On November 30, 2015, the International Monetary Fund’s executive board announced the decision to include China’s Renminbi into the Special Drawing Right Basket (SDR), effective October 2016. Created by the IMF in 1969 in the context of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system, SDR is an international reserve asset that helps its holder…
![Violence escalates in Burundi following the unlawful reelection of President Pierre Nkurunziza [Photo Credit: REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic]](../../../wp-content/uploads/2015/11/burundi-election-220x126.jpg)
Burundi, a small land-locked nation in East Africa, has been in political turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced in April that he would run for a third term, despite the nation’s constitutional limit of two terms. Nkurunziza subsequently won the July presidential election. Opposition responses included violent protests, a boycott of the election, and an…
![World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama discuss Ghana's work to end poverty [Photo Credit: Dominic Chavez/World Bank]](../../../wp-content/uploads/2015/11/world-bank-blog-post-photo-220x126.jpg)
The rate of extreme poverty in Africa has dropped 13% in the last twenty years. Steady economic growth has contributed to reducing poverty rates and improving health and education throughout Africa according to a report released by the World Bank. On Friday, the World Bank released a report on poverty in Africa titled Poverty in…
For the past few years, our news headlines have been rife with stories detailing the migration of thousands of people fleeing repressive regimes, wars, violent armed groups, and economic strife. In light of the most recent and ongoing migration crisis in Europe, it is important to reflect on these recent migration and refugee crises that…
![PA President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech before the UN General Assembly [Photo Credit: Reuters]](../../../wp-content/uploads/2015/10/abbas-220x126.jpg)
“Thus, we declare that as long as Israel refuses to commit to the agreements signed with us, which render us an authority without real powers, and as long as Israel refuses to cease settlement activities and to release of the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners in accordance with our agreements, they leave us no choice…
International attention was briefly drawn back to Greece on April 10 after a car bomb exploded in front of a Bank of Greece building, just a day before German Chancellor Angela Merkel landed to visit Athens. April 10 also marked an important day for the Greek national economy, being the first day since 2010 for…
Last night in the United Kingdom, UK Independence Party (UKIP) Leader Nigel Farage and Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg held their second round of debate on Britain’s role with the European Union. Farage is a strong anti-European Union advocate and a founding member of the UKIP, a Eurosceptic right-wing populist political party. Clegg is…
By Kelsey Cherland CMC ’14 The U.S. State Department sponsored jazz tours (1956-1978) among the Middle East, eastern Europe, and parts of Latin America as a way to combat the Soviet Union with soft power during the Cold War. The tours by no means conflated the thrilling rhythm of jazz with the American government, although…
Only in his early thirties, Joshua Walker has an extensive and impressive resume – he was a Fulbright Fellow in Turkey, Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, co-founder of various programs, lecturer at many prestigious universities including Princeton University and Yale University, and the list of his accomplishments continues. As of now, Dr. Walker…
On June 6th, 2012, a dynamic new regional bloc called the Pacific Alliance, consisting of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, with Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay, and Canada as associate members, came to life. It sprung up amid an already dizzying array of multilateral regimes in Latin America, including UNASUR, ALBA, CARICOM, CELAC and the Andean…