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| 1 |
ID:
125207
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
President Obama's post-election visit to Asia last November was a vivid reminder that America is in the process of making a strategic pivot east. That Burma was one of his destinations was good for many reasons, one of which was to remind the development community that this country is once again full of potential, as it was half a century ago. Indeed, in the 1960s Burma, along with the Philippines and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), was seen as one of the most likely candidates in Asia to follow Japan into sustained economic growth. The fact that neither Burma nor Ceylon nor the Philippines ever quite made it-indeed, for different reasons, each became an also-ran in terms of development-is an interesting story in its own right, but a topical one too. After years of frustrated hopes and dashed expectations, each of these countries, surprisingly, has another chance to fulfill its long-stalled potential. Development delayed, it seems, is not necessarily development lost.
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| 2 |
ID:
125199
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2013.
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China's in deep, deep trouble, and its new leaders know it. The growth of the nation's GDP has continued to slow every quarter since late 2010-though it did tick up slightly in the state's latest quarterly report, published in January. But that's just one of many problems. In the simple words of D&B Country RiskLine Reports' year-end assessment of China, "Trend: deteriorating."
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| 3 |
ID:
125206
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2013.
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For decades Cuba has exported workers to the developing world as "missionaries for the Cuban Revolution." Usually sent on two-year tours, they are predominantly health professionals, although teachers, sports trainers, engineers, architects, and other specialists also serve. The goal is to earn hard currency and advance other financial goals of the regime while gaining influence, prestige, legitimacy, and sympathy abroad.
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| 4 |
ID:
125197
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| Publication |
2013.
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Columbia University's English Department may seem a surprising place from which to move the world, but this is what Professor Edward Said accomplished. He not only transformed the West's perception of the Israel-Arab conflict, he also led the way toward a new, post-socialist life for leftism in which the proletariat was replaced by "people of color" as the redeemers of humankind. During the ten years that have passed since his death there have been no signs that his extraordinary influence is diminishing.
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| 5 |
ID:
125203
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| Publication |
2013.
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A great nation, a great power"-the recent Fourth General Congress of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP party proclaimed this ambitious goal for 2023, the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic. The Congress celebrated Erdogan's leadership and reelected him as party chairman. With his party's backing, and through a prospective new constitution that will create a powerful "presidential system," Erdogan expects to preside over the anniversary celebrations as president of a transformed Turkey that dominates the Middle East.
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| 6 |
ID:
125209
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| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Although the US-Russian relationship continues to deteriorate in the face of a vengeful Kremlin ban on American adoptions of Russian orphans, Vladimir Putin is still pursuing a strategy of influencing-and infiltrating-European political establishments. Given the amount of capital that Russia and her billionaire oligarchs have invested in the continent, this policy is as much defensive as it is self-interested. The European Commission's deadly-serious investigation into Gazprom's monopolistic practices, the beginning of the end of German Ostpolitik, and the ongoing dispute with Russia over the Syria crisis hint at an imminent confrontation between Moscow and EU countries. And while state-owned media outlets turn out anti-American propaganda to match equivalent policy measures, for the time being, Russia is still very much committed to swaying European opinion by using both transparent economic appeals (especially in the energy sector, the Gazprom case notwithstanding) and also the kind of Le Carré-esque skulduggery that was supposed to have vanished with the Cold War.
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| 7 |
ID:
125205
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| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
When newly elected French President François Hollande squarely denounced the brutality and injustice of the whole era of French colonialism before the Algerian Parliament on December 20, 2012, he created headlines on both shores of the Mediterranean. Some found in Hollande's words vindication for the evil of European imperialism, while others saw an indiscriminate betrayal of French and Western civilizing values. That was the result Hollande intended. The polarization he created bolstered both the French and Algerian governments in trying times.
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| 8 |
ID:
125208
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| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Psychological factors have always played a decisive role in the assessment of political trends. Yet until recently they have not been analyzed. Now neuroscientists (rather than political scientists) are talking about optimism and pessimism bias. According to their findings, most people tend to see the political glass as at least half full. As Tali Sharot writes in her recent book The Optimism Bias, "A growing body of scientific evidence points to the conclusion that optimism may be hardwired to the human brain." Another school of cognitive scientists sees the main danger in being too much influenced by negative conclusions when faced by ambiguous social and political situations. In the words of a recent issue of American Scientist devoted to the subject of optimism and pessimism, "A negative bias can construct a more hostile worldview than if a person's focus tends to lands of friendly faces."
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| 9 |
ID:
125201
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| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The polite Burmese man guiding me through the ramshackle streets of Yangon smiles at my disbelief after he admits he paid over $6,000 for the SIM card in his unimpressive mobile phone a decade ago. "Yes, I know," he says. "It is far more than the phone itself costs," as though this were my concern.
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