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January 1, 2008
Around the world, in much of development work, transport is the ultimate enabler. By serving other sectors of a nation’s economy, it puts development goals within reach. We know, for instance, that an estimated 75 percent of maternal deaths could be prevented through timely access to childbirth-related care, facilitated by transport. We know that girls’ enrollment in education can more than triple after completion of a rural road. And, we know that lowering transport costs along a modernized international corridor can unlock growth potential, create jobs, and bring wealth to local communities.
Mobility—the ability to access health care, education, jobs, and markets—may be something that citizens of developed countries take for granted. Yet for the 1 billion poor people in developing countries today who lack access to basic all-weather roads, for the 40-60 percent of people in developing countries who live more than 8 kilometers from a health care facility, or for poor urban dwellers who must spend up to five hours daily commuting in order to make a living, safe, clean, and affordable transport is a necessity.
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Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
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