Harvard International Review articles from September 2006

Harvard International Review archives from September 2006

Policy organizations: an insider's view.(CORRESPONDENCE)
September 22, 2006... Harvard Professor Lawrence Summers insightfully discussed how academic research can influence and hopefully improve public policy ("Bridging the Divide: When Policy Profits from Research," Summer 2006). He mentioned two main avenues: academics...

The blame game.(CORRESPONDENCE)(criticism of Hussin Mutalib's essay "Misunderstood: Political Islam in Southeast Asia")
September 22, 2006... Hussin Mutalib's essay ("Misunderstood: Political Islam in Southeast Asia," Summer 2006) is riddled with errors, but I shall focus on just one: his falling into the too-common pattern of blaming the Muslim world's tribulations on the West. Take...

Making progress: Zambia's improving condition.(AFRICA)
September 22, 2006... A midst African stagnation, Zambia's economy is making progress. The nation has experienced annual average growth of 4.5 percent over the last six years. On President Levy Mwanawasa's invitation, foreign investments are pouring into the mining,...

In need of aid: Cambodia's corruption troubles.(ASIA PACIFIC)
September 22, 2006... Cambodian officials pocketed money designated for specific aid programs, the World Bank alleges. Though Prime Minister Hun Sen denies there is any reason for suspicion, denials are not enough. He must actively prove his government's innocence....

Kurdistan: the elusive quest for sovereignty.(ASIA PACIFIC)
September 22, 2006... On March 16, 2006, angry Kurds in Halabja, Iraq, tore down a monument dedicated to the memory of the 1988 poison gas attacks by Saddam Hussein. Why would the Kurds destroy a monument with such symbolic importance three years after the end of...

Island economics: free trade in the Caribbean.(AMERICAS)
September 22, 2006... How should the Caribbean region foster economic development? The question has long been on the minds of Caribbean leaders. Their small island states face significant hindrances to development, including modest populations, limited expanses of...

Porous policies: illegal immigration in Europe.(EUROPE)(Immigration policy)
September 22, 2006... Europe has been losing its war on illegal immigration. According to various EU estimates, around half a million illegal immigrants still enter the European Union annually, even after years of measures that have included policing, detention, and...

Open tinderbox: toward lasting peace in the Balkans.(EUROPE)
September 22, 2006... When Montenegro narrowly voted to break way from its loose union with Serbia in its May referendum, world leaders praised the peaceful election and embraced the re-emergence of the tiny nation. Attention quickly turned away from the Balkan...

Labor law matters: trade liberalization in Oman.(MIDDLE EAST)
September 22, 2006... Oman's economy is liberalizing. After accession to the World Trade Organization in 2000, the government shifted toward free market values, courted foreign trade and investment, and introduced industrial regulations and labor laws. The signing...

With values aligned: improving Saudi-US relations.(PERSPECTIVES)
September 22, 2006... In April 2005, Crown Prince Abdullah, who would soon become King of Saudi Arabia, met with US President George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas, to discuss Saudi relations with the United States. When the meeting concluded, a joint press conference...

An unwarranted pessimism: rethinking the European integration debate.(PERSPECTIVES)
September 22, 2006... When the French and Dutch referenda on the European Constitution failed in late spring 2005, Luxembourg held the rotating presidency of the European Union. A few days later, while chairing the EU Council of Ministers, I looked at the concerned...

Contending nationalisms: Kashmir and the prospects for peace.(PERSPECTIVES)
September 22, 2006... Since 1947 the Kashmir dispute has bedeviled relations between Pakistan and India. It has led to three separate wars, in 1947, 1965, and 1971, and a serious armed conflict in Kargil in 1999. In addition, because both countries are declared...

A wealth deferred: the politics and science of Golden Rice.(WORLD IN REVIEW)
September 22, 2006... The idea behind Golden Rice is simple. It starts with a disease: Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), a wholly preventable scourge of the developing world. As the name implies, VAD is a dietary problem and is particularly prevalent in the developing...

Disconnected: taxing mobile phones in the developing world.(WORLD IN REVIEW)
September 22, 2006... It has been hailed as the development tool of the century. It has revolutionized business in Africa and Asia and has allowed the poor to cross countless institutional hurdles. And despite a paucity of electricity, infrastructure, and support...

Know your enemy: why we contemplate catastrophe.(to predict and prevent: GLOBAL CATASTROPHE)(Cover story)
September 22, 2006... As the world reflects on the fifth anniversary of September 11, the prospect of another catastrophe looms. From the explosion of a nuclear weapon in a major city to a pandemic that could kill millions, potential disasters inspire fear from...

Risk and reaction: dealing with interdependencies.(to predict and prevent: GLOBAL CATASTROPHE)
September 22, 2006... With the increasing concentration of people and businesses in high-risk areas and the increasing interdependencies within the world, catastrophes are more likely than ever. Consider the disasters of Hurricane Katrina and the September 11...

Coping with disaster: a challenge for international institutions.(to predict and prevent: GLOBAL CATASTROPHE)
September 22, 2006... Uncertainty, complexity, and rapid change will increasingly characterize humanitarian threats in the foreseeable future. These threats may range from the prospect of the 320-meter asteroid 99942 Apophis crashing into the Pacific rim in 2035 to...

The will to prevent: global challenges of nuclear proliferation.(to predict and prevent: GLOBAL CATASTROPHE)
September 22, 2006... Imagine that on September 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, terrorists successfully executed a nuclear terrorist attack in New York City. On a normal working day, more than 500,000 people crowd the area within a...

The next battlefield: the reality of virtual threats.(to predict and prevent: GLOBAL CATASTROPHE)
September 22, 2006... In today's increasingly interconnected world, a person with a laptop computer can sit at a coffee shop in London and trade stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange, transfer funds from a bank account in Zurich to an account in Tokyo, chat...

Shock to the system: the impending global energy supply crisis.(to predict and prevent: GLOBAL CATASTROPHE)
September 22, 2006... For decades our conception of a serious global economic threat has been limited to wars or financial disasters. The possibility of energy issues morphing into economic disruptions faded as the world enjoyed decades of low energy prices and...

Canada leads: improving international governance.(AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL MARTIN)(Interview)
September 22, 2006... PAUL MARTIN was Prime Minister of Canada from December 2003 to February 2006. A member of the Liberal party, he has been the Member of Parliament from LaSalle-Emard in Montreal since 1988 and served as Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2002. ...

Assessing privatization; Carol Graham reviews Reality Check: The Distributional Impact of Privatization.("Reality Check: The Distributional Impact of Privatization in Developing Countries")(Book review)
September 22, 2006... Who benefits from privatization? In Reality Check: The Distributional Impact of Privatization in Developing Countries, editors John Nell is and Nancy Birdsall provide a simple and concise framework for evaluating the extent to which...

The immigration debate: Steven M. Ladik reviews Immigration Phobia and the Security Dilemma.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... Although US citizens have traditionally viewed the United States as a nation of immigrants, American history is marked by continuous distrust for the latest wave of immigrants to its shores. Since US President George W. Bush recently began...

For an East Asian Union: rethinking Asia's Cold War alliances.(ENDPAPER)
September 22, 2006... At the conclusion of the Second World War, the United States established bilateral military alliances in the Asia-Pacific intended to contain Soviet and Chinese communist expansion in the region. US security strategy now focuses largely on...