Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
This paper examines the problems of Russia's post-communist economic transformation. Its main thesis is that the Russian attempt at radical economic reform largely failed, because of extraordinary rent-seeking by old enterprise managers through export rents, subsidized credits, import subsidies and direct government subsidies, while they gained little from privatization.
Globalization, for all its benefits, also creates a risk of increasing inequality, as much or more in developing countries as in today's industrialized countries. High inequality makes the design and implementation of good social policy difficult. However, despite this, Latin America has a reason to be optimistic.
China is slowly modernizing its strategic nuclear forces. Chinese doctrine is centered around the maintenance of a "limited nuclear deterrent" capable of launching a retaliatory strike after an adversary’s nuclear attack.
This inside look at the history and politics of the changing nuclear posture of the People's Republic of China is based on extensive analysis of Chinese and Western documents and interviews conducted in China in the fall of 1998.
Much of the world sees Africa as one of two extremes. Either it is a continent beset by genocidal warfare, corrupt leaders, and rampant poverty or it is a region that is about to enter a renaissance. But Africa is neither on the verge of widespread anarchy nor at the dawn of democratic and economic renewal.
Monday’s failure of the Army’s Theater High Altitude Air Defense system (THAAD) to intercept a Scud-type target should provide us with a reminder of the inherent limitations of missile defense systems.
To compete in the global economy, Latin America has to have a labor force that has caught up with its competitors in Asia – in skills and therefore in productivity. Education matters.
Developing countries face special risks that globalization and market reforms will exacerbate inequality, at least in the short run, and raise the political costs of inequality. During that transition, more emphasis on minimizing and managing inequality would minimize the real risks of a protectionist and populist backlash.
Social policies probably cannot reduce income disparities in Latin America. However, their objective should not be to reduce income inequality, but to ensure opportunities for all and to make societies ever more meritocratic.
Congress and the Administration are in a rush to deploy a national missile defense system. Brushing aside the stubborn facts of failed tests and declining global missile arsenals, each is outbidding the other with budgets and timetables. Both the Senate and the House will vote this month on bills to mandate deployment.