financial flows Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

America vs China in Africa

by Francis Njubi Nesbitt | Dec 1, 2011

China’s imminent replacement of the West as the dominant international economic and political force in Africa epitomizes the most dramatic shift in geopolitics since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet the United States and Europe, Africa’s traditional trading partners, seem incapable of responding to the challenge and retaking the initiative. Instead, their response has been to wring their hands in despair and make ineffectual noises about human rights and democracy.

Brazil and Colombia: An Unexpected Alliance

by Raul Zibechi | Nov 29, 2011

“When they ask me, ‘What do you want to be when you’re big,’ I respond, ‘I want to be like Lula.’” The statement was not voiced by a progressive president of the region but by the most conservative of all: Juan Manuel Santos.

Occupy Foreign Affairs

by John Feffer | Nov 29, 2011

When Foreign Affairs puts inequality on its cover – and hosts a debate on the topic at the tony offices of the Council on Foreign Relations – the Occupy Wall Street movement has achieved a major victory that eclipses even the generally favorable coverage in liberal bastions such as The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and The New Yorker. It’s also a sign that a profound anxiety gnaws at the foreign policy elite in this country. The question is: why are foreign policy mandarins suddenly so fretful? Or, put another way, why does Foreign Affairs want its readers to take this issue so seriously?

Is Europe Over?

by John Feffer | Nov 15, 2011

Europe has always been a rather tenuous concept. A rump continent, Europe represented the barbarous hinterlands for the Greeks and Romans. The first use of the term “European” occurred in a chronicle describing the forces of Charles the Hammer that turned back the northward advance of Islam at the battle of Tours in 732. Long celebrated in Europe as a victory of civilization over barbarism, the Battle of Tours was, as historian David Levering Lewis reminds us in God’s Crucible actually the opposite: “the victory of Charles the Hammer must be seen as greatly contributing to the creation of an economically retarded, balkanized, fratricidal Europe that, in defining itself in opposition to Islam made virtues out of religious persecution, cultural particularism, and hereditary aristocracy.”

The China Divide and the Future of the GOP

by Robert Farley | Nov 10, 2011

The current Republican presidential field has given little indication of any serious thought on the future of the critical relationship between the United States and China.

Seoul Salvation

by John Feffer | Nov 8, 2011

His name was on the lips of everyone I talked with in South Korea last week. As an underdog with little name recognition but a long history of progressive organizing, he came from behind late last month to become the new mayor of Seoul.

Remember his name. Park Won Soon is perhaps the first politician to win with an Occupy Wall Street platform.

Nuclear Weapons Projects Don’t Even Qualify as Pork

by Russ Wellen | Nov 5, 2011

Pork is intended to bring significant economic benefits to a representative’s district. For the most part, it’s the elite who profits from nuclear weapons projects.

A Pivotal Moment for World Bank Transparency

by David Shaman | Nov 1, 2011

In 2000, along with my colleague David Wheeler, I launched B-SPAN, a webcasting system that streamed videos of Bank policy dialogues to external audiences. The key principle of B-SPAN, based on the well-known C-SPAN model of the U.S. Congress, was that once the camera was turned on, the unedited streams would allow viewers to receive an uncensored glimpse of the debates occurring within the Bank.

UN Origins Project Part 7: Forging a Lasting Peace

by Greg Chaffin | Oct 20, 2011

After two cataclysmic world wars, the overriding concern for leaders of the day was engineering an international system that would increase state interdependence.

Panama: Free-Trade Tax Haven

by Tereza Coraggio | Sep 14, 2011

Negotiated by President Bush in 2004-2006, the U.S.-Panama free-trade agreement has since stalled in the face of congressional opposition. However, recent House votes have suggested a renewed interest in ratifying the agreement, which would normalize Panama’s status as a notorious tax haven for U.S.-based corporations, along with other, seedier entities.