The paradox of the resource curse was that countries with natural resources performed worse than those with scarce or no resources. The controversy surrounding the thesis is whether its key claims are accurate.
Egyptian progress towards democracy is still in doubt amidst a backdrop of deep social and economic troubles. Providing effective democratic structures are created and upheld, it is likely the Muslim Brothers and other Islamic forces will gradually lose support.
As Sri Lanka emerges from the throes of a three-decade conflict, the opportunities and hope for a new tomorrow spring in the hearts and minds of all its peoples. The kaleidoscope of aspects to be addressed in order to bring the nation back on its feet is far from few.
The North Korean ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il unexpectedly passed away on 17th December. Now, Kim Jong-un comes under the political spotlight. The new North Korean leader is in his late 20s and has been so unknown to the outside world that a torrent of predictions on the future of North Korea is being suggested.
The post Arab Spring era is one in which many western liberals fear the rise of Islamist parties in post-revolutionary Arab states. If we are lucky, more democracies can soon emerge in the Middle East, and Islamic liberalism, which is actually not that much of an oxymoron, will be reborn.
The US presidential election is more than ten months off and it is going to be, to borrow a phrase from the unloved Donald Rumsfeld, a long, hard slog to get there. The Republican nominee is yet to emerge from the messy competition that began months ago and seems likely to stretch on for months more.
The following is one of the questions I asked Secretary Albright: Do you see the decision by the Security Council to vote in favour of a US-led military engagement as the beginning of a significant development in a movement towards protecting human security at the expense of national sovereignty?
Any serious blunder of inexperience by the new leader in connection with redirecting the country’s economic and diplomatic affairs could lead to irreversible challenges by the competing elite groups in North Korea, divided largely into the military brass and the technocrats.
The constitutional process is slowly but surely becoming a catch all answer to many of Turkey’s ills. The coming months will witness a crucially important debate about a renewed social contract. Turkey’s challenge will be to engineer the required popular consensus in an increasingly polarized political atmosphere.
David Cameron needs to put British national interest before his party’s interest. Angela Merkel has now left the door open for the British government to rebuild alliances and regain its position in Europe. It is in the British national interest that the government embraces that opportunity.
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