Updates frin Foreign Affairs

Letter From

What the EU Should Learn From Ireland's Austerity Fiasco

Stephen Kinsella

Ireland's economic turnaround in the 1980s is generally credited to fiscal measures similar to the ones other European countries are now implementing. But those policies were painful and won't even work this time. Read

Letter From

The Origins of the Greek Financial Crisis

Antonis Kamaras

Before the first World War, Greek cities successfully managed their own affairs. Then modernization brought centralization, which paved the way for the current crisis. Now the country needs to get back to its roots. Read

Audio/Video

Foreign Affairs Focus On: Economic Inequality with Jacob Hacker

Gideon Rose and Jacob Hacker

An interview with the author of "Winner-Take-All-Politics." Read

Snapshot

How Much Did the Climate Talks in Durban Accomplish?

Ruth Greenspan Bell and Barry Blechman

Climate negotiators are celebrating the deal reached over the weekend at the conference in South Africa. But the agreement only validates an approach to climate change that has failed to reverse global warming for more than 20 years now. Read

Snapshot

How Chinese Innovation is Changing Green Technology

S. Julio Friedmann

China's appetite for energy and jobs has made it a global hub for green innovation. Washington and the West will have to change their strategies to catch up. Read

Response - Nov/Dec 2011

Point of Order

Amitai Etzioni; G. John Ikenberry

Before complaining about China's refusal to buy into the liberal world order, argues Amitai Etzioni, the West should stop moving the goalposts by developing new norms of intervention, such as "the responsibility to protect." G. John Ikenberry responds that Beijing already has more than enough inducement to sign up. Read

Snapshot

Let Tripoli Try Saif al-Islam

Timothy William Waters

Ever since Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi was captured last month by Libyan rebel fighters, the International Criminal Court has hoped to try him in The Hague. But the Libyan people bore the brunt of the Qaddafi regime's tyranny for nearly half a century, and it is to them that Saif al-Islam should answer. Read

Comment - Nov/Dec 2011

The Problem Is Palestinian Rejectionism

Yosef Kuperwasser and Shalom Lipner

Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have failed miserably. The reason, write two senior Israeli government officials, is not disagreement over specific issues, such as settlements or Jerusalem, but something much more fundamental: the Palestinians' refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Read

Comment - Nov/Dec 2011

Israel's Bunker Mentality

Ronald R. Krebs

The greatest danger to Israel comes not from without -- in the form of Palestinian intransigence -- but from within. The ongoing occupation of the territories is destroying Israel's values and viability. It breeds an aggressive, intolerant ethnic nationalism and causes political gridlock, empowering an ultrareligious underclass that refuses to contribute and lives off the state. Read

Response

Can the Center Hold?

Yossi Klein Halevi

A pair of recent articles in this magazine highlighted two sides of Israel's current dilemma: the country does need to end the occupation, but Israelis also remain deeply skeptical of Palestinian intentions, and with good reason. Only one thing will break the paralysis of the Israeli center: if the Palestinians accept Israel's basic legitimacy. Read

Response

What About Israeli Rejectionism?

Ghassan Khatib and Michael Bröning

Demanding Palestinian recognition of Israel without offering a matching Israeli concession is the least productive means of advancing genuine political progress. Read