Goodbye Pacific Pivot, Hello Pacific Retreat: Who Will Take America’s Place in Asia?

Goodbye Pacific Pivot, Hello Pacific Retreat: Who Will Take America’s Place in Asia?

Asia has been the future for more than a generation. When Americans try to glimpse what’s to come, images of the Pacific Rim flood the imagination. For movie audiences in 1982, the rain-soaked Los Angeles of Blade Runner looked like downtown Tokyo. By 2014, the City of Angels in the Spike Jonze film Her had…

Qatar-Saudi Spat Threatens Riyadh’s Influence. But What are the Saudis Really Worried About?

Qatar-Saudi Spat Threatens Riyadh’s Influence. But What are the Saudis Really Worried About?

Saudi Arabia’s move to use its influence among other Muslim countries to threaten Iran appears to be backfiring as Qatar now reveals an entirely new plan, a third way for the entire region. Oops, Qatar did it again. It dared to think. Recently, this tiny energy-rich nation, a small island perched on the edge of…

Why is the World so Unsettled? The End of the Post-Cold War Era and the Crisis of Global Order

Why is the World so Unsettled? The End of the Post-Cold War Era and the Crisis of Global Order

U.S. foreign policy is likely to be wracked by crises in the coming years. Yet crises are often symptoms of deeper structural transformations, and the fundamental fact of international politics today is that the post-Cold War era has reached its end. That period was defined by uncontested U.S. and Western primacy, a marked decline in…

Funding Corruption: Why the World is ‘Better Off’ Without Western Aid and NGOs

Funding Corruption: Why the World is ‘Better Off’ Without Western Aid and NGOs

Around the world, Western aid is failing to fulfil its stated objectives. Nowhere is this more flagrant than Haiti, where despite billions flowing in to the ravaged country, little progress has been made since the 2010 earthquake. A former UN development expert has suggested the country – and others – may well fare better without….