Press Room — FP in the News

FOREIGN POLICY’s unique coverage of the most significant trends and events shaping the world today is causing ripples throughout the U.S. and international media. Mentions of the magazine and references to the articles we publish are higher than ever before in our 37-year history. FP is glad to be a spark in the worldwide expansion of the discussion and debate of international issues, for it only helps serve our mission: to explain to the broadest possible audience how globalization is changing the way the world works.

Recent Mentions of FP in the News

"Top 10 Stories..." on NPR's Talk of the Nation
12/31/2007
Talk of the Nation - National Public Radio

FP Web Editor, Blake Hounshell appeared on the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation" to discuss FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


Christine Chen on KGO Radio
12/28/2007
KGO-AM

FP Senior Editor, Christine Chen appeared on KGO-AM (CBS News Radio, San Francisco) to discuss the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan.


"Top 10 Stories..." on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show
12/26/2007
Brian Lehrer Show -- WNYC-AM, The
George, Priya

FP Managing Editor, Will Dobson appeared on WNYC-FM (NPR, New York)'s "Brian Lehrer Show" to discuss FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007.


Will Dobson on WRHU-FM
12/26/2007
Hofstra Morning Wake-Up Call - WRHU-FM
Murillo, Mario

FP Managing Editor, Will Dobson appeared on WRHU-FM (Hofstra Univ.) to discuss the FP web exclusive, "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


"Top 10 Stories..." on KPCC-FM's "Air Talk w/ Larry Mantle"
12/26/2007
Larry Mantle's Air Talk - KPCC-FM
Rudick, Roger

FP Web Editor, Blake Hounshell appeared on KPCC-FM (NPR, Los Angeles)'s "Air Talk with Larry Mantle" to discuss FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


Will Dobson on CNN's "This Week at War"
12/23/2007
Cable News Network (CNN) - Washington Bureau
Rosen, Rachel

FP Managing Editor, Will Dobson appeared on CNN's "This Week at War" to discuss FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


"Top 10 Stories..." on CNNi
12/23/2007
Cable News Network International (CNNI)
Sandmeier, Miglena

FP Manager Editor, Will Dobson appeared on CNN International to discuss FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


Will Dobson on Voice of America's "Encounter"
12/23/2007
Encounter - Voice of America
Zalewski, Anna

FP Managing Editor, Will Dobson appeared on Voice of America's "Encounter" to discuss the top stories of 2007 and to promote FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


"Top 10 Stories..." on PRI's The World
12/19/2007
PRI's The World - Public Radio International
Hackel, Joyce

FP Managing Editor, Will Dobson appeared on Public Radio International's nationally syndicated program, "The World" to discuss FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


"Top 10 Stories..." on KGO-AM (CBS, San Francisco)
12/18/2007
KGO-AM
Lamb, Claudia

FP Managing Editor, Will Dobson appeared on KGO-AM (CBS Radio, San Francisco) to discuss FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


Will Dobson on Federal News Radio
12/18/2007
WFED-AM

FP Managing Editor, Will Dobson discussed ForeignPolicy.com's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007" on Washington, DC's Federal News Radio.


"Top 10 Stories..." on The Jack Rice Show
01/04/2008
Jack Rice Show - WCCO-AM
Blanch, Susan

FP Web Editor, Blake Hounshell appeared on WCCO-AM's (CBS, Minneapolis) The Jack Rice Show to discuss FP's "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007."


"World Without Islam" in the Wall Street Journal
01/04/2008
Wall Street Journal
Moroney, Robin

Informed Reader
January 4, 2008; Page B6
GLOBAL AFFAIRS

Civilizations Clash, With or Without Religion FOREIGN POLICY -- JANUARY/FEBRUARY

What would the world be like without Islam? No clash of civilizations? No 9/11? No holy wars?

Actually, all of these events would likely have occurred, says Graham Fuller, a professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a former forecaster for the Central Intelligence Agency. Take away Islam, and the world would still be left with the main forces that drive today's conflicts, including colonialism, cross-national ideologies, ethnic conflicts and terrorism, Mr. Fuller says.

Mr. Fuller ponders a litany of history's major battles to drive home his message that while Islam might be a convenient culprit, global strife, past and present, can't be blamed on any one religion. Europeans would still have wanted the spoils of the Middle East and launched the Crusades, he says, albeit under a different banner. The West still would have tried to get control of oil-rich areas. The French would still have gone into Algeria for its farm lands. The creation of Israel still would have displaced Palestinians, no matter what their religion.

The inhabitants of the Middle East wouldn't be more comfortable with these events if they belonged to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Middle East's predominant religion when Muhammad arrived. In fact, a religious fissure between Western Europe and the Middle East would probably still exist, says Mr. Fuller, noting that Eastern Orthodox Christianity has an anti-Western narrative of its own dating to the sack of Constantinople in 1204.

True, without Islam, the people of the Middle East would lack a powerful, crossborder unifying force that sometimes is co-opted by a small number of people inclined toward violence. But the Middle East would have access to similar forces, such as Marxism or ethnic nationalism, that have served that purpose in other parts of the world. In 2006, the crime-data clearing house Europol said, only one of the 498 terrorist acts in the European Union was Islamist. The rest were largely committed by separatist and left-wing groups.


Will Dobson on KALW-FM's "Your Call"
01/04/2008
Your Call - KALW-FM
Temchine, Ben

FP Managing Editor, Will Dobson appeared on KALW-FM's "Your Call" to discuss FP's Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007 on the show's weekly media roundtable.


Moises Naim in the Washington Post
01/02/2008
Washington Post

A Hunger For America

By Moisés Naím
Wednesday, January 2, 2008; Page A13


The world wants America back.

For the next several years, world politics will be reshaped by a strong yearning for American leadership. This trend will be as unexpected as it is inevitable: unexpected given the powerful anti-American sentiments around the globe, and inevitable given the vacuums that only the United States can fill.

This renewed international appetite for U.S. leadership will not merely result from the election of a new president, though having a new occupant in the White House will certainly help. Almost a decade of U.S. disengagement and distraction have allowed international and regional problems to swell. Often, the only nation that has the will and means to act effectively is the United States.

To be sure, anti-Americanism will never disappear. Nor will America's enemies go away. But strong anti-American currents will increasingly coexist with equally strong international demands for the United States to play a larger role in world affairs.

Of course, the America that the world wants back is not the one that preemptively invades potential enemies, bullies allies or disdains international law. The demand is for an America that rallies other nations prone to sitting on the fence while international crises are boiling out of control; for a superpower that comes up with innovative initiatives to tackle the great challenges of the day, such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and violent Islamist fundamentalism. The demand is for an America that enforces the rules that facilitate international commerce and works effectively to stabilize an accident-prone global economy. Naturally, the world also wants a superpower willing to foot the bill with a largess that no other nation can match.

These are not just naive expectations. Foreign leaders know that, even in the best circumstances, the next U.S. president will not be able to deliver on all these things. They also understand that American leadership always comes at a price. Appearing too closely allied with the United States is a risky political position for elected politicians everywhere. Still, some have shown a surprising readiness to stand with America.

Consider what happened last March, when President Bush traveled to Latin America, a region he has largely ignored. To many, it seemed that the trip was bound to be inconsequential, as Bush had nothing concrete to offer. Yet all the Latin American presidents who were asked to host this lame-duck, empty-handed and politically radioactive guest agreed to do so; some even lobbied not to be left off his itinerary. What was in it for them? The hope of getting the superpower to do something for them. Leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for example, a personal friend and staunch supporter of Bush's nemesis Hugo Chávez, wanted help with his country's ethanol industry.

In Turkey, much like in Brazil, the population is deeply critical of the United States. Yet, much like his Brazilian counterpart, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has openly courted the Bush administration. The Turkish prime minister knows that the United States is his country's best ally in the effort to get Turkey into the European Union.

Lula and Erdogan are just two in a long list of world leaders who understand that while the United States may sometimes use a heavy hand, the alternatives are much worse. Few want to see the world's stage led by autocratic regimes such as those in Russia or China. An ineffectual Europe does not offer much in the way of leadership. And short of these options, there are few possibilities besides living in an anarchic vacuum. Many foreign leaders will therefore be willing to pay the price that comes with American leadership. They ask only that the price not include subservience to the whims of a giant with more power than brains and whose legitimacy is undermined by regular displays of incompetence, recklessness and ignorance.

Polls in multiple countries have shown for years that the legitimacy and prestige of the United States has deteriorated. Yet WorldPublicOpinion.org reports that the same populations that don't want the United States to be the world's "leader" say that they don't want America to withdraw from world affairs. For example, 93 percent of respondents in South Korea, as well as 78 percent in France and 71 percent in Mexico said last year that the United States should play a role in solving international problems. Moreover, despite the overall negative perceptions of the United States, most people surveyed believe that bilateral relations between the United States and their country are improving. In no country surveyed does the population think that the nation's relations with the United States are getting worse.

Americans are likewise yearning for the United States to be more respected abroad. Sixty-nine percent of Americans say they believe it is best for the United States to take an active part in world affairs. And one of the Bush administration's most senior members recently called for a new direction in U.S. thinking about world affairs. "Success," he said, "will be less a matter of imposing one's will and more a function of shaping the behavior of friends, adversaries and, most importantly, the people in between. . . . We need a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security -- diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruction and development." The American appealing for a drastic departure from the administration's overly militarized foreign policy? Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The demand for a new brand of American global leadership is there. Increasingly, the supply to satisfy this demand will also be there.

Moisés Naím is editor in chief of Foreign Policy. A longer version of this column will be published in the magazine's forthcoming issue.

"It's a Hip Hop World" on The Jack Rice Show
12/12/2007
Jack Rice Show - WCCO-AM
Blanch, Susan

Jeff Chang appeared on The Jack Rice Show (CBS Radio, Minneapolis) to discuss his article "It's a Hip Hop World" from the November/December issue of Foreign Policy.


"World's Biggest Myth" on the Jack Rice Show
12/10/2007
Jack Rice Show - WCCO-AM
Blanch, Susan

Pankaj Ghemawat appeared on The Jack Rice Show (CBS Radio, Minneapolis) to discuss his recent article, "The World's Biggest Myth" from FP's November/December issue.


Travis Daub on PRI's Weekend America
12/08/2007
Weekend America - American Public Media
Kim, Angela

FP's Travis Daub appeared on the nationally syndicated radio show, Weekend America to talk about the "Six reasons the Hollywood strike could change the 2008 election" as seen on FP's blog, Passport.