In-Depth Archive

Perhaps the most surprising feature of the protracted crisis in Kyrgyzstan is what has not happened: Neither of Eurasia’s two preeminent regional security institutions, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), have coordinated a military intervention in that country. The mass protests, deaths, and refugee crisis involving perhaps 1 million people has represented one of the most acute challenges to Eurasian stability in the history of either organization, both of which were founded almost a decade ago. In mid-June 2010, the Kyrgyz interim authorities even directly appealed for Russian military intervention on their behalf, but […]

For several decades, a number of factors in Africa — including ideological differences among the continent’s young states, the unfinished nature of its liberation, and profound external, non-African interference — prevented any meaningful regional cooperation in the field of peace and security. But with the end of the Cold War, the concomitant proliferation of conflicts throughout the continent, and Africa’s sudden marginalization in world affairs, the states of Africa were galvanized into regional security cooperation in the late 1990s. Since then, much has been achieved. Regional organizations like the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of West African […]

The Gulf region ranks among the most valuable and strategically important pieces of real estate in the world because of its abundance of oil and gas resources and its location at vital geographic crossroads for the world’s security and economy. And until viable alternative energy resources emerge to sufficiently fuel the global economy, the Gulf region will continue to be one of the most strategically contested regions of the world for years to come. In large part due to this strategic importance, the Gulf has been wrought with instability for decades, plagued by both conflict between states in the region […]

American culture has long had a fascination with outer space. President John F. Kennedy described it as “this new ocean,” and words like “destiny” and “frontier” are frequently used to characterize America’s relationship to it. Hollywood and the media often approach it with a sense of wonder, humility, and even a bit of fear. From the opening strains of “2001: A Space Odyssey” to the aliens from “Avatar,” space remains a source of mystery. This cultural phenomenon may be a remnant of the first two-thirds of the 20th century, when in the span of a single lifetime, it was possible […]

The past year has been a pivotal period for one of the world’s most important strategic industries. In 2009 and early 2010, the military aerospace industry marked key turning points: For the first time, the U.S. Air Force — the world’s most important aerospace customer — bought more unmanned aircraft than manned aircraft. In the same time-span, the Air Force refused to extend production of its exclusive, world-beating F-22 fighter beyond the 187 units it has already ordered, instead opting to develop the smaller, potentially cheaper-per-unit and exportable F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Following that decision, revelations surfaced in early 2010 […]

After half a century, the revolution in computer technology continues to rapidly transform the world about us. For reasons that are fundamentally economic, the atomic building blocks on which that revolution is based are semiconductor electronic components — chips. It has been estimated that technological improvements in semiconductors accounted for 40 percent to 60 percent of the price-performance improvement in computers in the late 1990s. Those rapid declines in computer prices in turn led to much wider usage of computers and significant improvement in U.S. productivity growth during the same period. The first electronic digital computers used during World War […]

In the 20 years since the end of the Cold War, discussions of Asia’s future regional politics have primarily focused on the prospects for greater political integration. Particular attention has been paid to whether Asia will or should develop stronger regional multilateral institutions and, if so, what form they might take. The reasons for this focus are clear. For some time, countries throughout Asia have enjoyed both remarkable economic growth and substantial political evolution at the national level, and there has been equally impressive progress toward regional integration in the economic sphere. But progress towards regional political integration has lagged […]

East Asia in a ‘World of Regions’ East Asia has achieved one of the most profound economic transformations in recorded history. In 1960, the region accounted for only 4 percent of world gross domestic product, but by the 1990s, it had become one of three core economic regions — along with Europe and North America — that together dominated the global economy. East Asia has become the new workshop of the world, the location of fast-emerging markets, and a new financial power in the making. The region now accounts for slightly more than a quarter of world trade, production, new […]