CIAO DATE: 01/2015
Volume: 31, Issue: 3
September 2014
Connectivity: Intellectual Lubricant (PDF)
Connectivity is the intellectual lubricant of our time. And today, more than at any other point in human history, we are all connected-with each other, with our leaders and followers, with our friends, relatives, and even strangers-for better or, all too often, for worse. Connectivity has sparked revolutions, cured disease and famine, and led to more advances in a shorter period of time than any previous point in history. Of course, today's social media frenzy is not the first such effort. Connectivity and its media enablers began with Alexander Graham Bell and his telephone, or even earlier with Samuel Morse and his telegraph, followed by Guglielmo Marconi and his radio. But each incremental advance, down to today's revolutionary connectivity is all part of a fundamental urge of the human species-to communicate, to connect. That's what we set out to explore in the Fall issue of World Policy Journal.
The Big Question: Have social media and/or smartphones disrupted life in your part of the world? (PDF)
Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Sebastián Valenzuela, Valgeir Valdimarsson, Nwachukwu Egbunike, Matthew Fraser, Araba Sey, Tohir Pallaev, Erkan Saka, Igor Lyubashenko
Social media and smartphones, the latter carrying this newest of mankind’s means of communication and activism, have in many cases served as agents of change for both good and ill. We asked our panel of global experts how these new networks and those who use them may have disrupted daily life in their respective parts of the world.
Joining Zone 9 (PDF)
Rebecca Mackinnon
“We want more openness, more transparency,” Ethiopian writer Endalkchew Chala observes. “People deserve choice; people deserve access to the world’s knowledge.” For expressing views like these online, his friends were scheduled to go on trial for terrorism in early August—though the trial has since been adjourned to October 15. Perhaps because the absurd charges against them were getting more international attention than expected.
Anatomy: Disruptions in Cyberland (PDF)
Aliza Goldberg, Cleo Abramian
Going Global (PDF)
Jason Q. Ng
Chinese Internet company Baidu recently debuted Busca, a Portuguese version of its search engine localized for Brazilian users. Though, as China’s state news agency Xinhua pointed out, this was not Baidu’s first foray into overseas markets, it was the first time China’s top leader was personally on hand to support the launch. As Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff jointly pressed a button initiating the service, it appeared China had taken another step in leveraging its fast-growing technology companies to enhance its global soft power—something Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, had declared a key national objective.
Canada's Bad Dream (PDF)
Andrew Clement
TORONTO-Edward Snowden's June 2013 leak has shone unprecedented light on the dark underside of Internet connectivity. So far, however, Canada has remained a victim largely hidden in the shadows.
You Can't Stop The Signal (PDF)
Mahmoud Salem
CAIRO, Egypt—As a child of the 1980s, I grew up watching science fiction television shows and movies—all set in the “not-so-distant future.” Holographic communication, teleportation, and flying cars were central tenets of that universe. And while I marveled at the prospect of these technologies, I was most fascinated by the “magical technological device”—that could be used to complete any task, from basic communication to dissemination of news to national security. Though I later learned that this device was nothing more than a plot twist used to advance these stories, I gained something quite special from this twist—a belief in the promise of the future.
Mali's Nomads: Bulwarks Against Jihad (PDF)
Nicholas Jubber
TIMBUKTU, Mali—“We are the only ones who didn’t leave.” Sandy Ag Mostapha is standing beside his cattle, a black turban binding his head and a loose shirt draped over dusty trousers. We are in Tayshak, a Tuareg encampment in the desert about six miles north of Timbuktu, where a few tents, made from goat skins, are pitched between feathery acacias. Before the crisis of 2012, some 60 families lived here, but that number has been reduced to just 15.
Germany in a Changing World (PDF)
Armin Staigis
BERLIN—At the Munich Security Conference earlier this year, the President of Germany, Joachim Gauck asked the following key questions: • “Has Germany already adequately recognized the new threats and the changing structure of the international order? • “Has Germany shown enough initiative to ensure the future viability of the networks of norms, friends, and alliances, which after all brought us peace in freedom and democracy in prosperity?” A moment later he took it upon himself to provide the answers: “Germany should make a more substantial contribution, and it should make it earlier and more decisively if it is to be a good partner.”
Colombia's Conflict Lessons (PDF)
Jake Rollow
EASTERN ANTIOQUIA, Colombia—In late 2001, Sandra Mira was kidnapped while riding a bus with her six-year-old daughter through rural Colombia. Paramilitaries in camouflage uniforms stopped the bus and forced both to disembark. They tied up Sandra, then returned her daughter to the bus. When the girl arrived in San Carlos, the town where the family lived, she asked someone to call her grandmother, Pastora Mira.
Sumud: The Palestinian Art of Existence (PDF)
Rebecca Gould
BETHLEHEM, West Bank-At the edge of Bethlehem, a few blocks from Gilo terminal, past one of the checkpoints where anyone who needs to reach Israel must pass, is a small apartment-its view obstructed by the Barrier. The home was recently built by its Palestinian Christian owner, Adnan, from money he had saved while working for a foreign company in Jerusalem. His permit had recently expired, though, and he was no longer able to work in Jerusalem. Still, Adnan, who asked that his name not be used in this explosive environment, had worked intensely for decades. He had managed to save enough to build a home not only for himself and his family, but also to add a two-bedroom guesthouse. He was now seeking a tenant.
Europe's Existential Threats (PDF)
David A. Andelman
On Saturday, October 1, 1977, I arrived in Belgrade to take up my post as East European bureau chief of The New York Times. I’d timed my arrival to coincide with the opening of the conference of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), one of many efforts during the depths of the Cold War to facilitate dialogue between East and West—the two halves of a very much divided, and at times hostile, Europe.