any negotiations between the two nations, argues author Gordon Chang. The US repeatedly and mistakenly assumes that China can’t be pressured and that China has the upper hand because it holds...
Treasury Secretary Paulson is in Beijing with a star-studded cast: the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke; U.S. trade representative, Susan Schwab; four other Cabinet secretaries, and a multitude of...