Over the past 60 years, Africa has received over $1 trillion USD in development-related aid, yet more than 50 percent of the population still lives on less than one US dollar a day. Despite continuous money flows to recipient countries ...

Hong Kong At a Glance Known for its exquisite food, rich culture and opulent wealth, Hong Kong is heralded by visitors as a shining example of an equally efficient and enjoyable city. Tourists from all over the globe are drawn ...

In one of my first pieces for Glimpse from the Globe, I discussed Ireland’s vulnerability in the global economy. I considered three threats facing the relatively young nation: an Irish economic bust similar to the death of the Celtic Tiger, ...

Conditional cash transfer programs are a common poverty reduction tool used by many governments and nonprofits in their development aid programs. These direct transfers of cash to individuals, are conditional on meeting and adhering to certain criteria, such as enrollment in school. But ...

Population control is one of the least sexy platforms a politician could embrace today. The very term connotes coercive family planning practices like China’s one-child policy, or worse, forced sterilization. And yet, overpopulation contributes to or exacerbates almost all of ...

In late November, China announced its first-ever overseas military outpost in the strategic African state of Djibouti. Its purpose, according to the Chinese leadership, is to assist Chinese Navy ships on United Nations antipiracy missions. This comes on the heels ...

Within any government, the allocation of foreign aid gets encumbered by some of the worst bureaucracy and political inanity. Despite comprising just 1% of the federal budget, politicians have expressed a passionate commitment to ensuring that it gets dispersed in ...

Though we are well into the 21st century, the infrastructure and design of most of the world’s cities still reflect the zeitgeist of 20th century modernist urban planning. Urban planning is struggling to keep up with the new, progressive values ...

This piece is the first installation of a two-part series on the Chinese One Belt, One Road strategy. To read the second installation, click here. When I arrived in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, a landlocked, mountainous country in Central Asia and the smallest and ...

Every year, numerous articles and books are written on the topic of development. These publications regularly focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region in the world, and they almost always describe development from a Western perspective, appealing to policy makers ...