Global Trends

January 2009
Does the Doha Round Matter?
by Kimberly Ann Elliott
“Protections for vulnerable developing countries could be lost if a Doha failure leads more powerful nations to devalue the WTO’s role in governing trade.”

January 2009
Book Reviews: It's Not Easy Being Green
by William W. Finan Jr.
Thomas Friedman's latest book characteristically overreaches. Still, it is hard to argue with his assertion that the planet is on a path that is environmentally unsustainable.

January 2009
The Month in Review
by The Editors of Current History
November 2008

January 2009
2008 Current History Index
by The Editors of Current History
January-December 2008 Volume 107, Numbers 105-713

January 2009
A Statistical Snapshot of the World
by Editors of Current History
Charts reflecting global trends.

January 2008
China’s Challenge to US Hegemony
by Christopher Layne
"If the United States tries to maintain its current dominance in East Asia, Sino-American conflict is virtually certain. . . ."

January 2008
Disruptions and Potential in the Global Economy
by Jeffrey Sachs
"Will us economic conditions trigger a global slowdown? The answer depends on how macroeconomic policies are managed abroad, and on the vulnerability of foreign financial institutions to the American credit crisis."

January 2008
The Resilient Authoritarians
by Martin Dimitrov
"China and Russia, along with a number of other countries, demonstrate that capitalism can exist without Western-style democracy, at least for a period of time."

January 2008
Global Progress Report, 2008
by Alan Sorensen and Lucien Crowder
Global Progress Report, 2008

January 2008
Stewardship for a “Full” World
by Robert Costanza
"The mainstream model of development . . . is based on a number of assumptions [that] emerged during a period—the early industrial revolution—when the world was still relatively empty of humans and their built infrastructure."

January 2008
The New Face of Development
by Carol Lancaster
"As the traditional development challenge of reducing poverty is increasingly met, a new challenge for the twenty-first century emerges: that of ensuring a livable, peaceful, and prosperous world."

January 2008
The Persistence of Political Theology
by Mark Lilla
"A unique theological-political crisis within Christianity opened up the path the West has taken. We have little reason to assume other civilizations will necessarily follow it."

December 2006
Global Progress Report, 2007
by Editors of Current History
Global Progress Report

December 2006
America, Islam, and the 9-11 War
by PETER WARREN SINGER
"The 9-11 War will not be won through any territorial conquest or individual's capture. It will only end in the realm of perceptions. . . ."

December 2006
From the War on Terror to Global Counterinsurgency
by BRUCE HOFFMAN
"Not only is Al Qaeda alive and kicking, but it is still actively planning, supporting, and perhaps even directing terrorist attacks on a global canvas."

December 2006
The Art of Adaptation: Globalization and the European Model
by BARRY EICHENGREEN
"However well the European economy may have performed in the past, there are reasons to worry about whether it can keep pace in a world of accelerating technical change and global competition led by the rise of India and China."

December 2006
For Poor Countries’ Youth, Dashed Hopes Signal Danger Ahead
by RICHARD CURTAIN
Where the youth bulge is expanding in low-income countries . . . , the levels of frustration and conflict are certain to rise. The urgent question facing the developing world is how to improve young people's job prospects now."

December 2006
Energy Security: The New Threats in Latin America and Africa
by DAVID L. GOLDWYN
"The energy dependency of the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia, combined with the growing dependence of rising powers such as China and India, is rapidly eroding American power and influence around the world."

December 2005
Requiem for the Bush Doctrine
by ANDREW J. BACEVICH
"The Iraq War has revealed that the armed forces possess nothing like the depth required to implement a policy of preventive war on a sustained basis."

December 2005
The Decline of American Soft Power
by JOSHUA KURLANTZICK
"Anti-Bush administration sentiment, which developed between 2002 and 2004, has mutated and strengthened into a broader anti-Americanism."