Japan’s economic crisis is a case study in the long-term costs of protecting inefficient industries. Yet it also shows how the pressures for protectionism become irresistible without a strong safety net and policies to aid displaced workers.
America and the World
Posted inAmerica and the World
The Chile Con
Advocates of privatizing Social Security point to Chile. But take a closer look at who’s really benefiting from the Chilean system.
Posted inAmerica and the World
Return of the Native
Isolationism is rising among Republicans along with antigovernment fervor. Is Bob Dole — as Newt Gingrich says — another Bob Taft?
Posted inAmerica and the World
What Russia Teaches Us Now
Metastasizing organized crime, massive tax evasion, unregulated sales of missiles–the people of Russia and the world now have more to fear from the breakdown of the Russian state than from its power. Why liberty itself depends on competent government.
Posted inAmerica and the World
Rorschach Politics
Sometimes political ideology is in the eye of the beholder. That’s one of the secrets of the prime minister’s striking success.
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From Purity to Politics
Under repressive totalitarian regimes, the absolute moral rectitude of Eastern European intellectuals like Vaclav Havel and Adam Michnik was heroic. Ten years after the fall of the Wall, what happens when the reality of democratic politics calls for quotidian pragmatism and petty compromise?Â
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Apologists Without Remorse
Most leftists have accepted that the Soviet Union was an evil empire after all. Such contrition is conspicuously absent, however, from conservatives who defended apartheid.
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Global Villagers: The Rise of Transnational Communities
A new breed of immigrant community is breaking down national borders and confounding traditional notions of citizenship.
Posted inAmerica and the World
Slouching toward Seattle
The World Trade Organization so far is a business-oriented club that has undermined the mixed economy everywhere. But it might be the framework for a global New Deal. The Seattle trade meetings could set the tone.
Posted inAmerica and the World
Taking Liberties: The New Assault on Freedom
Freedom is falling out of fashion all across the political spectrum, and new moves by Congress and the courts threaten basic liberties.
