War and Peace

Is an Islamic civil war underway? Can a Pax Americana still take hold in the Middle East? Is "national security" an outdated concept? Is the "war on terror" winnable?

Shlomo Ben-Ami, a renowned historian of fascism, as well as a seasoned diplomat, is the former Israeli foreign minister who came closest to devising a viable peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. His monthly commentaries on War and Peace will regularly include debates and exchanges of ideas with Palestinian and other Arab leaders. At the same time, Shlomo Ben-Ami will bring his commitment to historical truth and appreciation of the legitimate claims of the “other” to bear not only on the Middle East, but also on the myriad wars, and causes of war, that trouble our age.

Crossing Cultures

Is multiculturalism a blessing or a curse? Must democracy be secular or can religion play a role? Does the “West” still exist and, if so, what does it stand for? Has China successfully fused capitalism with authoritarianism? Will Islam change the West or will the West change Islam?

Ian Buruma, a Dutchman who writes in English and speaks fluent Japanese and German, is a classic public intellectual of the kind that now seems to have vanished from our world. His books cover topics ranging from war guilt (The Wages of Guilt) to the impact of Western ideas on Asia (Occidentalism) to the breakdown of multiculturalism (Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance).

Combining the historian’s breadth and insight with the journalist’s clarity and accessibility, Ian Buruma has reported on the defining issues of our time for three decades. His sober, compelling analyses – delivered in vivid and often stirring prose – unfailingly spark debate. Now, Project Syndicate’s monthly series Crossing Cultures brings the writing of one of the world’s most important and engaging intellectuals to newspaper readers everywhere.

The Statesmen's Debate

In a series of monthly commentaries by leading statesmen Jorge Castañeda, Richard Haass and Michel Rocard, Project Syndicate offers a truly global perspective on some of today's most divisive issues - from terrorism and preemptive war, to protectionism and the role of cultural and religious values.

Anatomy of the Global Economy

J. Bradford DeLong, Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley and former Assistant US Treasury Secretary, continues the traditions established by Rudi Dornbusch in Project Syndicate's ANATOMY OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY series. He explains in depth with wisdom borne of experience what is occurring in the global economy today, and what is most likely to occur tomorrow.

The Rebel Realist

In an era when government is increasingly seen as a technocratic pursuit, and passion and moral commitment seem things of the past, Joschka Fischer stands out as an exception. As former German foreign minister and a former Green MP, Fischer has personified a maverick form of leftist politics - at once principled, pragmatic, and pro-American. Is further EU enlargement antagonistic to deeper integration? Should the global community of democracies assume greater responsibility for fixing the world’s problems? Every month, writing exclusively for Project Syndicate, one of Europe’s most admired politicians brings his unique perspective to global developments.

Global Warning

Should addressing climate change be the leading global priority? Can economic growth and environmental protection be reconciled? Who should pay the costs of pollution: Consumers? Big business? Government? Can we really feed the world on organically grown food?

What to do about the environment, particularly global warming, is the most incendiary issue of our time. Although environmental science remains uncertain, debates about it need not be incoherent. Bjørn Lomborg, the founder of the Copenhagen Consensus, which puts the best analytical principles and minds to work on environmental problems, seeks to make sense of the basic political, economic, and moral questions that surround the problem of environmental sustainability in his new monthly series, Global Warning.

European Observer

Dominique Moisi is one of Europe's leading geo-strategic thinkers. A founder of the French Institute of International Affairs (IFRI), Moisi is uniquely positioned to conduct a lucid, ethical analysis while Europe reckons with its unique position: once the center of the world, now a major cultural and economic power. Can and must American power be balanced? Will Russia rise again? As Europe strives for a world in which justice and rights are more important than force, Moisi shares his wisdom and conviction through the Project Syndicate series, European Observer.

Of Might and Right

Former US Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Professor of Government at Harvard, Joseph S. Nye is an experienced diplomat as well as one of the most original scholars and thinkers in the field of international relations. In these monthly commentaries for Project Syndicate, the author of The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go it Alone (2002) provides a unique perspective on the dynamics and principles shaping global affairs today.

History in Motion

Should governments really never negotiate with terrorists? When and how should we recognize new nations? Do East and West confront an unbridgeable cultural divide or simply a developmental time lag?

Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, a former EU Commissioner for External Relations, British Cabinet minister, and chairman of the Conservative Party, has built his career around addressing such challenges. Currently Chancellor of the University of Oxford, he is also co-chair of the International Crisis Group, overseeing many international operations.

Roads to Prosperity

Is free trade always the best policy? Should developing countries open their financial systems? Do foreign-exchange controls serve any useful purpose in our globalized world?

The Unbound Economy

A few years ago, the term “world economy” was used as shorthand for the economies of the developed world. Now China is too big to ignore and India is poised to join it as a global player. What happens in Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and a host of other countries can set stock markets trembling everywhere.

With so many different regions and cultures in the mix, few people anywhere have the knowledge and breadth of experience to analyze the world economy and give readers insight into where it is going. Kenneth Rogoff – Harvard Economics Professor, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, and section chief at the International Finance Division of the United States Federal Reserve Bank – is one of those few.

Economics and Justice

In his exclusive Project Syndicate commentaries Jeffrey Sachs - legendary adviser to the governments of Poland, Russia, and other countries on three continents, as well as a leading critic of today's international economic architecture - monitors and makes comprehensible the social forces behind economic growth around the world.

Finance in the 21st Century

Is the dollar doomed to a hard landing? Are the increasingly arcane instruments of global finance a source of new wealth or a cause of greater instability? Why can the housing market suddenly turn “hot”? What makes long-term bond prices shoot up and down in a single year? Can financial globalization be regulated?

When the 1990’s Internet bubble pushed markets to dizzying heights, one man warned of the dangers of this irrational exuberance: Yale Professor Robert Shiller. In the year before America’s sub-prime mortgage market collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis, one man prophesied that the US housing sector would experience its most severe downturn in 40 years: New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini. Both got it right before anyone else, but almost everyone – from central bankers to ordinary investors – failed to listen.

The Ethics of Life

In 2005 Time magazine named Peter Singer one of the 100 most influential people in the world, for his challenging debates on abortion, genetic engineering, and "collateral damage" on the battlefield. As Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University's Center for Human Values, not only is Peter Singer the most qualified to dissect these issues, at times, he is also the most controversial. Is human life really always sacred? What standards should govern how we address poverty and fight wars? In The Ethics of Life, this exciting contemporary thinker examines the moral concepts that shape public policy.

Transatlantic Perspectives

Will the euro displace the falling dollar as a reserve currency? Should the European Central Bank focus on growth, as America’s Fed does? Which labor market model is most conducive to prosperity? Is re-regulation of financial markets necessary?

Two of the world’s most distinguished political economists, Martin Feldstein, a former Chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisors and currently Professor of Economics at Harvard, and Hans-Werner Sinn of Germany’s Ifo Institute and Munich University, have teamed up to provide Project Syndicate with exclusive monthly commentaries on Europe, America, and the World. Deeply informed and bracingly prescient, Feldstein and Sinn are “must reading” for anyone who wants to understand the complex relationship between political decisions and economic performance.

Against the Current

Are markets moral? What does the East expect from the West? Has globalization killed the idea of equality? Has the concept of “humanitarian intervention” been discredited? Is authoritarian capitalism a viable development option?

Few thinkers embody globalization as thoroughly as Robert Skidelsky. Born in China, a Russian speaker who teaches in Moscow, a working member of the British House of Lords, and a historian who has produced defining work on subjects ranging from fascism to education to economic and social philosophy, Lord Skidelsky's biography and intellectual breadth make him perfectly suited to comment on the diverse problems of our age.

I Dissent: Unconventional Economic Wisdom

Is “boom and bust” a permanent feature of the capitalist order? Do global markets need global regulation – and are today’s supranational institutions the right ones to provide it? Is the dream of a Third Way between today’s global capitalism and yesterday’s discredited socialism still alive? These questions and more are the focus of this Project Syndicate monthly series of commentaries by a Nobel laureate economist

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Awakening India

Are India and China doomed to Great Power rivalry? Is the “moral” foreign policy of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru obsolete? Will Bollywood replace Hollywood as a source of “soft” power? Is India now a de facto ally of the United States and Japan? Will democracy help or hinder its long-term growth?

Shashi Tharoor, a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and the author of acclaimed novels such as Riot, The Great Indian Novel, and Show Business, is one of today’s most knowledgeable and provocative observers of India’s global rise and of the myriad perplexities and effervescence of its everyday life. How will India’s increasingly international companies confront stiffening resistance in the West? Why can’t a country that excels at cricket field a decent Olympic team?

In Awakening India, written exclusively every month for Project Syndicate, Tharoor captures and deciphers the multifaceted complexity of the ambitious country that India has become: one where there is much more hope – but also more frustration – than ever before.

The Next Wave

Whatever happened to feminism? Does Islam really turn women into “happy slaves”? Is America’s traditional commitment to democracy and equality in terminal decline? Has the West illegitimately monopolized the idea of human rights? Are there specific female values

As a leading figure of feminism’s “third wave,” Naomi Wolf, author of such acclaimed books as The Beauty Myth, Fire with Fire, Promiscuities, and Misconceptions, has sought to answer that question. Wolf advocates “power feminism”: women must assert themselves politically to get what they want. Yet, since all women do not have the same interests, owing to differences of race, culture, and class, she rejects the possibility of a universal female agenda.

Wolf’s commentaries in The Next Wave, written exclusively for Project Syndicate, challenge conventional views – often held by feminists – about abortion, pornography, sexual harassment, and much else, while paying close attention to evidence and nuances that are often overlooked or intentionally ignored. Equally important, Wolf never loses sight of how public debate about such issues both influences and reflects the character and quality of our political institutions.