Economics & Business Archive

The governments that emerge in the aftermath of the uprisings in the Middle East will face a challenge as daunting as any faced by the men who ruled for decades before them: They must urgently improve living standards for the millions who now demand change — and they must do it in the wake of unrest that has caused already-dismal economic conditions to worsen even more. Despite the loud calls for democracy and freedom, the real engine of the Arab revolts has not been philosophical or political. Above all, the popular revolutions have been motivated by a pressing need for […]

As the leaders from the 20 largest developed and emerging economies gather this week in Cannes, France, observers will catalogue the difficulties in forging consensus around decisive steps to remedy global ills. To be sure, a roomful of the world’s most powerful leaders are bound to disagree about the causes and consequences of global economic instability and the arc of global order. But this G-20 summit will highlight another central challenge to coordinated international action: the rise of democratic powers that are ambivalent about the prevailing international order and have yet to decide whether to bolster it, replace it or […]

The French Riviera resort of Cannes is shedding its black tie image for riot gear as it braces for a crucial G20 summit. Thousands of extra police have been deployed along the Mediterranean coast with key talks due today ahead of the summit’s official start tomorrow.

An Indo-Japanese entente in Asia has been a much-discussed, but somewhat amorphous proposition — till now. China’s increasingly belligerent posture in the South China Sea and the perceived decline of overall U.S. influence has managed to focus minds in both Tokyo and New Delhi. Japan, in particular, is now quite keen to greatly expand maritime and defense cooperation as a part of a much deeper relationship. The emerging security partnership between the two Asian powers is underpinned by a larger geo-economic convergence of interests. Japan and India are both moving to put in place a strategic economic structure that can […]

One purpose of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recently completed trip to Afghanistan and several of its neighbors was to secure the growing flow of Western military supplies entering Afghanistan through the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), which involves Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and other former Soviet republics. Another objective was to promote Afghanistan’s economic integration with the rest of Central Asia. Both tasks are difficult and essential, but we must not allow our urgent pursuit of the first to distract us from the long-term necessity of the second. The Central Asian countries have been logical partners to support the U.S.-led […]