Analysis + Opinion

Awaiting Japan's global vision

There were times when Japanese leaders knew exactly what to do. In the late 19th century they knew Japan needed to build a "rich nation and strong army," so they mobilized the population and took them on a forced march to industrialization and international prominence.

Analysis + Opinion

What's next for Iraq?

The month of May saw the lowest US casualties in Iraq since early 2004. But counterinsurgencies are not won on points.

News Release

Admiral Fallon, former US CENTCOM Commander, joins MIT's Center for International Studies

Admiral William J. Fallon will join the Center as a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow. Admiral Fallon, the former commander of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Pacific Command, will make the Center his academic home for nine months, starting August 2008. As a Wilhelm Fellow, he will collaborate with the MIT community in research, seminars, conferences, and other intellectual projects.

In the News

Interest grows for international Iran atom plant

Presidential candidates John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, and Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, have both endorsed using international consortiums to produce nuclear fuel as a way to take production out of the hands of unpredictable states, but neither has said he would consider placing such a facility inside Iran.

News Release

Advance screening of Discovery Channel's Koppel on Discovery: The People's Republic of Capitalism

In the wake of the catastrophic earthquake in China's Sichuan province and on the eve of the Olympics this August in Beijing, Discovery Channel Managing Editor Ted Koppel presents Koppel on Discovery: The People's Republic of Capitalism, a sweeping four-part series that examines modern China.

Audit

Who leads Russia?

Ever since Dmitri Medvedev’s nomination to succeed Vladimir Putin as president of Russia, followed by his election and now his inauguration, Kremlin watchers, both Russian and Western, have been discussing the so-called “Putin-Medvedev tandem” and asking who will really lead Russia. Is the duumvirate stable? Will it degenerate into squabbling among the Kremlin clans behind the scenes? 

Audit

Insights into two American empires

In Escape from Empire: The Developing World ’s Journey through Heaven and Hell (MIT Press, 2007), Alice Amsden tartly takes on much of the conventional wisdom about the global economy. In this interview, she briefly touches on a few of the book’s provocative themes.

Audit

Pakistan’s governance imperative

After the kind of year that no country ever wants, with its government in crisis, repression replacing even the most remote notion of good government, political assassination, and terror standing in the wings, Pakistan elected a new parliament in February. Led initially by a coalition of three parties previously deemed outcasts by President Pervez Musharraf, its cabinet of familiar political faces quickly agreed in principle, and at least in public, on a compelling and daunting political agenda. 

Audit

Much ado about nothing: the Israeli-Palestinian peace process

Two myths have been with us for a while now; one is of lasting permanence, the other has gained traction more recently. The first is that the way to get out of the Israeli-Palestinian imbroglio is by engaging in a “peace process,” and the second is that the result of that peace process is pretty much well-known.

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Analysis + Opinion

The divestment trap

The bill on Beacon Hill would remove all state pension funds from investments in Iran's energy industry as a means of punishing Iran for bad behavior.