Harvard International Review articles from September 2007

Harvard International Review archives from September 2007

Crisis of leadership.(CORRESPONDENCE)
September 22, 2007... Botswana is an enduring economic success story set against Africa's economic graveyard of collapsed economies, failed states, and dysfunctional governments. Its president, Festus Mogae, is among the few exemplary leaders in post-colonial...

Don't panic.(CORRESPONDENCE)
September 22, 2007... Dr. Ousmane Kane ("Moderate Revivalists: Islamic Inroads in Sub-Saharan Africa," Summer 2007) offers a welcome respite from the hyperventilating analyses of Islam and the terrorist threat in sub-Saharan Africa that have become all too common in...

Yet again: drawing parallels in genocide.(AFRICA)
September 22, 2007... In 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) quelled the Hutu-initiated genocide, and in the process, devastated Rwanda, further exacerbated poverty, and claimed the lives of 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The world vowed "never...

Back on track? Nigeria's hard path toward reform.(AFRICA)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... Nigeria's most recent presidential election demonstrated the country's fractious political situation and widespread lack of transparency. Throughout much of its post-independence history, Nigeria has suffered under a three-way geo-ethnic...

Liberal union: integrating Hong Kong and China.(ASIA PACIFIC)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... Hong Kong's economy may be booming, but it faces an inevitable challenge to its burgeoning growth. The Sino-British Joint Declaration guarantees Beijing's noninterference in all governmental matters, barring territorial defense and foreign...

Lone migrants: China's growing underclass.(ASIA PACIFIC)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... In the 1980s, China's population of rural-to-urban migrants numbered around 2 million; today, the estimated number of internal migrants ranges from 150 to 200 million people--over one-tenth of China's 1.3 billion population--and growing. These...

Banco del Chavez: undermining liberal capitalism.(AMERICAS)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... The Banco del Sur is only the latest gambit in Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's mission to pry Latin America away from international capitalism. The bank would be run by Latin American countries themselves and would play a role similar to...

Cults and politics: propagandizing Russia's youth.(EUROPE)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... More than 15 years after the fall of the USSR, Russia is on a steady slide away from genuine democracy and toward authoritarianism. Even more troubling is the Russian government's effort to inculcate its new generation with values that justify...

Tentative steps: Ahmadinejad's economic reform.(MIDDLE EAST)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... Iran's economy is on the rise. According to The Economist Intelligence Unit, real GDP growth for the last year was 4.3 percent, and indicators show a positive current account balance. There appears to have been concrete progress ever since the...

Development's security: a new perspective on international security.(PERSPECTIVES)
September 22, 2007... For the past several decades, the need for international security has developed alongside the global economic order that characterizes international relations today. Since the early 1970s, with the New International Economic Order and the...

Credit for the poor: poverty as distant history.(PERSPECTIVES)(Grameen Bank)
September 22, 2007... In our data-driven analysis of economic development and poverty, it is often difficult to remember that poverty was not created by the poor, but is rather a result of the socioeconomic system we have designed for the world. The poor are the...

Democracy and development: consolidating peace in Africa.(PERSPECTIVES)
September 22, 2007... In a historical approach to the conflicts in Africa, one can distinguish certain outstanding sequences. The first sequence, corresponding to the pre-colonial period, was characterized by the birth and development of kingdoms and empires of...

A modernization paradox: Saudi Arabia's divided society.(WORLD IN REVIEW)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... There is something profoundly paradoxical about the new Al Faisaliah shopping center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A sprawling, three-story compound complete with air-conditioning and wireless internet, the bustling shopping mall is chock full of US...

The resource curse revised: conflict and coltan in the Congo.(WORLD IN REVIEW)(Democratic Republic of the Congo)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... "Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. There was no joy in the brilliance...

The good neighbor: why China cooperates.(WORLD IN REVIEW)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... For much of Communist China's existence, ideology and revolution were cornerstones of the country's domestic and foreign policies. While aid and support was given to radical groups in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, wars were fought...

Securities insecurity: examining the economic weapon.(weapons of market destruction: ECONOMICS OF SECURITY)
September 22, 2007... In 1997 the Indonesian economy was devastated by a financial crisis, sending its currency plummeting and exposing President Suharto's corrupt and shortsighted policies. The meltdown turned out to be the nail in the coffin for the aging...

Rivals or partners? Globalization and US-China relations.(weapons of market destruction: ECONOMICS OF SECURITY)
September 22, 2007... Classic thinkers as diverse as Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, and Karl Marx have recognized that wealth and power go hand in hand. World politics and international economics are intimately connected and should never be treated as separate...

Effective sanctions: incentives and UN-US dynamics.(weapons of market destruction: ECONOMICS OF SECURITY)
September 22, 2007... As a means for responding to a wide array of national security concerns and violations of international norms, economic sanctions have occupied an increasingly prominent place in the tool kit of US policymakers. Ever since the United States...

The oil weapon: can it be used today?(weapons of market destruction: ECONOMICS OF SECURITY)
September 22, 2007... In 1973 the Arab oil-exporting countries stunned the world by announcing that they were cutting oil production and placing an oil embargo on the United States and the Netherlands. Now, 35 years later, fears about the security of oil supplies...

Foreign aid: effectively advancing security interests.(weapons of market destruction: ECONOMICS OF SECURITY)
September 22, 2007... The use of foreign aid as a tool to advance national security interests has been a driving force in US foreign policy since the implementation of the Marshall Plan, the United States' first official aid program. Critics of using aid for...

Targeted sanctions: motivating policy change.(weapons of market destruction: ECONOMICS OF SECURITY)
September 22, 2007... Economic sanctions are the international relations tool of choice in this day and age. The range of states that have become targets of sanctions is growing month by month, as is the list of organizations applying this foreign policy instrument....

Open economies: toward security and prosperity.(weapons of market destruction: ECONOMICS OF SECURITY)
September 22, 2007... Finance ministries traditionally serve one primary mission: pursuing policies that promote economic growth. In today's integrated world markets, economies succeed based on their ability to harness the forces of globalization to deliver growth....

A world without WMDs? Modern challenges to Nuclear Non-Proliferation.(AN INTERVIEW WITH HANS BLIX)(Weapons of Mass Destruction)(Interview)
September 22, 2007... DR. HANS BLIX is the chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, a nongovernmental project funded by Sweden. He served as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1981-1997, and led the United Nations Monitoring,...

China's soft power; Dwight H. Perkins reviews Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World.
September 22, 2007... Much is made today of China's booming economy. US defense secretaries point to China's rising military power and question why China feels the need to build its military might so rapidly. US diplomats work with Chinese diplomats in an effort to...

Europe's new economics; Christa Randzio-Plath reviews Europe as an Economic Powerhouse: How the Old Continent is Gaining Strength.
September 22, 2007... Old Europe is always good for surprises. The region's actual economic performance is much better than expected, with growth rates above potential for this year and the next. Employment prospects are encouraging, with the creation of millions of...

The perils of proliferation: combating WMD in an age of terror.(ENDPAPER)(weapons of mass destruction)
September 22, 2007... Not so many years ago, the international community approached the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as an issue exclusively connected with the activities of states. Non-state actors seemed to have little interest in acquiring or...