As the “anti-blasphemy” bill passes the State Duma, prison sentences and fines for public insults and humiliation of divine services, as well as believers’ feelings, have become real. With the...
A multidisciplinary, multinational, multimedia journal that provides analysis of and context for issues, trends and events of global significance.
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Obama Earns His Nobel Prize on Syria
By Jeffrey LaurentiSyria is not Iraq. Outside Washington, the United States seems strongly opposed to deep involvement in the Syrian conflict. Obama's caution is on the mark, argues Jeffrey Laurenti.
As pressures mount in Washington for a more aggressive American involvement on behalf of at least some rebel groups in Syria, President Obama has seemed intent on proving the Nobel committee was...
Russian NGOs: Civil Society Goes Global
By Alexander von HahnAs the “anti-blasphemy” bill passes the State Duma, prison sentences and fines for public insults and humiliation of divine services, as well as believers’ feelings, have become real. With the Russian state becoming increasingly anachronistic and failing to deliver on its promise of social modernisation, Alexander von Hahn sees the country’s nongovernmental...
Algeria: The Arab World's Next Revolt?
By James M. DorseyWith President Bouteflika recovering from a stroke in a French hospital, Algeria's rising tension among soccer fans could lead the country towards an uprising, argues James M. Dorsey.
Algeria is competing to be the next Arab nation to witness a popular revolt. That is assuming soccer is a barometer of rising discontent in a region experiencing a wave of mass protests that...
Alwiya Ahfaad ar-Rasool: A Growing Force in the Syrian Armed...
By Nicholas A. HerasAlwiya Ahfaad ar-Rasool is a growing force against the al-Assad government in Syria. It is poised to become one of the most heavily observed and commonly cited fighting forces of the Syrian Civil War.
Alwiya Ahfaad ar-Rasool (Brigades of the Descendants of the Prophet) is an increasingly powerful national umbrella organization of locally-based Syrian Sunni Islamist...
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Who are the Real Winners From Complex Financial Regulations?
By John BrutonFormer Prime Minister John Bruton asks, why are modern business regulations so complex?
I believe that, across the Western world, we may be reaching some sort of limit in the complexity of rules governing business. The response to the financial crisis has been ever more complex rules, that only a tiny number of professional advisors could ever hope to remember, or understand...
Unilateral Economic Sanctions Against Iran: Unexpected Implications (...
By Nikolay KozhanovThe international sanctions against Iran have been effective. However, they also made the Iranian elite more practical and cynical by teaching it how to survive under external economic pressure. This is the last of a two part series. Read part one....
Morocco: Tipping the Scales in Favor of Reform
By Jean AbiNaderJean AbiNader reflects on Morocco's challenge of reforming the labor market and realigning government subsidies.
After a year away, I returned to Morocco today for ten days. I am sure that I will find the visit both challenging and satisfying. My central interest is to better understand the tangible governance issues facing the PJD (Justice and Development Party)-led...
Unilateral Economic Sanctions Against Iran: Unexpected Implications (...
By Nikolay KozhanovThe international sanctions against Iran have been effective. However, they also made the Iranian elite more practical and cynical by teaching it how to survive under external economic pressure. This is the first of a two part series.
...
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Equity in Extractives: A Clarion Call from the Africa Progress Panel
By Solomon AppiahThe recently launched African Progress Report 2013 addresses the important topic of equality in extractives, and recieved a lot of media attention.
A Little History
There are critical junctures in human history where a clarion call is issued against an injustice so great but tolerated in one or more parts of the world. The succeeding...
Who Will Be Syria's Knight Sans Armor? (Part 1/2)
By Jennifer F. Helgeson“Without our voices, we have no choices. And without choices, we could be stuck forever in violence.” A reflection on discussions with Syrians in and outside of Syria. This is the first of a two part series.
The civil conflict in Syria has raged for over two years. The large majority of aid workers outside of the United Nations World Food Program are...
The Misconception of Modern Slavery: Reinterpreting Forced Labour
By Mirko van PampusThe dominant terminology on forced labour relations is too rigid in assuming the existence of two homogeneous but separated groups of workers.
"For three hundred years, the most powerful nations on earth grew richer and stronger on the profits of slave trade. Over twelve million men, women and children were forcefully transported from Africa...
Americans Still Want Renewable Energy
By Anthony W. OrlandoAmericans still want investment in renewable energy in a bid to distance themselves from Middle Eastern oil producers.
James Gaddy knows manure. Chicken manure, to be exact. He’s spent years working with it. That may not sound like much fun to you and me, but Gaddy is on a mission to power the earth — and, in the process, save it.
Specifically,...
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Colombia: A Step Back for Gay Marriage
By Dylan HerreraA campaign against discrimination has been launched by gay activists in Colombia. Denying civil rights to a specific group in society, resembles the struggle against anti-Semitism and the African-American civil rights movement.
In 2005, the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in Spain approved gay marriage. The big question was whether the approval was...
Soccer: A Focal Point of Dissent in Saudi Arabia
By James M. DorseySaudi Arabia is seeing an emergence of political dissent from soccer fans. The country may be on the verge of licensing women’s soccer clubs that currently operate in a legal nether land.
Soccer, alongside minority Shiite Muslims and relatives of imprisoned government critics, is emerging as a focal point of dissent in Saudi Arabia; an oil-rich kingdom that, despite...
Egypt: Art and the Revolution
By Marie-Jeanne BergerMarie-Jeanne Berger looks at the (post)revolutionary art scene rising from the streets of downtown Cairo.
I’ll Die Anyways
“I feel lucky that I as an artist haven’t been persecuted during the time of Mubarak,” says Egyptian cartoonist Makhlouf. “Not like [assassinated Palestinian cartoonist] Naji al-Ali, or [imprisoned and...
Marx’s Freedom of the Press
By Zhan JiangChina’s idea of the free press differs from the Western idea of an independent fourth column. Professor Zhan Jiang looks at how a Marxist model of press freedom can be developed under the existing system.
During and after the 18th Party Congress, party and state leaders restated that China should be ruled by law and governed according to the Constitution. They also said...
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Who are the Real Winners From Complex Financial Regulations?
By John BrutonFormer Prime Minister John Bruton asks, why are modern business regulations so complex?
I believe that, across the Western world, we may be reaching some sort of limit in the complexity of rules governing business. The response to the financial crisis has been ever more complex rules, that only a tiny number of professional advisors could ever hope to remember, or understand...
The Growth of Crowdfunding: Risks and Rewards
By Knowledge @ WhartonThe success of the "Veronica Mars" Kickstarter campaign has illustrated that crowdfunding is a reliable source of capital for both start-up businesses and established firms.
The campaign to front a movie based on the cult television show "Veronica Mars" through crowdfunding broke records for the fastest project ever to raise $1 million on Kickstarter. It was...
Adobe's Shift to the Cloud: Is This the Start of a Trend?
By Knowledge @ WhartonAdobe is favoring subscription-based software and online "cloud" services. If support for the company's cloud transition sticks, other vendors may quickly adapt.
Adobe, the leading software company targeting creative professionals, is exiting the shrink-wrap software business in favor of subscription-based software and online "cloud" services. While...
VIDEO: Why America is Losing the Race for Entrepreneurial Talent
By Knowledge @ WhartonAmerica's failure to issue green cards to up-and-coming entrepreneurs has led to a serious decline of business launches.
In 2005, immigrant entrepreneurs launched 52% of all startups in Silicon Valley. But today, the number has dropped to 44%, and America is not only losing the opportunity to create new jobs but also losing its competitive edge, argues Vivek Wadhwa in his...
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Obama Earns His Nobel Prize on Syria
By Jeffrey LaurentiSyria is not Iraq. Outside Washington, the United States seems strongly opposed to deep involvement in the Syrian conflict. Obama's caution is on the mark, argues Jeffrey Laurenti.
As pressures mount in Washington for a more aggressive American involvement on behalf of at least some rebel groups in Syria, President Obama has seemed intent on proving the Nobel committee was...
Alwiya Ahfaad ar-Rasool: A Growing Force in the Syrian Armed...
By Nicholas A. HerasAlwiya Ahfaad ar-Rasool is a growing force against the al-Assad government in Syria. It is poised to become one of the most heavily observed and commonly cited fighting forces of the Syrian Civil War.
Alwiya Ahfaad ar-Rasool (Brigades of the Descendants of the Prophet) is an increasingly powerful national umbrella organization of locally-based Syrian Sunni Islamist...
Terrorism and the Other Religions
By Juan ColeTerrorism is a tactic of extremists within each religion, and within secular religions of Marxism or nationalism. No religion, including Islam, preaches indiscriminate violence against innocents, argues Juan Cole.
Contrary to what is alleged by bigots like Bill Maher, Muslims are not more violent than people of other religions. Murder rates in most of the Muslim world are very...
Why the Tsarnaev Brothers Are Chechen Jihadists, Not Vice-Versa
By Iliana HagenahHistorically, radical jihadists in Chechnya do not have the ideological ambition to form a network of Chechens against the US, argues Iliana Hagenah.
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher once called Chechen rebels "freedom fighters" but they are now seen by many as radical Islamists. Chechen Islamists have recently been making the headlines. Dzhokhar and...
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The Glowing Plant: A New Paradigm for Funding Science?
By Deeba FahamiIn a world of austerity and shrinking research budgets, the crowd-funding method at the core of the Glowing Plant Project offers a radically different approach to scientific research funding.
The first synthetic biology project that has launched on Kickstarter, the...
The Importance of Technology in Economic and Social Development
By Lee-Roy ChettyMobile technology offers extensive help on various forms of social and economic development. Lee-Roy Chetty explores why such initiatives can have a positive impact in Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, and beyond.
Technological innovation and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) represent a way for developing world nations to foster economic development, improve levels of...
Countering Maritime Piracy: A Collaborative Approach
By Ari KatzSynergizing resources and technology from private and public stakeholders, can produce more effective and cost efficient counter-maritime piracy measures.
With both sequestration and tensions ramping up in Asia, experts project that countering maritime piracy will take a back seat to the Asia rebalancing and other more existential US foreign policy issues. Unfortunately, this...
The Making of the Higgs
By Felix HaasWhat is this mysterious particle that the mainstream media calls "the God particle" and that governments spend billions trying to find?
Scientists working in particle physics were under real pressure to deliver something new, when the Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva started measuring its first low energy collisions in March 2010. They were particularly eager...
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Combating Diabetes: Some Things Money Can’t Buy
By INSEAD - Business SchoolFaced with a deadly and expensive diabetes epidemic, Gulf states are looking at innovative business marketing techniques to promote healthy behaviour and keep a cap on spiralling health costs.
By Jane Williams
Strong oil prices have bankrolled an affluent lifestyle in the Middle East’s Gulf region, with deadly consequences. Rich foods, decreased...
Politics of Scarcity
By Dr. M. KrishnamurthiThe scarcity of food, water, education, and transportation is negatively affecting both urban and rural populations in India.
More than sixty percent of the Indian population depends upon agriculture and agriculture-related activities for their livelihood and live in rural areas. When they followed traditional practices, all agricultural inputs were locally available such...
Mindfulness and the Pursuit of Happiness
By Norman FarbHow can meditation make us happier?
There are a lot of advantages to modern living. Advances in nutrition and sanitation have increased the human lifespan almost threefold compared to ages past. Modern technology provides widespread conveniences historically reserved for the aristocracy. Modern medicine can cure an increasing variety of ailments. Around the world, billions of...
A Spiritual Life: Exclusive Interview with HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
By Sri Sri Ravi ShankarSri Sri Ravi Shankar discusses a new era of spirituality that is compatible with modern, western living.
Interview conducted by Aaron Prosser.
Question 1: It seems like more people are searching for inner peace and meaning in their life. This is especially true in...
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One Horned Rhinos in Assam: Drones to the Rescue
By Nava J. ThakuriaIn India, elite forces on the ground and drones in the sky aim to safeguard Assam's wildlife.
Assam, which has been in the national and international media for incidents related to insurgency turned terrorism, is on the verge of witnessing a new battle. Unmanned remote-controlled aircraft popularly referred to as drones which are being used by NATO forces in...
The Glowing Plant: A New Paradigm for Funding Science?
By Deeba FahamiIn a world of austerity and shrinking research budgets, the crowd-funding method at the core of the Glowing Plant Project offers a radically different approach to scientific research funding.
The first synthetic biology project that has launched on Kickstarter, the...
Americans Still Want Renewable Energy
By Anthony W. OrlandoAmericans still want investment in renewable energy in a bid to distance themselves from Middle Eastern oil producers.
James Gaddy knows manure. Chicken manure, to be exact. He’s spent years working with it. That may not sound like much fun to you and me, but Gaddy is on a mission to power the earth — and, in the process, save it.
Specifically,...
Transition Movement: The Engagement for a Resilient and Low-Carbon...
By Serena CartaFounded seven years ago in Ireland, and now spread throughout the world, the Transition Movement aims for the creation of an alternative system based on resilience and happiness as a response to current environmental and economic instability.
To switch from a world based on oil resources and disposable objects to a new society built on the philosophy of degrowth, awareness,...
