Welcome to World Policy’s weekly newsletter, featuring the latest news from across our major platforms—media, programming, and fellowship.
Around the World
This week, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe revealed an 
alarming trend regarding democratic decline across its 47 member states. Sophie des Beauvais reports on the COE’s findings and argues that the organization must act now and ground the continent’s approach to governance in liberty and law.
Then, in a follow up to a World Policy Journal blood diamonds investigation in Winter 2013, Khadija Sharife examines how the Kimberley Process, designed to curtail the sale of blood diamonds, is actually continuing to perpetuate corruption and economic injustice in Africa’s diamond industry.
Next, we turn to James H. Nolt, who has helped us make sense of complex financial instruments like bills, bonds, and derivatives. For his latest article on Polarizing Political Economy, Nolt describes how these instruments can be used to implement business strategies, as well as the ways these strategies can interact to create a business cycle.
Finally, in this week’s episode of World Policy On Air, hiding taxable assets
on tropical islands or pariah states is hardly a secret to anyone anymore. But as Andres Knobel of the Tax Justice Network explains to host David Alpern, the tax havens of tomorrow are more likely to be major Western cities, such as London and New York. And in a World Policy exclusive infographic, Jordan Clifford takes a closer took at how one nation—the United Kingdom—has managed to bury its earnings in these new tax havens.
Around the Institute
Today, World Policy’s Arts-Policy Incubator is convening an Artist 
Roundtable (A.RT) and idea incubator exploring the intersection of arts, policy, and health. The health A.RT brings together and accommodates exploration among a small and diverse group of internationally-minded artists whose work is focused on the health and wellness issues of a particular community or demographic, or indirectly in the space of health, healthcare, and general well-being. The meeting will be convened by Nicolle Bennett and Patrick Hebert. Nicolle is a National Arts Strategies Creative Communities Fellow and Program Director for Feel the Music! Pato is an Associate Arts Professor in the Department of Art and Public Policy at New York University’s Tisch School. We will be providing a full recap of events in next week’s newsletter and will be live-tweeting the open discussion at #arthealth throughout the day.
Meanwhile, as World Policy Institute’s Board of Directors prepares for its exploratory trip to Cuba in mid-May, we continue our coverage of some of the biggest issues facing the island nation—from the challenge of dual currencies to shifting political opinion among the population of 11 million.
Fellow Updates
William Powers explains to YES! Magazine how global cities are turning to “slow living” to make their communities happier and healthier in the face of urbanization.
Kavitha Rajagopalan published an article in the Journal of International Affairs about the growing phenomenon of “global undocumentedness,” or the complex web of migration issues facing the international community.
Shaun Randol, in his latest article for The Mantle, examines Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's call for a “decolonization” of the literary mind. He argues the very idea of world literature is at stake.
Damaso Reyes will open an exhibition of his current project, The Europeans, documenting how Europe is changing, at the Saldahna Gallery in the Fort Dunree Military Museum in Inishowen, Ireland on Saturday May 2nd. A gallery of his images was featured in The Irish Times.
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