COMMENTARIES
COMMENTARIES
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Market Solutions, the Environment, and Morocco
Travis Lybbert, Christopher Barrett and Hamid Narjisse Series: Into Africa 2003-01-31Experiments with market_based mechanisms -- for example, eco-tourism or the trading of factory emissions -- have multiplied over the past decade. Across Africa, these approaches often aim for a "win_win" outcome: the poor benefit and resources are conserved. But the actual net effects of these programs are poorly understood. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 34700
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Elections Are Venezuela's Last Chance
Kurt Weyland Series: Latin America 2003-01-31Venezuela is mired in a dangerous stalemate. President Hugo Chávez clings to power despite the obvious failings of his government: severe economic deterioration and dangerous political polarization. The opposition, tainted by their botched coup of April 2002, now seeks to force Chávez from office through a costly general strike. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 13262
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Vaclav Havel: The Dissident in Power
Jiří Pehe Series: The World in Words 2003-01-30The life of Vaclav Havel, who is stepping down as president of the Czech Republic, could serve as inspiration for one of Havel's own absurdist plays. Born in 1936 into one of the wealthiest Czech families, Havel was one of the people persecuted because of their "wrong class origins" after the Communist takeover of 1948. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 18124
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Strangers in the Land?
Brigitte Granville Series: Frontiers of Growth 2003-01-29Migration is the side of globalization that, to borrow Oscar Wilde's phrase, dare not speak its name. Advocates of globalization dance around the topic because they fear it will incite nativist backlash. Respectable opponents of globalization avoid it in fear that they will be called racists or insensitive to the plight of the world's poorest. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 16711
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To Appease or Not to Appease?
Marcin Król Series: The Worldly Philosophers 2003-01-29In Poland, supposedly a Catholic country, there is a radio program and daily newspaper owned by "Radio Maria," both public voices of a charismatic, xenophobic, and fundamentalist priest who loathes our liberal society. His values, ideas, purposes--everything he espouses--constitute an assault on all that liberalism stands for. He would destroy our democracy without hesitation. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 18449
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The Crisis of the Left
Olivier Blanchard Series: European Economies 2003-01-28After a series of electoral losses around the world, the left is in crisis. To restore it to health, some on the left argue for a return to their parties' historical roots. Others argue that the old myths should be abandoned in favor of a bold move forward. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 18502
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Oil is America's Motive for War
Jeffrey D. Sachs Series: Economics and Justice 2003-01-28All around the world people ask: what is the real motive for the Bush Administration's threatened war with Iraq? Is it to curb weapons of mass destruction? Is it more personal, an act of vengeance by a son against the man who attempted to assassinate his father? Is it to defend Israel? Is it to reinvent the Middle East as a more democratic region, as many of the Bush Administration's leading voices insist? Or is it, as some suspect, so that America can get its hands on Iraqi oil? ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 21288
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The Incredible Shrinking Chancellor
Michael Hereth Series: The World in Words 2003-01-27Gerhard Schröders trip to Versailles last week to celebrate the 40 th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty which ended for all time the historic Franco/German enmity and to pose jointly with President Chirac in opposition to a US-led invasion of Iraq, allowed him to appear to be another in an impressive line of powerful post-war German chancellors. But like the sight lines in Versailles Hall of Mirrors, the image of a powerful German Chancellor is an illusion. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 14129
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Cultural Imperialism and the Ban on DDT
Deepak Lal Series: Health and Medicine 2003-01-27The UN Environment Program (UNEP) is embarked on a misguided campaign to ban the pesticide DDT under its Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Framework Convention. Tropical countries that sign this convention will seriously damage the health of their peoples. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 26731
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Europe's University Challenge
Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi Series: Transatlantic Perspectives 2003-01-23The university systems in the US and Continental Europe couldn't be more different. Which works better? The answer is clear: America's by a long shot. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 20368
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Atlas Slumps
J. Bradford DeLong Series: Anatomy of the Global Economy 2003-01-23If the world is to have a decent economic recovery, an upturn will depend on America getting off its back and continuing to fulfill its role as global importer of last resort. No other country is capable of picking up the slack if America's economy remains soft. There is some optimism about Japan getting on its feet again, but over the past, vastly disappointing, decade, too many pseudo-recoveries have been glimpsed in Japan to justify such hopes. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 18823
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Letting Killers Guard Human Rights
Shlomo Avineri Series: Human Rights 2003-01-22If it were not so profoundly sad, it would qualify as the sick joke of the millennium: Libya has been elected to chair the United Nations Commission on Human Rights! When Caligula appointed his horse to the Senate, the horse at least did not have blood on its hoofs. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15152
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The Rise of Regionalism in Asia
Razeen Sally Series: The Asian Century 2003-01-22This week, America and Singapore ironed out the final stumbling blocks to a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). Such pacts are spreading like wildfire across Asia. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 20873
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Invasions of Liberty?
Ralf Dahrendorf Series: Against the Current 2003-01-20Whatever happens at the end of the day, the debate about a possible war with Iraq has brought to the surface fundamental issues on which no agreement exists, even among friends, but which will not go away and cannot be ignored. Indeed, if they are not resolved among those who cherish liberty, the price will be high. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15108
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No Time for Nostalgia
Michael Mertes Series: The World in Words 2003-01-19France and Germany have every reason to celebrate the miracle of their friendship, sealed forty years ago by the Elysée Treaty. But they have no reason to be satisfied with its current condition. Neither has Europe. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 17580
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New Security Laws Increase Hong Kong's Insecurity
Joseph Man Chan Series: China World 2003-01-16No news is not necessarily good news for Hong Kong. Before its reunification with mainland China, many people expected the former British colony to grab headlines as Beijing progressively stripped its freedoms. Instead, Hong Kong mostly vanished from the world's news radar after 1997. Five years since its handover, and contrary to expectation, Hong Kong retains its rights. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 17269
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After the God that Failed
Yuliya Tymoshenko Series: A Window on Russia 2003-01-16Discussing morality and politics, it is said, is like discussing vegetarianism with cannibals. Much of the public, it seems, thinks this way--for good reason. Moral principles and moral obligations in today's political/economical realm have undoubtedly gone astray, unashamedly displaced by the interests of profit and power. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 16075
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Rumors of War
Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom 2003-01-14War is widely thought to be linked to economic good times. World War II is often said to have brought the world out of the Great Depression, and war has since enhanced its reputation as a spur to economic growth. Some even suggest that capitalism needs wars, that without them, recession would always lurk on the horizon. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 20573
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The Privatization of War
Joseph S. Nye Series: The World in Words 2003-01-11That many governments outside the US are skeptical about any US-led invasion of Iraq, when not openly opposed to it, is well known. Less recognized is the division between America and much of the world on how to combat terrorism. That division is dangerous. ... read Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 17128
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Berlusconi Fiddles While Italy Declines
Ferdinando Targetti Series: European Economies 2003-01-11Italy now looks as unsettled and decrepit as Britain did when Margaret Thatcher assumed power 24 years ago. Fiat wallows in crisis; university rectors resign en mass; judges attend the opening session of the judicial year carrying copies of the constitution as a warning to the government. When he returned to power, Silvio Berlusconi promised bold Thatcherite reforms to set things right. His reforms, however, have been few and insipid, aimed mostly at benefiting himself, says Ferdinando Targetti. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15588
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Inspection Not Invasion
Christoph Bertram Series: The World in Words 2003-01-10This week Hans Blix - the UN's chief weapons investigator - provided the Security Council with an interim report on the state of Iraq's compliance with all the resolutions that require it to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction. His definitive judgement is due January 27 th . As that date approaches, America's military build-up around Iraq continues at a furious pace, with Britain also mobilizing. Must war be inevitable should Mr Blix announce that Iraq has failed to meet its obligations? ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 14473
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Turkey Plays the European Card
Asaf Savas Akat Series: Islam 2003-01-09Elected with a parliamentary majority almost big enough to change the country's constitution, Turkey's new Islamist government faces daunting challenges. The most urgent is the looming war between America and Iraq. Will Turkey maintain its vital diplomatic and logistical support for its American ally? Or will religious solidarities reshape Turkey's orientation, as the new government joins other Muslim countries in opposing any invasion of Iraq? ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 14634
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The Scientific Men's Club
T.V. Rajan Series: Science and Society 2003-01-06I serve on the senior appointments and promotions committee of a medical school. Over the years, I've come to recognize something that is as disturbing as it is undeniable: as a group, male basic scientists sail through the committee effortlessly. Many work in fields so specialized that they have only ten colleagues in the entire world, half of whom are their mentors or one-time fellow graduate students. These are their "peers," and they readily provide laudatory letters of recommendation establishing that the applicant has attained "national and international recognition." In contrast, applications by clinical faculty and women provoke far more discussion. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 16142
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Drunk on Corruption
Vladimir Voinovich Series: A Window on Russia 2003-01-02My friend Boris was leaving my house drunk. So I suggested that he not drive. He asked why. "You are under the influence," I said. "Aren't you afraid of the police?" "No," Boris replied, "I have a document with Benjamin Franklin's face on it. This always helps me." He showed me his driver's license with a $100-dollar bill tucked beside it. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 21061
