Regions

9.11 2

A Deep and Abiding Allegiance

By Caroline Callahan Janson

It seems hard to believe it is almost September again, a month filled with unpacking from summer holidays, back to school shopping, orientation to new routines, and, for those of us who lived through a very violent 11 September ten years ago this year, haunting memories that some prefer to avoid. But memory still is a powerful catalyst for growth, so in light of this anniversary (and in general) it feels important to remember the events of what happened, and their impact on our lives. What I most remember of that day can best be described as a sense of total disorientation that I had never felt in my twenty-five years. 

Croatia EU

Croatia: Forging the Road Ahead for the Rest of the Balkans?

By Sara Sudetic

On 25 June 1991, the parliament of Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Twenty years later, almost to the day, Croatia successfully completed its accession talks with the EU, closing the four outstanding chapters of their negotiations. July 2013 has been set a as a provisional adhesion date. 

Poor Economics

Poor Economics: The Challenges of Defining Development

By Simon Halliday

We all agree that development is a good thing, but how do we know if or when a given policy works? Poor Economics enters the debate by detailing how randomised controlled trials (RCTs) help us to evaluate microeconomic development policy, while simultaneously underselling the benefits of alternative methods. Nevertheless, the book is insightful and provides a more nuanced picture of the issues of poverty and development than is typical of the popular literature on aid and development.

Deficit

The Deficit in Current Economic Thinking

By Roland Bensted and Christian Nicholson

The recent financial crisis has stimulated a justifiable interest in the future of developed economies. Since the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse the economics discipline has been forced to confront its failings. As Dominic Lawson has noted, it has partially undergone a much needed shift towards behavioural economics rather than the cold “rational” mathematical economics that failed so spectacularly. However, as this article describes, there remains enormous scope for a more fundamental rethinking of the political economy of the developed world.

Palestinian Declaration

Palestine’s Countdown to September

By Andrea Dessi

On 20 September Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), will personally deliver a request to the UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon for the “State of Palestine” to be granted full membership status at the UN. The resolution is expected to be passed on to the UN Security Council, whose rotating presidency for September will be held by Lebanon. In the likely event of a US veto, the PA has stated its intention to refer the question of Palestinian independence to the UN General Assembly, where another Palestinian ally, Qatar, will chair the presidency of the Assembly.

AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed

The Kurdish Question

By Arthur Hayes

Recent events in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey have demonstrated the continued prominence of questions about Kurdish autonomy and statehood. The Kurdish people can be found living in an area that stretches from Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and into Syria. They have aspired and struggled for centuries to have their own homeland, but so far they have failed to achieve this. This has led to decades of violence between the Kurds and various governments in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. As with many other nationalist aspirations to achieve independent statehood, for the Kurdish people time has solidified the sentiment passed from generation to generation that they must struggle to achieve what their grandfathers sang to them about as babes. 

Israel-Lebanon Maritime Border

Israel-Lebanon Scramble for Eastern Mediterranean Gas

By Massimiliano Fiore

Over the last 12 months, Israel and Lebanon have become embroiled in a legal and diplomatic battle over rights to undersea natural gas fields along their common but disputed maritime border. This could potentially provide the spark to ignite the next war between the Jewish State and the Islamic Resistance Movement Hezbollah. A gigantic deposit of natural gas (Leviathan) estimated to contain 453 billion cubic meters of natural gas, at a likely market value in the hundreds of billions of dollars, was discovered in June 2010 approximately 130 kilometres offshore of Haifa. Alongside natural gas, the Leviathan is also believed to yield 4,2 billion barrels of oil.