COMMENTARIES
COMMENTARIES
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France, Italy, and Britain Re-think Their Future In Europe
Ian Davidson Series: The World in Words 2002-01-30Until now, Italian, French, and British attitudes toward the European Union have been completely distinct and completely predictable. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15489
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The Honor of Exile
Norman Manea Series: The Worldly Philosophers 2002-01-29The Romanian sculptor Brancusi once said that when the artist is no longer a child, he is dead. I still don't know how much of an artist I have become, but I grasp what Brancusi was saying. I can grasp - even at my age - my childish enduring self. Writing is a childish profession, even when it becomes excessively serious, as children often are. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 19290
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The “Ins” and “Outs” of Euroland
Niels Thygesen Series: European Economies 2002-01-25The smooth appearance of euro notes and coins has triggered a valuable reconsideration of European monetary union’s ultimate aims. Two views – active since the process began in the late 1980’s – persist. The first claims that monetary union merely seeks to consolidate the Single Internal Market in goods and services; the second sees the euro as a mechanism to forge closer political union. These two motives are complementary, but the euro’s physical arrival has re-opened old divisions over its economic and political aspects and, to some extent, between the euro’s “ins” and “outs” among EU members. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15672
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The New/Old Politics of Globalization
Harold James Series: The World in Words 2002-01-24Debates and protests about globalization have been muted since last September's terrorist attacks. But that silence does not mean that they are over. Indeed, protests about globalization seem likely to return with more normal times. When they do, our understanding of the process will be greater if we look back at history. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 20674
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Central Europe's Fractious Right
Jiří Pehe Series: The World in Words 2002-01-21Is Eastern Europe's political pendulum about to run down? Across Central Europe since 1989, elections have oscillated between right and left. Is Hungary's slick young prime minister, Viktor Orban, poised to end all that? ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15502
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Balancing Rights and Military Necessity
Jose Zalaquett Series: Human Rights 2002-01-21Did September 11 mark the end of a period of the expansion of the human rights idea and the beginning of a process of retrenchment? Leading human rights organizations - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists - fear that this might indeed be the case, and they have been steeling themselves to oppose any attempt to push back their hard-won conquests. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 13948
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China's Uyghur Dilemma
Dru Gladney Series: China World 2002-01-18The Chinese government's participation in the United States-led war against terrorism is based on their real fear of internationally coordinated Islamic terrorism in China. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused Uyghur separatist organizations, such as the Eastern Turkestan Information Center and the Uyghur Liberation Front, of being responsible for attacks ranging from the bombing of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul to a March 1997 bus bombing in Beijing. Now, the Chinese government seeks international support for their domestic crackdown on the Uyghur separatists who they claim have direct links to the Taliban and bin Laden's Islamist inspired organizations. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15492
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A Theory of European Citizenship
Julian Nida-Rümelin Series: The Worldly Philosophers 2002-01-18There is something tragic about Europe's current development. Democracy's march across the continent, and the formation of a single market across much of Europe, have created unprecedented stability, security, and prosperity. The new single currency, the euro, and the European Union's promise to admit as many as ten new members in 2004, are powerful indicators of ongoing integration. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 14181
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The Past is Now
Dan Krishock Series: Latin America 2002-01-17In the debate over what went wrong with Argentina, too much analysis has focused on the country's exchange rate policy or the mistakes the IMF may have made; too little attention has been paid to the social and political factors that contributed to the country's demise. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 13797
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When will we win the war against cancer?
Walter Eckhart Series: Health and Medicine 2002-01-15Thirty years ago America's president declared ``war on cancer''. This year, in the US alone, 1,500 men, women and children lose their personal battle with cancer every day. When will the war end? ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 16278
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Poverty and Terror
Irma Adelman Series: Frontiers of Growth 2002-01-11Glib assertions that poverty breeds terrorism have been tossed around of late. Of course, no simple equation between the two can be drawn. Yet, such statements do contain grains of truth. Poverty may not cause Islamic terrorism, but Islamic terrorists manipulate poverty to their advantage. Thus, any viable strategy to prevent terrorism must address core issues of economic development. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 17845
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The Euro and European Prices
Rüdiger Dornbusch Series: Anatomy of the Global Economy 2002-01-10Among the hoped-for effects of the Euro's physical arrival are an increased transparency of the differences in retail prices between different EMU countries, and a subsequent pressure to equalize these prices. The argument for the latter is simple: with national currencies eliminated and everything priced in Euros, how can similar cars or loaves of bread have different prices on either side of a border? Pressures will be formidable to buy where prices are low and sell, or at least not to buy, where prices are high. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 18409
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After the Taliban
M. Ishaq Nadiri Series: The World in Words 2002-01-10``Failed state'' is a term applied frequently to Afghanistan and is often deemed the cause for why terrorists gained such influence there. But a country does not fail of its own volition, nor is it weakened by unknown causes. A country fails, when it fails, for definite, identifiable reasons. These must be addressed if Afghanistan is to be revived. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 13059
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Argentina's Lessons
Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom 2002-01-08Argentina's collapse incited the largest default in history. Pundits agree this is merely the latest in a string of IMF-led bailouts that squandered billions of dollars and failed to save the economies they were meant to help. The nature of that failure, however, is disputed. Some claim that the IMF was too lenient; others that it was too tough. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 25705
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Are Humans to Blame for Global Warming?
Eugene N. Parker Series: Science and Society 2002-01-04Global warming is an environmental, economic, scientific, and political problem of the first order, and one doubly difficult to address because its dangers lie decades in the future. So if we are to act now to head it off, we must first scrutinize what is known about the nature of the threat. Should we place our faith in the Kyoto Treaty, which sets firm limits on human emissions of so-called greenhouse gases? Or is the US administration right to reject the Kyoto Treaty, because targeting emissions is based on "bad science"? ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 21038
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Treaties Are A Friend's Best Friend
Sergei Rogov Series: A Window on Russia 2002-01-03It is a cliche to say that September 11th changed the world, yet in some ways such talk is true. Russian/American relations have changed fundamentally, as Russia's quiet disappointment at America's decision to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) shows. The surprise is that it took Osama bin Laden's terrorists to reveal that no fundamental differences of ideology, economics, or politics now exist between the two countries. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 13599
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Investing in Health for Economic Development
Jeffrey D. Sachs Series: Economics and Justice 2002-01-03At the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, 180 world leaders pledged to achieve significant advances in the well-being of the world's poor by 2015. Several of the key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) relate to health, in particular controlling epidemic diseases and reducing the death rates of mothers in childbirth and young children. To further the Summit's goals, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland asked me to head a Commission on Macroeconomics and Health with the aim of charting a path for the world to achieve those MDGs in health and poverty reduction. Our Commission released its findings on December 20th. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 22252
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The End of Kamikaze Pacifism? Terror and Japan's Peace Constitution
Yoshibumi Wakamiya Series: The Asian Century 2002-01-03Although I knew December 7, 2001 marked its 60 th anniversary, I never imagined that the phrase ``Pearl Harbor '' would be heard so often this year. Its repetition began in a prosaic way, with the release of the Disney movie ``Pearl Harbor'' last June. After September 11 th , however, many Americans spoke of the terrorist assaults as ``the first attack against the US since Pearl Harbor.'' One person even told me that, because of those attacks, Japan had received a golden opportunity to clear its name of the stigma of Pearl Harbor. The way to achieve this, it seems, was for Japan to provide military support to the US. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15326
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The End of Treason (or the Beginning?)
George P. Fletcher Series: The World in Words 2002-01-02To paraphrase a famous line from Tolstoy, those loyal to their country are faithful in the same way. They fight in armies, pay their taxes, and vote in elections. Among the disloyal, however, each becomes a traitor in his own way. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 18161
