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World In Review, Europe
Russia Rising

When a calamitous earthquake and tsunami struck the east coast of Japan in March 2011, few could have guessed just how far the aftershock would reach. Japan, one of the world’s largest economies and a powerhouse in East Asia, was left utterly devastated and economically crippled, with entire regions flooded and thousands dead or missing. The disaster also set off a chain of events that would eventually lead to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, under pressure from a mobilized German public and a growing green movement, to announce that Germany would close all its nuclear power plants by 2022.

By Alex Palmer  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Americas
The Chavez Paradox

In June, the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, traveled to Cuba for emergency surgery. A month later, the announcement that he was undergoing cancer treatment threw the apparent hegemony of his revolution into disarray and began to cast doubts on the future of his radical social agenda. Since then, updates concerning his health have been scarce, leading to rife speculation as to the exact nature of his illness and his political future. As Venezuela faces its greatest period of political uncertainty in close to a decade, the debate over the influence of 21st century Latin American socialism and its emblematic leader rages more intensely than it ever has.

By Alex Durand  |  January 12, 2012
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Africa, Global Notebook
Trading Up

During its half-century since independence, Nigeria has gained a reputation for inefficient use of its natural resources and a weak government system of patronage and high corruption. However, with the democratic election of previously de-facto President Goodluck Jonathan, experts believe that the country will finally be able to take off in growth. According to the economist Jeffrey Sachs, Nigeria has the potential to join the BRIC countries, turning it into BRINC (Brazil, Russia, India, Nigeria, China) by the end of the decade. Despite the country’s reforms since the death of the dictator Sani Abacha in 1998, it has been slow to develop its core infrastructure, with funds allocated for public projects often lining the pockets of government officials.

By Meng Chen  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Middle East
Big Brother Politics

As Egypt moves from the euphoria of revolution to the less heady questions of timetables, candidates, and elections, the Arab world’s oldest and dominant Islamist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, is again stepping into the Egyptian political and global media limelight. The country’s military rulers have just announced that voting for the People’s Assembly will begin on November 28 of this year, marking the first parliamentary elections since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak. Amid fears that the vote would divide Islamist parties and youth secular groups, however, the Muslim Brotherhood appears confident in its role in the transition process from military to civilian rule.

By Lena Bae  |  January 12, 2012
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World In Review, Asia Pacific
Potential for Progress

Precarious topography, political turmoil, and a struggling global economy are tough conditions for any state, let alone a young democracy of 140 million citizens. In light of these problems, Bangladesh’s sustained economic growth becomes all the more impressive. Over the past five years, Bangladesh has enjoyed an average real GDP growth of six percent. Labor-intensive industries, in particular textiles, have fueled growth as Bangladesh’s tremendous reserves of cheap, low-skill labor have attracted foreign investment. Educational attainment rates are on the rise and Bangladesh has a particularly vibrant political culture, as a vast majority of citizens vote.

By Ashraf Ahmed  |  January 12, 2012
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Features, Print Features
Cholera Vaccination in Haiti

The cholera epidemic in Haiti will be a year old in October and is far from under control. As cases spiked across the country during the summer rainy season, the ranks of cholera relief workers grew thin. Too few patients reach healthcare facilities with enough time to be sure that treatment—simple rehydration in most cases—can restore them to health. Access to clean water and to modern sanitation is dwindling. We must redouble existing efforts at cholera prevention and care—case-finding and treatment, water and sanitation projects, education and surveillance—while simultaneously integrating vaccination into the ongoing response. Even prior to this epidemic it was clear that waterborne pathogens posed great risks to communities across the country, including those not affected directly by the January 2010 earthquake. All steps to protect Haiti’s vulnerable population needed, and still need, to be taken.

By Alan R. Hinman, Fernet Léandre, Jean-William Pape, Jonathan L. Weigel, Louise C. Ivers, Mark L. Rosenberg, Paul Farmer  |  December 25, 2011
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Africa, Features, Print Features
The Impact of Change

AIDS has now been with us for a quarter of a century, and there are people still alive who were among the first people to be diagnosed with HIV after the retrovirus was discovered and named in 1983. Think back to the world of that time: Ronald Reagan was President of the United States, and still locked in what seemed to be a permanent state of hostility with the USSR, whose collapse at the end of the decade was almost entirely unexpected. The greatest economic challenge to the United States was thought then to be Japan, and very few people anticipated the rapid rise of China.

By Dennis Altman  |  December 25, 2011
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Interviews, Print Interviews, Middle East
Development in Pakistan

What are the key developmental challenges Pakistan faces today, and what solutions has the Finance Ministry posed to address these challenges?

By Abdul Hafeez Shaikh  |  December 24, 2011
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Features, Print Features, Global
Instruments of Peace

As the hunt for Osama bin Laden began to focus on the now infamous compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the CIA desperately sought confirmation that he was there. The agency came up with an idea: hire a local doctor to conduct a fake vaccination campaign, which it hoped could lead to obtaining blood samples from bin Laden’s grandchildren that could be analyzed for a DNA match to bin Laden. One could dismiss the campaign as just another imaginative tactic used by the CIA in the search; the fact that it involved a population health ruse could be of no more significance than had the CIA hired agents to sell lottery tickets door to door in the neighborhood.

By Leonard Rubenstein  |  December 24, 2011
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Perspectives, Print Perspectives, Global
From Seoul to Cannes

As the Sherpa of the Republic of Korea, I found one of the most rewarding outcomes of the Seoul Summit was that it delivered on all of the commitments made at previous Summits. For instance, member nations reached an agreement on quota reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); it was a difficult endeavor because reform was long viewed as a “zero sum game.” The G20 nations also adopted new international standards for bank capital adequacy, leverage ratios, and liquidity standards. They agreed upon general principles for regulation of systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs). These IMF quota and core financial regulatory reforms were originally scheduled for early 2011, but the Seoul Summit facilitated a November 2010 agreement on these issues.

By Changyong Rhee  |  December 24, 2011
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