[Takatoshi Ito] Japan’s will to up its defense budget

Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, the United States took pains to ensure that Japanese militarism could never again pose a threat to the Asia-Pacific or the world. As in Germany, these efforts were profoundly successful. For almost eight decades, Japan has eschewed foreign adventures and violent conflict. Pacifism was not only enshrined in its constitution; it also became deeply rooted in its political culture. By relying on America and its network of alliances and global partnersh

July 3, 2023

[Andrew Sheng] The future monetary system is already here

ChatGPT is touted as the tech breakthrough that may revolutionize daily operations, raising productivity and ushering the world into a new era. However, a series of technological innovations, beginning with FinTech or the digitization of financial services, including blockchain and the arrival of cyber-currencies, is gradually but surely transforming the financial landscape. As central bankers grapple with the complexity of digital money, they have come to realize that a new monetary system is a

July 3, 2023

[Robert J. Fouser] Shifting from university entrance to exit

A recent controversy over the difficulty of the Suneung, the nationwide college scholastic ability test, has raised concerns about the effects of the exam. Difficult “killer questions” that require skills and knowledge that go beyond the high school curriculum intimidate students and force them to turn to private cram schools for extra exam preparation. The burden on families for the cost of private education is a longstanding issue that previous presidential administrations have tri

June 30, 2023

[Wang Son-taek] US-China dialogue sheds light on a new global order

On June 18-19, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken visited Beijing, where he talked with China's top foreign policy decision makers one after another and achieved some consensus for improving bilateral relations. This is welcome news when 8 billion people worldwide, including myself, are troubled by anxiety over the US-China strategic competition. The two countries have not made splendid breakthroughs in managing the US-China strategic competition. However, considering the two sides' di

June 29, 2023

[Susan Stokes] Neutralizing Trump’s big lies

With the federal indictment of Donald Trump, the former US president is doubling down on divisive rhetoric. America is thus at the start of another depressing chapter of in a seemingly never-ending war of narratives. A June 7-10 CBS/YouGov poll found that only 38 percent of likely Republican voters view Trump’s mishandling of classified documents as a national-security risk, compared to 80 percent across other voter blocs. Trump’s falsehoods about the case threaten to undermine publi

June 29, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] “The Child is father of the Man”

In his celebrated 1802 poem, “My Heart Leaps Up,” poet William Wordsworth wrote the famous line: “The Child is father of the Man.” The poem, also known as “The Rainbow,” reads: “My heart leaps up when I behold/ A rainbow in the sky/ So was it when my life began/ So is it now I am a man/ So be it when I shall grow old/ Or let me die!/ The Child is father of the Man.” Then, he concludes, “And I wish my days to be/ Bound each to each by natural

June 28, 2023

[Kati Marton] Saving Poland’s democracy

Elections are always high-stakes affairs in countries experiencing democratic backsliding. This was true of Turkey’s recent presidential election -- described as “free but unfair.” Likewise, when Poles go to the polls this fall, democracy itself will be on the line. Since coming to power in 2015, Poland’s populist Law and Justice (PiS) party has politicized the judiciary, harassed civil society, and worked tirelessly to drive independent media out of business. It has capi

June 27, 2023

[Jan-Werner Mueller] Can local journalism be saved?

“All politics is local,” proclaims an old American saying. That might partly explain why democratic politics is going so badly -- especially, but not only, in the United States. For local government to work properly, there must be local journalism to hold politicians and policymakers to account. But local journalism has been collapsing in many parts of the world. This makes it more difficult for citizens to connect to civic life, both locally and, eventually, nationally. Local proble

June 27, 2023

[Thomas Spoehr] US military recruiting getting worse

At a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing, leaders from the US Army, Navy, and Air Force all dutifully reported that they expected to miss their annual recruiting goal this year by thousands. This is just the latest sign that the military recruiting crisis -- the worst since the institution of the all-volunteer force in 1973 -- is not abating. Despite significant efforts by the military services, such as offering hefty enlistment bonuses of up to $50,000 and the ability to choose your

June 26, 2023

[Ricken Patel] Why is Biden silent on Modi?

India’s democracy is in danger. There is no sound moral, political or economic case for President Joe Biden and other democratic leaders to pretend this isn’t happening. Yet the red carpets keep being rolled out. This week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be welcomed for a lavish state dinner at the White House on Thursday aimed at fostering a “free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific” region. On India’s current trajectory toward repression, this w

June 23, 2023

[Clifford A. Young, Justin Gest] Elections a salve to soothe populism

As Donald Trump’s star rises again even with multiple criminal indictments looming, many observers fear that anti-establishment populism in America is no longer just a flirtation, but a feature of our democratic system. More generally, it has become common to think that democracies anywhere -- with their open public spheres, majoritarian institutions and propensity for frustrating incrementalism -- have fueled the rise of populist leaders and demagogues. Examples of the success of “s

June 22, 2023

[Joseph E. Stiglitz, Tommaso Faccio] Global minimum corporate tax needs more work

It has now been over two years since G-7 leaders announced a groundbreaking agreement to divvy up taxation of multinational corporations’ profits. That breakthrough followed years of fraught negotiations under the aegis of the OECD/G-20 Inclusive Framework, which then adopted the same agreement later that year. By establishing a 15 percent global minimum tax rate that companies would have to pay wherever they operate, the agreement aimed both to deter profit-shifting through tax havens an

June 22, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] How to end the Korean War forever

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of the truce of the Korean War. Technically, the Korean War has not ended yet, and therefore the Korean people have been living in a state of suspension for the past 70 years. In the eyes of the electronic generation, it is as if the screen were stuck on “pause,” and could resume anytime when someone presses the “play” button again. Strangely, however, many Korean people seem to be oblivious of their precarious situation. Such

June 21, 2023

[Noah Feldman] US Supreme Court on tribal rights

Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s majority opinion for the Supreme Court in Haaland v. Brackeen is conservative in the good, old-fashioned sense of the word. In upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act, the court reaffirmed precedent and declined an invitation to revolutionize the law with a reactionary constitutional holding. Along the way, Barrett demonstrated a style of doctrinal confidence and aphoristic clarity reminiscent of her old boss, Justice Antonin Scalia. The opinion marks a step in

June 21, 2023

[Conor Sen] EVs complicate GOP message

It’s still very early days, but if you're wondering how the 2024 presidential campaign might be different from the last matchup between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, one place to start is electric vehicles. Battery-powered cars are one of the biggest economic vulnerabilities that Republicans have in the battleground states such as Georgia, Michigan and Arizona that could wind up deciding the winner. The growth of electric vehicles is unique in that it touches an area of the US economy

June 20, 2023

[Tracy Hadden Loh] Cities are recovering, but not their downtowns

A fiscal “doom loop.” A transit “death spiral.” The “office apocalypse.” Since the traumatic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, these pessimistic terms have been applied repeatedly to the state of our cities. Analysis of Census data from my Brookings Institution colleague William Frey found that from 2020 to 2021, during the peak of the pandemic, major metropolitan areas including New York and Los Angeles lost a significant number of residents. A net 175,0

June 20, 2023

[Sebastien Treyer, Bertrand Badre] What Paris finance summit must do

Lack of investment for sustainable development in the world’s poorest, most vulnerable countries is one of the most pressing global issues today, especially now that many of these countries are in debt distress, or will be soon. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and ongoing climate-driven disasters are preventing many developing economies from achieving liftoff and exacerbating the global economy’s structural asymmetries. This is the decade when

June 19, 2023

[Robert J. Fouser] Future of Multilingual Tourist Information

A visit to Seoul is not complete without a walk in Bukchon. For all the talk of commercialization and the heavy tourist impact, the rows of traditional Korean-style houses make it one of Seoul’s most unique cityscapes. On a recent visit to the Bukchon Traditional Culture Center near Exit 3 of Anguk Station, I noticed a small but interesting change. The sign in front of the building explaining Bukchon now has the explanation in five languages: Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese and Thai.

June 16, 2023

[Wang Son-taek] Conflict between Korea and China is wildly coming

In the wake of Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming's "betting" remarks, relations between South Korea and China have soured in just a few days, creating a diplomatic crisis. Ambassador Xing said on June 8 that somebody who would bet against China in the Sino-US competition should regret it. In response, the South Korean government summoned him the next day to issue the warning that he had violated the Vienna Convention, which stipulates the duty of diplomats. The Foreig

June 15, 2023

[Peter Singer] Can we compare pain across species?

In recent weeks, I have been touring the United States and the United Kingdom, promoting "Animal Liberation Now," my new book on the ways in which we are inflicting suffering on hundreds of billions of nonhuman animals, especially in factory farms. The persistence of this vast, entirely unnecessary suffering is one of the great moral issues of our time. Some people doubt this claim because they think that humans matter incomparably more than animals. But it is increasingly accepted, am

June 15, 2023