American liberal arts colleges are embracing collaborations with authoritarian regimes worldwide, with implications for US foreign policy. Following up his op-ed in the New York Times on Sunday, Jim Sleeper reports on the issue in greater depth in this openDemocracy essay.
A new study of the inner workings of North Korea's regime is an important account of its dark political genius. But big states in the international system share the blame for its success, says Kerry Brown.
The chaotic scenes at the trial of a man charged over inter-ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan are damaging the legal process, reports Mihra Rittmann.
With a victory of the ruling Barisan Nasional, it was tempting to write off the results of this Sunday's election as another missed opportunity to reform Malaysia's chronic status quo. Yet, the patterns of change are already there: one only needs to recognize them.
Two years after the tsunami that killed thousands and triggered a nuclear meltdown, it is intriguing to observe how the 'triple disasters' might also have reinvigorated civic participation and activism in an otherwise politically apathetic society. What does this mean for the future of Japanese de
The recurring three-part drama, Unsuccessful Diplomacy-North Korean Belligerence-United Nations Sanctions, is airing on our screens once again. How do we we break the cycle - and finally get North Korea to change its behaviour?
For the first time in south-east Asia, an HIV-positive women's group in Indonesia is using the CEDAW Shadow Report to challenge the forced sterilisation and violence against positive women
When the rice harvest season finishes in a few weeks, fields in India will turn black as farmers burn thousands of acres. This practice shows one of the failures of the Green Revolution, with devastating regional and global consequences. A food-security-obsessed India cannot ignore these issues fo
Despite a prominent presence in the campaign, US policy towards China is very unlikely to change - especially on the hyper-sensitive topic of human rights.
As a somewhat reluctant member of the American orbit in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia carefully watches the election – amused but slightly worried by its "cranks and crazies" (as the Australian treasurer recently called the Tea Party).
A long-awaited review on the conduct of United Nations agencies during the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka is still unpublished, and its terms of reference are shrouded in secrecy. There are further doubts over its authorship and process. All this raises questions over how seriously Ban Ki-moo
The last war between Asia's giants erupted in October 1962. Fifty years on the respective works of a Chinese and an Indian intellectual define the shape of their 21st-century contest, says William A Callahan.
