Economics & Business Archive

In addition to coordinating the world’s ruling class with the Clinton Global Initiative and combating HIV/AIDS with the Clinton Foundation, former President Bill Clinton is still fighting for Haiti. In May, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon invited him to be the United Nations Special Envoy to the poorest state in the Western Hemisphere. Clinton accepted, raising the question of where in the world he finds the energy. Earlier this month, Clinton made his third visit of the year to Haiti. During his trip, he toured the country, arguing that the moment was ripe for a revived tourism industry. He then […]

If there is one lesson we should have learned from 9/11 regarding intelligence collection and analysis, it is that the national intelligence bureaucracy’s “need to know” bias should be replaced with a cultural emphasis on the “need to share.” That’s why it is alarming to hear that the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) has decided to shut down uGov, a webmail system for the IC and those who need to work with it on a regular basis. The exact reasons for the decision are still unclear, but it seems that they primarily involve concerns over network security: Something might leak out […]

The improbable relationship between Turkey and Israel has long stood as a unique model of pragmatic, strategic thinking in a region rife with instability, tension, and identity-based alliances. In recent months, however, growing strains between the Jewish state and its Muslim neighbor have come to light, leading some to believe their decades-old ties could reach the breaking point. And yet, if one looks more closely at the relationship, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that a break between the two countries is highly unlikely. To be sure, relations between Israel and Turkey underwent a shift in tone after the […]

On Iran, China increasingly seems to be the odd man out. Not only have the French taken a surprisingly hard line in international efforts to regulate the Iranian nuclear program, but there are signs that Russia may be stiffening its resolve as well. China, by contrast, seems invariably to caution patience. Meanwhile, Chinese firms are expanding into the Iranian market at the same time that many international actors are leaving. There was a time not so long ago when China would have been expected to undermine Western policy. In the 1960s and 1970s, the People’s Republic worked to chip away […]

Following the Nuclear Supplier Group’s waiver in September 2008, India seems ready to take its place in the world of nuclear trade — not just as a purchaser, but as a supplier, too. It appears that Kazakhstan is in line to be India’s first customer for indigenously developed 220 megawatt electric (MWe) Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs). The proposed sale seems likely to follow the civil nuclear agreement signed by the two countries in January 2009. In addition to Kazakhstan, a number of Southeast Asian and African countries are also in serious talks with the Indian state-owned nuclear industry major, […]

Editor’s note: The following article is one of 30 that we’ve selected from our archives to celebrate World Politics Review’s 15th anniversary. You can find the full collection here. On Sept. 1, 2009, the new U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger, a career foreign service officer with deep experience on the African continent, started a Twitter feed. The seven or so tweets he posted between then and Sept. 29 were lauded as another example of "Twitter Diplomacy." Shashank Bengali, blogging for McClatchy, declared that the ambassador came out "swinging" with highly charged comments about Kenyan presidential appointees and in support […]

The story of Hermitage Capital, a Britain-based investment fund that was once one of the largest foreign investors in Russia, and what it encountered at the hands of corrupt Russian officials, “highlightsthe hazards of practicing law in Russia’s corruption-ridden courtsdespite nearly two decades of reforms supported by hundreds of millionsin U.S. and European aid,” Philip Pan wrote in an Aug. 13 piece in the Washington Post. It also highlights the dangers of doing business in Russia for Western firms. Hermitage was apparently the victim of a brazen attempt by corrupt Russian officials to steal its assets, in an all-too-common practice […]

As if absurdity weren’t already the norm in U.S.-Cuba relations, three years ago the U.S. Interest Section, housed in a rectangular seven-story building in the Vedado district of Havana, began broadcasting a news ticker across its sixth-floor windows. The five-foot, red-orange lettering crept from one end of the building to the other, like anachronistic soldiers leftover from an ideological war settled long ago. Unfortunately, however, nobody seems to have told either the Americans or the Cubans. In kind, Fidel Castro ordered a million people to march on the building in protest. The Cuban government proceeded to block the ticker’s view […]

The doors to the European Union have reopened for Croatia after its new Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor reached a historic deal with her Slovenian counterpart, Borut Pahor, over the two countries’ border dispute, in Ljubljana on Sept. 11. Croatia’s process of accession with the EU ground to a halt last December, when Slovenia put a veto to the negotiations, citing its territorial dispute with Zagreb over the Piran Bay and several small strips of land along the border. Before the Slovenian veto, Zagreb hoped to complete negotiations by the end of this year and join the EU in 2010 or […]

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently responded to criticisms of its policies toward the world’s least developed countries (LDCs), by reforming its approach (.pdf) to “development” lending. The fund has long been a favorite target of civil society groups, who claim that the institution has no expertise in formulating development policy, that its stringent conditions often worsen already dire economic situations, and that its governance structure is highly undemocratic. The fund, they often seem to argue, should either be overhauled, or removed from LDC lending altogether. So, is the new, gentler version of the fund an improvement for poor […]

As someone who thinks systematically about the future for a living, I frequently read science fiction with an eye for what it reveals about how today’s real fears are being projected upon tomorrow’s imagined landscapes. The books behind the 1973 movie “Soylent Green” (too many people!) and the 2006 movie “Children of Men” (no more babies!) make for a good example. Compare their central premises and you’ve basically captured the 180-degree turn the popular imagination has experienced on population growth over my lifetime. So what does today’s science fiction tell me? We have a lot of fears about biological technology […]

Voice of America interviews George Friedman, founder of the privateintelligence company Stratfor, and author of “The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century.” Among Friedman’s predictions: Solar arrays will solve the problem of finding clean energy; industrialized nations with declining populations will compete for immigrants from the developing world; the United States and Mexico will come into increasing conflict; and Poland and Turkey will emerge as great powers.