Welcome to World Policy’s weekly newsletter, featuring the latest news from across our major platforms—media, programming, and fellowship.
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Around the World
Two years after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, killing over 1,100 innocent employees, authorities charged the owner of the Rana Plaza factory complex and 40 other officials with gross negligence, corrupt building practices, and murder. In the context of the nation’s failing school system, Maria Khwaja Bazi explores the alarming degree of state corruption that not only fueled this disaster, but also lies at the heart of broader inequity in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, in stark contract to Obama’s public aspirations to normalize U.S.-Cuban relations, a House appropriations bill was released Tuesday proposing to restrict funding for an American embassy in Havana. Lawrence Gutman addresses the mixed political atmosphere, as exciting strides toward cultural exchange and economic and diplomatic rapprochement compete with decades of mistrust.
And while the U.S. negotiates with its southern neighbors, it must also address its Eurasian counterpart. After assuming chairmanship of the Arctic Council last month, the United States is facing a new hurdle—the European Arctic, where Tim Reilly argues Russia reigns supreme.
On this week’s episode, David Alpern speaks with Fernando Carvajal, a Ph.D. candidate in Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, about the forthcoming UN peace talks to resolve the ongoing conflict in Yemen. Already on the brink of political and economic collapse, the country is currently serving as the stage of a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Around the Institute
This week, World Policy Institute is proud to announce an editorial and academic partnership with Libération, one of France’s three major newspapers. Libération will be hosting a series of forums in four African cities: Libreville, Kinshasa, Dakar, and Essaouira. With the goal of creating a culture of pluralistic public debate, Libération views these meetings as a platform for a wide range of voices from African civil and political society to share ideas, opinions, and experiences. In the weeks leading up to each forum, World Policy’s blog and Liberation.fr will host a series of articles on free speech, innovation, religion, and women’s rights in Africa. The Institute’s Africa experts will also participate in each of the forums held this year.
And if you haven’t already picked up a copy of the summer issue of World Policy Journal, go online now. We explore “Climate’s Cliff”—from the debate over nuclear energy in Germany to the environmental cost of the Nicaragua Canal to the dangers of China’s smoke-smothered skies.
Fellow Updates
Feryal M. Cherif offers a novel explanation for why, how, and where women’s rights advance in her latest book, Myths About Women’s Rights, arguing that female labor force participation and education serve as essential building blocks for progress.
Jok Madut Jok, in a recent piece by Bloomberg Business, describes the devastating economic toll the fuel crisis in South Sudan takes on the nation’s most vulnerable.
James H. Nolt uses the concepts of liquidity and price levels to explain why banks turn bearish and large brokers have the upper hand in his latest for Polarizing Political Economy.
Swadesh Rana explains in the ACUNS Weekly Newsletter how ISIS has become one of the biggest spoilers for United Nations peacekeeping in the Middle East.
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