People all over the world are resorting to mass demonstrations to express grievances and press unmet demands. While, in some ways, popular protests are a triumph of democratic principles and civic activism, they also carry serious risks, including violence by and against protesters. Their pervasiveness today points to a failure of governments, democratic and authoritarian alike, to hear, let alone meet, the needs of their people.The issues at stake are wide-ranging. In Catalonia, demonstrators a

On every visit I’ve made to China, I’ve looked at issues connected with rule of law, a concept interpreted very differently here and in the US.On this trip, I decided to check out a joint program between Temple University and the law school at Tsinghua University, one of China’s finest, a program that is celebrating its 20th anniversary.Temple’s “Rule of Law” master’s degree program, taught on the sprawling, leafy Tsinghua campus, draws Chinese professio

In the 1970’s when the South Korean economy bypassed North Korea, the foreign press reported that it was finally in the stage of taking-off after a long taxi on the runway. Indeed, the whole world was watching South Korea’s successful take-off at the time. The South Koreans were very excited because they finally made their way out of the long, dark tunnel of postwar poverty.Recently, however, I came across a rather depressing newspaper article by professor Kim Young-min entitled, &ld

The island of Tsushima, halfway between Japan and South Korea, is about as close as you can get to the frontline of their trade war. Now part of Nagasaki prefecture, waves of Korean cultural, commercial and military influence have crested and receded over the hills of this verdant island since the Middle Ages.Here it’s apparent that centuries-old ties between the nations can’t be unwound by political rhetoric spewing from capital cities hundreds of miles away. Economic life crawls al

Although many societies aspire to provide equal opportunities for everyone, that is easier said than done. People born into different economic and social statuses have unequal educational or financial starting points. This often leads to very different career and life opportunities.Digital technology was not invented to tackle inequality, and there is even a risk that it could widen existing economic and social disparities. But, as the case of China illustrates, new platforms also offer many pos

One of the first things I learned on my current trip to Beijing is that foreigners are marooned if they don’t have a Chinese bank account.That’s because China, a global leader in e-commerce, has become a nearly cashless society. Everyone from school kids to grandmas pays for everything with a personal barcode on their cellphone. I mean everything, including bottles of water, rides with DiDi (the Chinese Uber), takeout dinners and haircuts.　International credit cards are rarely accept

The fall of the Berlin Wall on the night of Nov. 8, 1989, dramatically and suddenly accelerated the collapse of communism in Europe. The end of travel restrictions between East and West Germany dealt a death blow to the closed society of the Soviet Union. By the same token, it marked a high point for the rise of open societies.I had become involved in what I call my political philanthropy a decade earlier. I became an advocate of the concept of open society that had been imbued in me by Karl Pop

The worst foreign policy decision by the United States of the last generation -- and perhaps longer -- was the “war of choice” that it launched in Iraq in 2003 for the stated purpose of eliminating weapons of mass destruction that did not, in fact, exist. Understanding the illogic behind that disastrous decision has never been more relevant, because it is being used to justify a similarly misguided US policy today.The decision to invade Iraq followed the illogic of then-US Vice Presi

At the end of the Cold War, political scientist Francis Fukuyama wrote a celebrated essay called “The End of History?” Communism’s collapse, he argued, would clear the last obstacle separating the entire world from its destiny of liberal democracy and market economies. Many people agreed.Today, as we face a retreat from the rules-based, liberal global order, with autocratic rulers and demagogues leading countries that contain well over half the world’s population, Fukuyam

The Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2019 (ADEX 2019) took place from Oct. 15-20 at Seoul Air Base, which was participated by delegations from 53 countries, with 430 aerospace and defense industries from 34 nations taking part in the exhibition. The international event served as a venue for showcasing Korea’s state-of-the-art weapon systems to visitors from home and abroad. This year’s ADEX was particularly significant as it unveiled the first full-size mock-up of

There is a Korean expression: to catch two hares at the same time. This means to accomplish two goals simultaneously. When we chase two hares, they are frightened to death and run away in all directions. Therefore, the implication is that catching two hares at one time is extremely challenging and unlikely.South Korea’s per capita gross national income surpassed $30,000 for the first time last year. And Korea has transformed itself from a recipient of development aid into a donor country a

This article is based on recent writings by three respectable South Koreans on relations between Korea and Japan that I happened to read last week. The writers were Hwang Kyung-choon, former chief correspondent in Seoul for the Associated Press; Im Jong-kun, former president of the Seoul Kyungje business daily; and poet/essayist Lee Seung-shin, daughter of the late Sohn Ho-yeon, well known in Japan for her devotion to “tanka” short poems.“The ardent wish that I have is nation a

The Ottoman Empire, which was founded in the late 13th century and thrived for more than 600 years, resembled the Roman Empire in the sense that it was a vast imperial enterprise that encompassed three regions: Western Asia, Southeast Europe and North Africa. Although it was a Muslim country, the Ottoman Empire embraced diverse religions and cultures such as Islam, Christianity and Judaism, which coexisted peacefully.As Rhie Won-bok writes in his graphic narrative “The Ottoman Empire and T

As the second decade of the third millennium draws to a close, the world seems to be entering an uncertain period of increased political turmoil. From Hong Kong to Barcelona, from Seoul to Santiago, millions of demonstrators have poured into the streets to demand change. Democracies in Europe and North America have become highly polarized.On the surface, the issues that stirred the protests are local, such as the controversy over former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk. Likewise, in Santiago, Chile,

In 1990, 12 advanced economies had a tax on household wealth. Now only four do, after French President Emmanuel Macron scrapped his country’s version in 2017. Yet, a fierce debate has erupted in the United States over the proposal by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic presidential candidate, to introduce a tax of 2 percent on the wealth of “ultramillionaires” (and 3 percent on that of billionaires).In a new book, economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman of the Unive