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Explaining Thailand's Growing Protests
In recent months, Thai students and other activists have staged a series of escalating protests. Read More
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Without proper preparations, what can a handshake at the DMZ deliver?
Tough issues in diplomacy can't be solved on the fly, and require careful attention to the facts and to history.
Do Thailand’s Weekend Protests Signal Renewed Opposition Energy?
Last weekend in Thailand, protestors demanding changes in the Thai constitution, new elections, an end to harassment of activists and other government critics, the reduction of the role of the army i…
Remembering General Paik Sun-yup
Without Paik’s herculean effort, South Korea as we know it today—a vibrant, capitalist, and liberal democracy—wouldn’t exist.
Singapore’s Election: The PAP Triumphs, But Long-Term Trends Suggest a Viable Opposition
In last Friday’s election, Singapore’s long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), as usual, won a large share of the seats in parliament. With roughly 61 percent of the total vote, the PAP took eighty-…
Dents to Ruling Party in Singapore Election
By the normally staid, unchanging standards of Singapore politics, Friday’s election appears to be delivering significant changes. Though official results are not yet out as I write this, initial cou…
Disruption and Realignment Are Necessary for Peace in Korea
The Korean War had hybrid origins as a civil war, a regional conflict, and a flashpoint in the global bipolar competition. The peninsular, regional, and global dimensions of the confrontation pointed…
Singapore’s National Elections: Will a Pandemic, and a Shifting Society, Lead to a Different Result?
Last week, the Singaporean prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, of the long-dominant People’s Action Party (PAP), declared that the city-state would hold its general election on July 10. The prime minist…
Back to Square One for Inter-Korean Relations
Tensions rocketed on June 16 when North Korea demolished a liaison office that had stood as a symbol of hope for improved communications.
China’s Approach to Global Governances Risks a Global Governance Divide
For more than two millennia, Chinese leaders saw their country as one of the dominant actors in the world. This Sino-centrist worldview has in many ways shaped China’s outlook on global governance—th…
India-Nepal Bilateral Relations Slide: Perspective From Kathmandu
India’s relationship with Nepal is at its lowest point since the five-month “Indian Blockade” of 2015. The gap between Kathmandu and New Delhi is widening as India has not been able to keep up with transformations in Nepal and uses old lenses to view its neighbor.
North Korea’s Loyalty Test and the Demolition of Inter-Korean Relations
This week, North Korea’s Kim family dynasty imposed a new test of loyalty on its southern neighbors and found them lacking.
