The recent announcement of a BRICS development bank raised many questions. Isobel Coleman writes about the potential structure and purpose of the BRICS development bank and its implications for international development and the global economy.

Charles Kupchan reflects on former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher's legacy in Europe.

The debt crisis that has hammered southern Europe since 2010 will have long-lived economic effects, despite the moderation in Spanish and Italian government borrowing costs since the European Central Bank's "Outright Monetary Transactions" initiative last September.

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Joshua Kurlantzick adapts part of his new book, Democracy in Retreat:The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government for the Wall Street Journal.

Charles Kupchan argues that the Obama administration's pivot to Asia does not entail a weakening of the trans-Atlantic partnership. Rather, the United State and Europe are leveraging their relationship to deepen engagement in Asia.

Eurozone finance ministers gave this statement on March 25, 2013, upon reaching a deal to provide ten billion euros to prevent bankruptcy in the Cyprus's banking system.

Willem H. Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, discusses break-up risk, sovereign debt restructuring, bank creditor bail-ins, debt mutualization, austerity, and growth in the Eurozone.

The success of a surprise cease-fire between Turkey and PKK insurgents hinges on Ankara granting the Kurds greater autonomy and whether the militant group disarms, says CFR's Steven A. Cook.

Pope Francis gave this speech on foreign policy and religion to ambassadors to the Vatican on March 22, 2013.

Willem H. Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, discusses break-up risk, sovereign debt restructuring, bank creditor bail-ins, debt mutualization, austerity, and growth in the eurozone.

Willem H. Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, discusses break-up risk, sovereign debt restructuring, bank creditor bail-ins, debt mutualization, austerity, and growth in the eurozone.

In 2012, the Obama administration announced a "pivot" to East Asia—a strategy that includes a focus on regional security alliances and a rebalance of U.S. military presence from Europe to the Asia-Pacific.

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The EU and IMF should loosen the austerity requirements of Greece's bailout package to allow the indebted country to implement needed growth-enhancing policies, says former prime minister George Papandreou.

Michael Spence examines what options the Italian government has for restoring economic growth as eurozone efforts at stabilization the banking sector and sovereign-debt markets founder.

Once fear reaches a critical mass, people will act, and then a bank run becomes a self-perpetuating process. There has been a lot of complacency about the eurozone crisis in the past eight months.

Edward Alden writes that the U.S.-European Union Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations are "the biggest consolation prize in the history of international trade liberalization."

Pope Francis (recently Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio) gave his first blessing as pope at St. Peter's Basilica, on March 13, 2013.

The election of pope to lead the world's one billion Catholics stirs debate over the spiritual authority of the pontiff and the church's role in the world.

"From bizarre border policies and the wholesale deportation of ethnic groups to the mass importation of ethnic Russians to various regions, Stalin's policies created or aggravated conflicts that remain central to understanding Eurasia today."

Pope Benedict XVI's gave these remarks at his final General Audience on February 27, 2013, at St. Peter's Square.