The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is Essential to Regional Peace and Global Prosperity
By Daniel J. Ikenson
What world-changing behemoth that begins with the letter “C” presents the greatest threat to U.S. commercial and strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region? Wrong. Even in the wake of this week’s potentially provocative tribunal ruling against Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, the greatest threat remains Congress, not China. The alarmingly likely failure of Congress to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year would do more to subvert U.S. regional and global interests than anything China is capable of doing.
25 Years on, the Good, Bad and Ugly of Reforms
By Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar
In a forthcoming paper for the Cato Institute, I have summed up the 25 years of economic reform as an era of private sector success, government failure, and eroding institutions.
In 1991, many analysts warned that opening up the economy would mean industrial domination by multinational corporations, with Indian companies going bust or becoming mere suppliers to the MNCs. In fact Indian companies blossomed as never before, and hundreds of them became multinationals themselves. These included world-class players in software, small cars, auto components and pharmaceuticals. India failed in labour-intensive industries but blossomed in brain-intensive industries and services, and that’s where the future lies. There has been plenty of crony capitalism, yet new companies without political godfathers have flourished as never before.
In 1991, many analysts warned that opening up the economy would mean industrial domination by multinational corporations, with Indian companies going bust or becoming mere suppliers to the MNCs. In fact Indian companies blossomed as never before, and hundreds of them became multinationals themselves. These included world-class players in software, small cars, auto components and pharmaceuticals. India failed in labour-intensive industries but blossomed in brain-intensive industries and services, and that’s where the future lies. There has been plenty of crony capitalism, yet new companies without political godfathers have flourished as never before.
The War on Drugs Has Made Policing More Violent
By Jonathan Blanks
Bfore a police shooting makes headlines, before the shooting ever happens, there is the moment of contact between the police officer and the eventual victim. Sometimes the officer is responding to a dangerous situation, like a report of a man with a gun. Other times, the contact is initiated by the officer because of excessive speeding or reckless driving that poses a risk to other drivers. And sometimes the reason for the contact is an officer’s legally baseless hunch and a minor violation of a traffic law—like a burned out taillight—that escalates into an unnecessary tragedy. This last type of contact is what led to the shooting death of Philando Castile in a Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb.
Africa Is Growing Thanks to Capitalism
By Marian L. Tupy
Sub-Saharan Africa consists of 46 countries and covers an area of 9.4 million square miles. One out of seven people on earth live in Africa and the continent’s share of the world’s population is bound to increase, because Africa’s fertility rate remains higher than elsewhere. If current trends continue, there will be more people in Nigeria than in the United States by 2050. What happens in Africa, therefore, is important not only to the people who live on the continent, but also to the rest of us.
Africa may be the world’s poorest continent, but it is no longer a “hopeless continent,” as The Economist magazine described it back in 2000. Since the start of the new millennium, Africa’s average per capita income adjusted for inflation and purchasing power parity rose by more than 50 percent and Africa’s growth rate has averaged almost 5 percent per year.
Africa may be the world’s poorest continent, but it is no longer a “hopeless continent,” as The Economist magazine described it back in 2000. Since the start of the new millennium, Africa’s average per capita income adjusted for inflation and purchasing power parity rose by more than 50 percent and Africa’s growth rate has averaged almost 5 percent per year.
Democrats Seriously Underestimate Voter Fear of ISIS
By John Mueller
In a poll conducted for Investor’s Business Daily last spring, 83 percent of respondents said they closely followed news stories about ISIS. And when those people were asked whether the group presented “a serious threat to the existence or survival of the US,” 77 percent agreed; more than two-thirds of them, strongly.
These numbers may be a bit inflated. The poll was conducted a week after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on the Brussels airport that killed 32 civilians. However, a question asked multiple times by CBS News and the New York Times (and catalogued by the Roper Center) after ISIS’s webcast beheadings of American hostages in 2014 and most recently in June 2016 found between 58 and 78 percent of those asked believed ISIS presented a major threat to U.S. security.
These numbers may be a bit inflated. The poll was conducted a week after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on the Brussels airport that killed 32 civilians. However, a question asked multiple times by CBS News and the New York Times (and catalogued by the Roper Center) after ISIS’s webcast beheadings of American hostages in 2014 and most recently in June 2016 found between 58 and 78 percent of those asked believed ISIS presented a major threat to U.S. security.
The U.S. Must Focus on Its Own Enemies
By Doug Bandow
The so-called “Islamic State” is losing ground. The liberation of Mosul, Iraq’s third most populous city, may be the Baghdad government’s next objective.Yet even as the “caliphate” shrinks in the Middle East, Daesh, as the group also is known, is increasing its attacks on Western civilians. (The unintended yet predictable consequence of such foreign meddling is to make America less safe.) In contrast to Al Qaeda, which always conducted terrorism, ISIS originally focused on creating a caliphate, or quasi-state. Daesh’s territorial designed conflicted with many nations in the Middle East: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon and the Gulf kingdoms.
Hillary Clinton’s Protectionist Promises Would Do Serious Economic Damage
By K. William Watson
While Trump’s belligerent mercantilism gathers support among voters and elected Republicans, it’s easy for committed free traders to find themselves in support of Hillary Clinton. To be sure, Clinton has offered her own condemnations of trade and globalization, but beside Trump’s near-total ignorance of the economics and institutions of trade, her stances seem more like typical campaign rhetoric. For fans of free trade and globalization, Clinton is a much more appealing candidate simply by not being horrible.
Think Twice on Turkey: Erdogan’s Purges Are a Warning to Washington
By Christopher A. Preble
The abortive coup in Turkey and its aftermath are putting a severe strain on U.S.–Turkish relations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the United States and the West of complicity in the coup, a charge that he repeated last Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, given the vehemence of Erdoğan’s claims, anti-American sentiment in Turkey is rising.
What happens next will test a number of core principles that are at the heart of U.S. foreign policy, including respect for the rule of law and respect for human rights.
What happens next will test a number of core principles that are at the heart of U.S. foreign policy, including respect for the rule of law and respect for human rights.
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