Column Archive

After my first book came out in 2004, I received a surprise phone call from an assistant to former United States Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, asking if I would meet with him to talk about Africa. Sitting together in his executive’s office at Citibank’s headquarters in Manhattan, he averred that if Al Gore were to win that year’s presidential election, he could return to a leading position in government, and he wanted to know if there was one initiative Washington could take to engage with Africa, what would I suggest? This was a tall order, not least because I had […]

President Donald Trump has repeatedly shown that when it comes to foreign policy, he prefers bullying over supporting widely held norms. He has embraced dictators while trashing American allies and alliances. He ignores or undermines international institutions that the United States helped to create. And on the trade front, he has slapped tariffs on close allies and partners while invoking vague claims about national security. The latest move came last week, when Trump again threatened trade sanctions against Mexico, a major trading partner, over a humanitarian crisis at the southern border that he helped create. The families escaping violence and […]

It wasn't so long ago that there was a legitimate push to expand the United Nations Security Council. So why have the calls for UNSC reform disappeared? Among the mysteries of contemporary world politics is the lack of high-level debate over reforming the United Nations Security Council. U.N. membership has expanded dramatically since 1945, from 51 to 193 nations, and the global economy has experienced tectonic shifts, especially in the past 30 years. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the seven largest Western economies—three of which have permanent seats on the council—accounted for 51 percent of global economic output. […]