Hong Kong, China – On January 23, 2020, China gave birth to “zero COVID”. Facing the threat of a mysterious virus, authorities in Wuhan imposed the world’s first lockdown on its 11 million residents, marking the beginning of a zero-tolerance policy that would define China’s pandemic response. Two years later, the lightning spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant and rising costs of keeping it under control are raising questions about the sustainability of China’s approach. But even as the variant pushes other parts of the world towards living with the virus, China is likely to stick to its elimination strategy despite the…

You bring your feverish baby to the hospital in the middle of the night. The nurse asks you to go home to get a flashlight. When the flashlight batteries give out, she resorts to a flickering candle to guide the insertion of an IV needle, delivering malaria medicine, into your baby’s hand. Maybe you don’t have a baby. Maybe you travel 14 miles a day by public bus to buy fresh fish to sell in your village. Every day, you must sell the fish before your ice melts and your inventory becomes worthless. In much of Africa, this is the…

On Jan. 6, 2019, the eve of Orthodox Christmas, the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul awarded a decree of independence, known as a tomos, to the then-newly established Orthodox Church of Ukraine — a milestone in the country's history. The move reversed a 1686 decision that had transferred jurisdiction over Kyivan Orthodox churches to Moscow. After 333 years, however, it’s not only the faithful who have changed their direction from Moscow toward Istanbul. Ukraine and Turkey are strengthening their strategic partnership by deepening their cultural, political, military, and economic cooperation. Commercial ties As of 2021, Turkey is the largest foreign investor in Ukraine. Turkish investment totals nearly $4.5 billion, with more than…

As the end of the century [in this case the end of the 80s] approaches, the triumph of Westernliberal democracy again seems the inevitability that it did at the turn of the previous century.This is an absolute triumph of the Western idea. It is seen in the failure of all viable alternativeideas, and also in the spread of consumer culture around the world. This may signal the end ofhistory in the sense of humanity’s ideological evolution, and the universalization of Westernculture.Note: all summary of Hegel’s philosophy is taken strait from Fukuyama. If you don’t like theinterpretation, blame Frank, not me.The…

“I think the decline of democracy is a mortal threat to the legitimacy and health of capitalism.” —Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School[1] The rule of law and democracy are crucial to capital markets. A free market balanced by a democratically elected, transparent and capable government, and a strong civil society (“an inclusive regime”) yield stable growth rates and greater social welfare.[2] Conversely, threats to democracy are threats to the private sector, which is why business leaders and institutional investors cannot afford to remain on the sidelines when such threats emerge. This paper explores the state of American democracy and whether it…