Charles Jones (UC-Berkeley): The Weak Link Theory of Economic Development. A review of Fair Trade For All: How Trade Can Promote Development by Joseph Stiglitz and Andre Charlton. Should market liberalisation precede democracy? The citizens' point of view: Evidence suggests that democracy generates some popular support for the market, but economic liberalisation does not clearly enhance the support for democracy. Globalisation is like the elephant in the tale, experienced differently by everyone, a capacious category that encompasses many different aspects of the interconnectedness among States and societies. Liberalisation is only one part of globalisation, and it is useful to differentiate between the two.
An excerpt from Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia by Joe Studwell (and more). The Last Gasp of Resistance: The arrest and upcoming trial of ethnic Hmong in the United States might just mark the end of armed resistance in Laos. A review of After They Killed Our Father: A Daughter from the Killing Fields Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind by Loung Ung. The sunny continent: An article on Africa's optimistic businessmen. A new era for African media: Why does the West think that war, famine and death are Africa's only commodities? Diamonds Are a Guerrilla's Best Friend: Why was war good for Angola's big miners? The death and life of Kigali: After being decimated by the genocide 13 years ago, Kigali - the capital of Rwanda - now seems to be exploding out of the ashes like a phoenix in the African heartland.
A review of The Discovery of France by Graham Robb. To understand Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been President of France for three intense months, it helps to know the story of the human bomb. Meet the president, our perfect CEO: A business culture has overtaken the civil service ethos in France plc. Even before Gordon Brown became prime minister, London-based media had been trumpeting a rise of Scotophobia, a waning sense of Britishness, and the imminent emancipation of the Scots. A review of Foreigners: Three English Lives by Caryl Phillips. Shooting down the system: Reinhard Jirgl on new evidence of the order to shoot in the former East Germany. Philosophy and recycling in Albania: After spending the last couple of years studying environmental conservation, Kieran Cook reports on the unusual people he met in Albania coping with an ever increasing mountain of discarded material.
