Is the United Arab Emirates the Future of the Arab World?

The 21st-Century Trading Post Embraces Capitalism and Breeds Tolerance

The Hong Kong of India. The Singapore of the Middle East. The Miami of Africa. No wait, make that the Hong Kong of Iran. Or is it the Vegas of this part of the world?

For a first-timer, a week in the United Arab Emirates—essentially a twin-headed city-state of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, though there are five other emirates—is a dizzying experience as you struggle to wrap your mind around the multiple vital roles this small country on the Arabian peninsula plays as a regional, and increasingly global, hub.

“As a …

By Andrés Martinez | November 30, 2015

Will Globalization Be Obama’s Greatest Foreign Policy Legacy?

A President Who Came Into Office a Free Trade Skeptic Is Now on the Brink of Brokering Two Big Deals

by Kati Suominen | December 29, 2014

Battered by crises and maligned by critics, globalization is regaining momentum. And this is good news for America’s global leadership. Negotiations for an ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal involving …

Can the World Cup End U.S. Cultural Hegemony?

Soccer Remains One of the Few Non-American Narratives That Bind the World Together

by Andrés Martinez | June 16, 2014

When I was 17 I spent the summer in France on an exchange program, living with a family in an idyllic town in Normandy, parlando the language of Napoleon and …

Is Singapore the Perfect Country for Our Times?

The Island Nation Has Mastered the Art of Profiting Off Globalization—Even At the Cost of Authenticity and a Sense of Place

by Andrés Martinez | May 19, 2014

You land at Changi Airport after flying for what seems a lifetime, and you’re naturally disoriented, even before you hit the customs booths that feature bowls of mints, dire warnings …

No News is Good News

April 20, 2011

Economist Charles Kenny began his lecture at the Goethe-Institut by explaining the major problem with his own new book.

“It’s about exciting stuff that doesn’t happen. The book is about how …

The Beauty of Slums

April 7, 2011

Journalist Doug Saunders opened his discussion of what he has termed “arrival cities” with a mention of the American city that best epitomizes the phenomenon: Los Angeles.

“I lived here until …

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