Showing 1 - 10 of 12
Falling birth rates spell trouble for Southeast Asia
Asia focus, Thaweelap Rittapirom, Published on 14/06/2021
» Birth rates have been declining in nearly every country for decades, alarming demographers and causing governments to begin asking a hard question -- what happens if our population growth stalls, or even begins to slide backwards?
Dream state
Asia focus, Ben Bland, Published on 28/09/2020
» When Indonesian President Joko Widodo decided last year to pursue outlandish plans to build a new capital city in far-flung Kalimantan, advisers shook their heads in despair. But they were not surprised.
Grand old conspiracy theorists
Asia focus, Marc Gallicchio, Published on 14/09/2020
» In the summer of 1945, the Allied policy of demanding unconditional surrender in World War II became the subject of intense debate in the United States. In a way, it has remained so ever since, tracking with Americans' changing attitudes about the Cold War and post-Cold War interventions.
On guard against terror
Asia focus, Erich Parpart and Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata, Published on 03/02/2020
» When President Donald Trump ordered American troops to withdraw last October from northeastern Syria, critics said the decision would play into the hands of terrorists, with ramifications beyond the Middle East.
Bracing for the big smoke
Asia focus, Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata, Published on 26/08/2019
» Indonesia is bracing for the possibility of more regional embarrassment and condemnation as authorities battle to extinguish forest fires in more than a thousand hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Inequality and the exploitation time bomb
Asia focus, Jayati Ghosh, Published on 26/08/2019
» Ever since reducing inequality became an official goal of the international community, income disparities have widened. This trend, typically blamed on trade liberalisation and technological advances that have weakened the bargaining power of labour relative to capital, has generated a political backlash in many countries, with voters blaming their economic plight on "others" rather than on national policies. Such sentiments of course merely aggravate social tensions without addressing the root causes of worsening inequality.
Asia's student-debt time bomb
Asia focus, M Niaz Asadullah and Theresa Chan, Published on 12/08/2019
» One of the most pressing issues facing the year-old government of Malaysia, led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, is the severely strained balance sheet it inherited. And part of its fiscal weakness is rooted in the 39 billion ringgit (US$9.5 billion) in outstanding debt owed to the National Higher Education Fund Corp (PTPTN).
War at sea, or just talk?
Asia focus, Phanawat Ayanaputra, Published on 15/07/2019
» In foundational game theory, war occurs when the cost of war for a state actor outweighs the cost of peace and negotiation. We can use this basic model to examine whether we are on the brink of armed conflict in the South China Sea -- described as a "likely zone of conflict" by US Adm James Stavridis in his book Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans.
Pyongyang moves the goalposts
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 22/04/2019
» When I asked a senior official from Washington recently about the failure of the second Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam in late February, the response I received was every bit as diplomatic as I had expected.
Women, work and India's rickshaw revolution
Asia focus, Kasturi GVL in Bengaluru, Published on 24/12/2018
» When resources are limited, it is human capital that defines the sustainable development of a community, especially when it is misallocated or underutilised, as is often the case in developing countries. Nowhere is this more true than in India, where the value of the current demographic dividend hinges on a grossly underutilised resource pool -- the female workforce.