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Clearing Clouds Over the Karakoram Pass

March 29, 2004
Over the latter half of the 20th century, relations between China and Pakistan were anchored in large part on both countries' strategic interest in balancing India as a regional power. The Karakoram Highway, which runs for 500 miles between the two nations, is representative of those...

The Rise and Fall of Theresa May

June 18, 2019
Theresa May resigned as Britain’s prime minister after a turbulent three years and failure to ensure a smooth exit from the European Union. “Given that Brexit passed by narrow margins –51.89 percent leave, 48.1 percent remain – regardless of what a leader proposed, around half the British people...

China’s Challenge to a US-Led World Order

March 26, 2019
The United States and the Soviet Union, convinced that their ideologies were incompatible, engaged in a Cold War during the latter part of the 20th century. Some suggest similar hostility emerges between the United States and a fast-rising China. “Chinese leaders repeatedly stress that China...

Impossible Task: Sorting Economic and Political Refugees

October 19, 2017
As the globe’s population swells – from about 2 billion people a century ago to more than 7 billion today – migration numbers are on the rise, too, from 173 million in 2000 to about 250 million today. “International law and definitions have not kept pace,” argues Will Hickey, author and associate...

Victor Hugo’s Chinese Adventures

October 22, 2019
Fiction has the power to deliver insights into complex social challenges, and in the words of China’s President Xi Jinping, “Great works have such a great power to move readers.” Xi is an avid reader, reports the People's Daily, and Victor Hugo is among his favorite authors. The French poet,...

Vietnam – Globalized Party-State

March 14, 2019
Vietnam emerged as a winner, benefiting from global media attention after a second summit between the leaders of North Korea and the United States ended in failure. “Vietnam has clawed its way toward more capitalism and a market system despite communist rule,” writes author Börje Ljunggren, former...

India's Role in Climate Change

December 17, 2015
Global leaders attending COP21 in Paris have pledged to reduce carbon emissions – and now must follow through, convincing citizens and businesses at home to support tough policies that curb fossil-fuel production. The national commitments are voluntary. “After initially resisting Western pressure,...

Environmental Contamination in Romania

July 31, 2018
The old saying “What goes around comes around” has applications for industrial waste. Companies may evade responsibility, but the consequences of contamination caused by waste linger for society. Raluca Besliu describes how a chemical plant in Turda, Romania, transformed over the course of the 20th...
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