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4351. Timeline: 1959-Present

Author:
Meehyun Nam- Thompson
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
To understand the modern trajectory of Sino-Indian relations, World Policy Journal has focused on key political moments that have come to define the two countries' shared history. We begin at a pivotal moment—the Tibetan Uprising, a brief flare of conflict shortly before the Sino-Indian War, which many view as the sharpest geopolitical dispute between the two nations. Then we march through the 1960s and 1970s, when nuclear proliferation placed a heavy burden on a relationship otherwise improving under the twin pivots of regional security and financial imperatives. Our timeline shows a shift from direct military conflict to diplomatic and economic struggles for power. Though geopolitical issues, especially over critical resources like water and energy, will strain Sino-Indian relations in the future, we end our timeline with an uncertain, but promising economic trend, and new measures that may build confidence between Asia's two giants.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
China, India, and Asia

4352. Coda: The Imperial Presidency Gone and All But Forgotten

Author:
David A. Andelman
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
There was a time, in the not-too-distant past, when the Office of the President carried with it all but unprecedented powers. Not unlike the great emperors of old, a president could launch wars, proclaim peace, even change the course of history. In a democracy or an oligarchy, in political systems far removed in every other respect from the traditional dictatorship, presidents still wielded all but unfettered power. No longer.
Topic:
War

4353. Myanmar: Choosing Sides

Author:
Megha Bahree
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
NAYPYIDAW—In September 2007, India and China, Myanmar's two principal neighbors, stood by valiantly as the ruling junta brutally suppressed protests over increased fuel prices, led by pro-democracy groups and Buddhist monks. At least 13 were killed and thousands arrested. The nascent democratic transition that began in March 2011 has now placed Myanmar at the center of Southeast Asia's strategic landscape. Not surprisingly, India and China are stepping up their efforts to win deals—and influence—in the new capital, Naypyidaw, even as they face new competition from the Western world. But neither of the two Asian neighbors is particularly welcome here.
Political Geography:
China, India, Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and Naypyidaw

4354. Bhutan: Between Two Giants

Author:
Sherpem Sherpa
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
THIMPHU—A short walk past the shops lining Norzin Lam, the main street in Bhutan's capital Thimphu, reveals most of the merchandise on display is "Made in China"—shoes, silk, toys, heaters, and kitchen utensils. While diplomatic relations between Bhutan and China have yet to be established, the market in the capital city is already flooded with Chinese-made goods. Bhutanese are fast adopting Chinese products and cuisine. Like many countries in the region and beyond, it might not be long before Thimphu has its own little "Chinatown." Thimphu already has a rather cramped section of town popularly known as "Hong Kong market," defined by its narrow alleys, tall buildings, and the proliferation of Hong Kong goods sold there. It was once also a hotspot for street fights, alcohol, and gambling.
Political Geography:
China, Hong Kong, Bhutan, and Thimphu

4355. Voice for Democracy in China: A conversation with Yeliang Xia

Author:
Jeff Danziger
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
For years, Professor Yeliang Xia has served as an economist of distinction in China—a protégé of Justin Yifu Lin, the first avowed Chinese communist to serve as chief economist of the World Bank. Professor Xia has taught for decades at Peking University—the preeminent institution in China for social and economic sciences. With close ties to Wellesley College in the Boston suburbs, he also serves as a prime example of the fine line that so often divides academic discipline from freedom in China. And lately, he has come up on the wrong side of that line—at least with respect to his future as a member of the Chinese academic establishment.
Political Geography:
China

4356. Game of Hope: Pool Betting in Nigeria

Author:
Andrew Esiebo
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
IBADAN—An aging Nigerian man, who has never left his home town, describes the operations of the British football's Premier League in vivid detail. A blind man smiles as he holds a crackling transistor radio to his ear, the commentary of a live game blaring into the room. A local driver, a retired construction worker, a desperate breadwinner—these are just some of the characters who cluster around the Oje Pool House in Ibadan. This city of nearly 2 million, Nigeria's third largest, where the savannah and the jungle meet, is just 90 miles inland from the sprawling port of Lagos.
Political Geography:
Nigeria and Ibadan

4357. Kimberley's Illicit Process

Author:
Khadija Sharife and John Grobler
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
ANTWERP—Somewhere between Africa's diamond mines and the dazzling diamond bazaars of Dubai and Antwerp, a Belgian company called Omega Diamonds has constructed a financial triangular trade, where at least $3.5 billion worth of diamond profits simply vanished between 2001 and 2008. And, if Belgian investigators are to be believed, there was little anyone could do about it. Not only did Dubai authorities deliberately turn a blind eye to questionable corporate practices of tax evasion and systematic under-invoicing—"tax optimization" being the preferred term—but the Dubai Multi-Commodities Center (DMCC) leadership appears to have actively blocked investigation by other governments. Instead of being busted and black-balled from the industry, Omega Diamonds, owned by two of the largest industry players, was handed a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Political Geography:
Africa

4358. Rapping the Arab Spring

Author:
Sam R. Kimball
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
TUNIS—Along a dusty main avenue, past worn freight cars piled on railroad tracks and young men smoking at sidewalk cafés beside shuttered shops, lies Kasserine, a town unremarkable in its poverty. Tucked deep in the Tunisian interior, Kasserine is 200 miles from the capital, in a region where decades of neglect by Tunisia's rulers has led to a state of perennial despair. But pass a prison on the edge of town, and a jarring mix of neon hues leap from its outer wall. During the 2011 uprising against former President Zine El-Abdine Ben Ali, prisoners rioted, and much of the wall was destroyed in fighting with security forces. On the wall that remains, a poem by Tunisian poet Abu al Qassem Chebbi stretches across 800 feet of concrete and barbed wire, scrawled in calligraffiti—a style fusing Arabic calligraphy with hip hop graffiti—by Tunisian artist Karim Jabbari. On each section of the wall, one elaborate pattern merges into a wildly different one. "Before Karim, you might have come to Kasserine and thought, 'There's nothing in this town.' But we've got everything—from graffiti, to breakdance, to rap. The kids here, they're talented; they've got passion," says a local youth who assisted Jabbari in the prison wall project.
Political Geography:
Arabia and Tunisia

4359. Norway's Choices

Author:
Bjørn Tærk
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
OSLO—On a summer day in 2011, a car filled with a 2,000-pound fertilizer bomb exploded outside a government building in Oslo. The bomb was well placed, but badly timed. Many employees were on vacation. Others had left for the day. Labor Party Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, whose office was in the building, was out. Only eight were killed—relatively few for a bomb of that size.
Political Geography:
Norway

4360. Brazil's Health in Black and White

Author:
Fernanda Canofre
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
BASILIA—Juan Merquiades Duverge Delgado was born and raised in Guantanamo, Cuba. In a region where most of the economy is based on cotton and sugar crops, his father supported the family with a blue-collar job. Juan's mother stayed at home. As is the story across much of the three Americas, Juan's Cuba was built through the miscegenation of natives, colonizers, immigrants, and slaves. His mother's ancestors came from Puerto Rico; his father's came from Cuba. Juan is black. A graduate of Cuba's Santiago Institute of Medical Sciences, Juan is a physician who became deeply involved in humanitarian-health missions for the next 12 years of his life. As far as he can remember, there were no doctors in his family. So, his decision to become a doctor came as a natural calling. "I've seen it as a way of helping people," he asserts. That was also the reason that led him to leave his wife and daughter at home in Guantanamo last August to go and live in Brazil.
Political Geography:
America, Brazil, and Cuba