Perspectives
Masoud Movahed. Originally published in the HIR Fall 2014 Issue. To explain economic development, the starting point is often Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, which is taken to explain almost all modern economic growth. The long-standing Smithian paradigm, which posits that the development of trade and the division
China
Ubiquitous and impossible to avoid, Chinese propaganda posters were mass-produced, easily and cheaply available at the Xinhua (New China) bookstores. Posters carried normative or political messages, but they also brought some color to the places where people lived. Posters reached all levels of society: they adorned offices and factory workshops,
Transportation
It is self-evident that HSR increases the convenience of living in outlying suburbs of crowded and expensive cities, making housing more affordable for people working in those cities. As a result, Japan's experience over the 55-year span of HSR linking cities throughout the country is instructive.
Interviews
Originally published in the HIR Winter 2019 Issue. Given Xi Jinping's removal of the presidential limit in China, what are the long-term ramifications of China's transition from an institutionalized political system to a more personalistic one? I have never agreed with the conventional wisdom that China's political system was institutionalized.
Winter 2019
Spencer Hurt. Originally published in the HIR Winter 2019 Issue. From disease to famine, corruption to war, poverty to unsustainable living, developing nations and their peoples have long endured remarkable numbers of hardships. But as these countries become more environmentally conscious, gain access to modern day medicine, improve education, seek
Defense
Dennis Lee. Originally published in the HIR Fall 2013 Issue. In recent years, news of North Korea has been followed by the words "nuclear", "reactor, "ICBM", or some combination of those words. After all, the first half of 2013 saw news of another nuclear weapons test, the launch of a
Education
President of Yale-NUS Pericles Lewis. Originally published in the HIR Summer 2013 Issue. There are worrying signs today that the United States is turning away from the tradition of liberal arts education that has made it a global leader in post-secondary education over the past century. Universities are cutting language
Asia
Executive Director of the IEA Maria van der Hoeven. Originally published in the HIR Summer 2013 Issue. In 2011, China emerged as the largest consumer of energy globally, and is projected to be a main driver of global energy demand increases for the foreseeable future. Under the IEA's most recent
Asia
Former Kazakhstani Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin. Originally published in the Winter/Spring 2000 Issue. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West has been fascinated with the large expanse of Central Asia. Today, this region is the focus of struggle among many historical and political cross-currents affecting the developing
Asia
Soojin Yim. Originally published in the HIR Winter/Spring 2000 Issue. According to a 1997 study, today’s Japanese women will give birth to an average of 1.39 children during their lifetime. This birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, and it has been in steady
October 1980
Ezra F. Vogel. Originally published in the HIR October 1980 Issue. As an academic observing developments in East Asia for the past two decades, I have gradually come to a disturbing conclusion: The United States is being surpassed by Japan as a modern industrial power, and this creates serious consequences
Asia
If and when China and Taiwan unite, it will be based upon a mutual amity and belief that it is in the interest of all Chinese people to do so—not through coercion and aggression.