Syrian Refugees, Turkey-Syria Border, February 2015. CREDIT: Shutterstock

This was to be, and will be, an article on the crisis of the growing refugee influx from Syria, Iraq, and beyond into Europe. It was to begin with a quote from the former foreign minister of Germany, …

Image Credit: Shutterstock

This excerpt is from an article first published on November 14, 2015, in the Observer News and is posted with kind permission.

As the first news of…

As November 8^th approaches, news and commentary about the “landmark” Burmese general elections are picking up. As usual, I have my own thoughts about the growing buzz surrounding Election Day.

Let's start off with some quick background information. The upcoming November 8^th election in Burma is widely considered to be one of the most important political events in the nation’s history. The authoritarian regime, still warring with several ethnic rebel…

In recent months, that familiar stern, cropped-hair silhouette has become emblematic of discipline, austerity, and amongst the more optimistic, salvation. But to pick a single label for Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, would leave Europe divided - oppressor, or saviour? 

On June 29th, 2015, Greece's failure to requite €1.73 billion to the IMF made it the first European nation to join the list of countries that have defaulted on IMF loans; a register that includes pariah states,…

Published originally in the World Post Section of the Huffington Post on 19 June 2015:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesica-l-santos/a-step-back-for-south-afr_b_7614908.html

This past week the South African government showed utter disregard for its international legal obligations and rule of law when it reportedly assisted the escape from its territory of Sudanese President Omar…

The past week has confirmed that despite the Burmese government's made-for-export show of reforms, there is still no such thing as political freedom in Burma. Yet, you probably haven't read anything about the nation's ongoing (but increasingly repressed) student protests in this week's headlines. That's largely because the regime has responded in such a way that is threatening enough to stifle dissent at home, but not violent enough to invoke international outrage. This is the "sweet spot"…

Over the past few months, the world has largely overlooked a series of peaceful protests by Burmese students that began in November, coinciding with President Obama’s visit to the Southeast Asian nation. The students are protesting the country’s new National Education Law, which maintains close, centralized government control of the nation’s educational institutions and limit students’ freedom of association (read more…

A question I've been grappling with lately concerns engagement with foreign governments that systematically violate human rights. When foreign governments are behaving badly, should we engage with them and try to encourage reform, or sanction them and cut off ties? Is engagement the path to reform, or does it merely reward bad behavior? While this dilemma is central to many foreign affairs situations, this post will focus on…

A big THANK YOU goes out to everyone who participated in our 2014 Trans-Pacific Contest! 

The winning entry came from Salina Lee (USA) and Nelson Chew (Singapore), entitled…

We are sharing here a digital dialogue that took place between Michael Edward Walsh, a visiting scholar at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and Alvaro Cedeno Molinari, Costa Rican ambassador to Japan, on topics related to global ethics and citizenship. —CARNEGIE COUNCIL

Global Citizenship in International…

The stakes couldn’t be higher and the expectations lower. It was the last chance to broker an agreement –or at least, an initial agreement—with Iran and thus avoid a disaster. But few believed it could be done.

It is true that the clock is ticking very fast. Nobody knows for sure how much time Iran needs to really reach a “breakdown” (the real capacity to have enough enriched uranium to build up a bomb), but estimations oscillate between six months and a year, or even shorter --quite…

Do you agree with the following proposal? …

From Rami Khouri in BEIRUT—I join with many others who applaud and are surprised by the speed and persistence of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s engagement in diplomatic efforts to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. I applaud his initiative because it can only result in something positive, whether it succeeds or fails. 

If it achieves its goals, it could…

The latest from Global Ethics Fellow Rami Khouri:

BOSTON -- Two very different ways for the United States to deal with Arabs and Israelis were on show last week in the United States. The contrast was stunning between the televised debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in which “I Love Israel more than You Love Israel” was the background theme song that…

DEVIN STEWART: Dr. Slaughter, please tell us about this Atlantic article. First of all, we believe the idea might have started with something that happened at Carnegie Council. Do you want to tell us a little bit of background?

ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER: This article that I wrote, called "…

DEVIN STEWART: I have the great pleasure of being here with Parag Khanna. He is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.

Great to have you here, Parag.

PARAG KHANNA: Thank you.

DEVIN STEWART: As we were talking about earlier, we are trying to get…

The latest from Global Ethics Fellow Rami Khouri:

BOSTON -- Sometimes things happen so slowly that the casual observer misses them, and one such occurrence is the slow evolution in the United States’ position in its face-off with Iran. Two important things seem to have occurred since the spring: Washington seems to have taken control of the Iran situation from…

The latest from Global Ethics Fellow Rami Khouri:

This week has seen the publication of a poll-based study entitled “Americans on the Middle East: A Study of American Public Opinion,” headed by Dr. Shibley Telhami and Steven Kull, of the University of Maryland’s…

An essay by Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric of Bosnia-Herzegovina:

Religion is one of the factors that make up personal and group identities. The question is how can religious identity be saved from being misused to legitimize immoral and inhumane behavior, and be used instead to motivate people to strive for peace, justice, and…

The latest from Global Ethics Fellow Rami Khouri:

PHILADELPHIA -- It has been fascinating and instructive for me during a few lectures and university classes in the past 10 days in Missouri, Boston and Philadelphia to exchange views with scholars, journalists and the general public on an issue that has dominated many discussions here recently: freedom of expression and…