November 11, 2009

The downfall of the brains behind the Freakonomics phenomenon.

Why Radovan Karadzic's trial won't heal Bosnia's divisions.

How big egos and small arms can tip the balance in the war on global poverty.

How global land conservation efforts are creating a growing class of invisible refugees.

FP asks one of America's most seasoned former diplomats to rate Bush's foreign policy.

Something happened on the way to the fire sale of Russia's vast natural resources. In the wake of the Soviet collapse, new Russian conglomerates -- not bigger, more experienced Western firms -- unexpectedly came out on top. Now Russia's young captains of industry are poised to expand their global reach. But their success depends on how quickly they can abandon the shady business practices on which their empires were built.

New links between émigrés and their home countries can become a powerful force for economic development.

Two decades of talk and treaties have not stemmed environmental degradation.

J'accuse globalization.

Pax Americana is over. Challenges from Vietnam and the Balkans to the Middle East and September 11 have revealed the limits of American supremacy. Will the United States learn to fade quietly, or will U.S. conservatives resist and thereby transform a gradual decline into a rapid and dangerous fall?

America's best weapons in the war on terrorism will not be found in some musty Pentagon basement or arms manufacturer's warehouse. Rather, they will be found in the briefcases of corporate CEOs and venture capitalists and the cubicles of high-tech start-ups. These nimble private-sector players can deploy innovative technologies and unlimited financing to fortify U.S. cities, battle cyberthreats, track the movements of terrorists, and disarm biological weapons -- if only Washington has sense enough to let them.

Japan is reinventing superpower -- again. Instead of collapsing beneath its widely reported political and economic misfortunes, Japan's global cultural influence has quietly grown. From pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, and animation to cuisine, Japan looks more like a cultural superpower today than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic one. But can Japan build on its mastery of medium to project an equally powerful national message?

During the last decade, 26 countries have enacted new legislation giving their citizens access to government information. Why? Because the concept of freedom of information is evolving from a moral indictment of secrecy to a tool for market regulation, more efficient government, and economic and technological growth.

Many of the "new" themes that the international aid agencies emphasize today have actually been around for several decades.

The world's richest governments have pledged to boost financial aid to the developing world. So why won't poor nations reap the benefits? Because in the way stands a bloated, unaccountable foreign aid bureaucracy out of touch with sound economics. The solution: Subject the foreign assistance business to the forces of market competition.

You might think Afghanistan's fate lies in U.S. President Barack Obama's forthcoming strategic decision on troop levels. But the picture is bleak, no matter what.

The rise of nonprofits.

For tobacco control advocates, the tobacco industry is public health enemy number one: It sells a commodity that will kill 500 million of the 6 billion people living today. For governments, tobacco is both a health threat and a powerful economic force that annually generates hundreds of billions of dollars in sales and billions more in tax revenues. That clash of interests fuels a debate ensnarling everything from farm subsidies and export controls to healthcare spending, taxation, law enforcement, and free speech.

How China uses the environment as an excuse to transplant minority groups. 

FP examines the spreading hostage crisis.

As Obama heads to Asia,some worry that American influence in the region is diminishing -- but most nations still prefer the United States as a strategic ally over rival neighbors.

In 1974, Yasir Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), declared before the United Nations that he came "bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter's gun." Nearly 20 years later, the world still does not know if Arafat is a statesman dedicated to peaceful coexistence with Israel or a resistance leader dedicated to armed struggle. As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict enters a tenuous new phase of peace negotiations, understanding Arafat's true motives will be essential to fostering a lasting agreement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's decision in May to eliminate the U.S. Army's Crusader artillery system could free up $9 billion in defense dollars. Here, defense analyst Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution suggests a few more areas where cuts make sense: