The World Today

August & September 2007: August/September 2007

The ‘war’ on terror, Islamic fundamentalism and other geopolitical preoccupations of the day have very little to do with the real challenges facing the planet. They are a distraction and a misunderstanding. We must begin talking to each other in all parts of the world, because the biggest challenge is not ‘us against them’, as many would have us believe.

Articles

The dried and cracked mud at Lake Eppalock

Twenty years ago, the World Commission on Environment and Development under Gro Harlem Brundtland introduced the idea of sustainable development into the political mainstream, as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. One such generation has emerged since then, but does not yet seem to have been well served by Brundtland.

Palm trees on the beach, Pangane, Mozambique

For those lucky enough to enjoy a holiday escape from the daily routine, it often means travel to an unfamiliar culture, perhaps in a far-flung part of the world. But relaxing as it may be, are tourists compromising the principles they apply at home, and how would they know?

A man sleeps on a three wheeled bicycle in the Jiuxianqiao District in Beijing, China

How can China make sure that its rapid growth continues? Change is required but it is much more tricky for this second generation of reformists. Muddling through will not do and the market system can deliver some surprising beneﬁts.

Elections postponed in Bangladesh, growing doubts about plans for polling in Pakistan, yet India boasts it is the world’s biggest democracy. Sixty years on from independence, what explains the divergence?

All the ups and downs of international summitry are there in Sydney. Security, photo opportunities, a host of pressing issues and little

A hazy skyline, with the landmark Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower in Kuala Lumpur

Arguments about interference in other member countries’ internal affairs; sounds familiar? No, not the European Union this time, ﬂushed with success over its latest treaty, but its ten-year- younger Asian cousin ASEAN, which is just getting round to its ﬁrst formal charter. The stakes are high, the growing power of China and India threatens to eclipse the organisation.

Also in this issue

School children wait in the sun for the arrival of President Robert Mugabe

Recent reports suggest that Zimbabwe’s crisis has entered a new, utterly unsustainable phase. Over three million of the country’s 12.3 million citizens have fled. Official inflation rates exceed four thousand percent, and economists believe inflation is actually over ten thousand percent. Stability cannot survive that kind of hyperinflation; only clear political change and an internationally-backed stabilisation programme can remedy the situation.

A Lebanese woman and her children stand on the balcony of their apartment

There were eight of us round the table in the café in Beirut; determined faces and serious looks. The plan was to launch an independent weekly newspaper for the student population in Lebanon. The idea had been brewing for months. Now was the critical decision: to publish or decide against the project? We had hope then, we published.

Some say the Fergana Valley is a hotbed of extremism. But Russia and Eurasia Programme Manager James Nixey found it exciting for quite different reasons.