Asia
Book review: unruly waters shape South Asia’s history
Book Review: Unruly Waters: How Mountains, Rivers and Monsoons Have Shaped South Asia’s History, by Sunil Amrith (Penguin, 2018)
As Sunil Amrith explains in…
Taiwan’s gay marriage law victory not an obvious win for its President
Taiwan recently made history by becoming the first country in Asia to legalise marriages between same-sex couples. On May 24, 526 couples throughout Taiwan registered the…
Bangladesh’s road to the BRI
There are a lot of different ways for the region to approach China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). We should not assume that all BRI projects are necessarily one sided or…
India’s Congress party stares at extinction
India’s National Congress Party is facing an existential crisis, now suffering unprecedented consecutive electoral defeats. Once invincible and a political behemoth having ruled…
Five big takeaways from the 2019 Asia Power Index
Global wealth and power are shifting eastwards. In parallel, we are moving from an open and consensual international order to one defined more by…
America’s fiscal policy rethink reaches Japan
Among some prominent policy wonks in America, a profound rethink of fiscal policy has been underway for the last couple of years, making the case for more-expansionary – or at…
Huawei and the decoupling dilemma
In two dramatic policy announcements this month, the Trump administration effectively barred US companies and government agencies from buying telecommunications equipment or…
Think national, start local: taming the Philippines communists
For more than 50 years, the Philippine insurgent group the New People’s Army has sought to foment a communist revolution in the rural regions across the country. The group has…
Modi’s second term: what it means for the South Pacific
The Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Narendra Modi has secured his second term as India’s Prime Minister with a landslide victory in the 2019 general elections. He spearheaded the…
Indonesia: don’t over-react to Jakarta violence
Images of rioting by supporters of defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta have been beamed around the world this week, tainting what was otherwise a free,…