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November 22, 2024
 

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Ramesh Thakur

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Ramesh Thakur
Ramesh Thakur is Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University; adjunct professor, Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, Griffith University, and editor-in-chief of Global Governance from Jan. 1, 2013. He began writing for The Japan Times in 1998 as Vice Rector of the United Nations University.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2004
Popular return of a dynasty
It is generally accepted in India and abroad that, in the changed political landscape of India, Sonia Gandhi is the power behind the scenes. She is the convener of the ruling multiparty alliance. Her son Rahul Gandhi, a new member of Parliament from the "family" seat of Amethi in northern India (which...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2004
Time is ripe to establish G20
In foreign policy speeches in Washington on April 29 and Montreal on May 10, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin proposed the creation of a new group of 20 countries (G20) at the heads-of-government level as the forum of choice for tackling pressing global problems.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2004
Gandhi grew stronger by stepping back
Sonia Gandhi surprised herself, her party, the country and the world by leading the Congress alliance to victory in India's 14th general election. Having shattered the hubris and complacency of the Bharatiya Janata Party government and punctured the pride of the political pundits, she then stunned everyone...
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2004
India: a defeat for the government, a victory for democracy
In his concession speech on May 13, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) thanked the people of India for having given him their support for five years; promised full cooperation with Sonia Gandhi, leader of the largest victorious party, Congress; and noted that,...
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2004
New jailers, same prison?
The stage-managed toppling of ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's statue will not, after all, be the image defining the Iraq war. Like the famous photo of the young girl on fire running naked to escape the horror of napalm in the Vietnam War, the photographs emerging from Abu Ghraib prison will be the...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2004
India girds for world's biggest tamasha
Between April 20 and May 10, staggered over five rounds, Indians will vote in the 14th general election since inde- pendence in 1947. When Florida caused such a fuss in the last U.S. presidential election four years ago, Indians were bemused and amused in equal measure. They suggested that Americans...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2004
The Iraq war in retrospect
The question that crops up repeatedly when we register our opposition to the Iraq war is: Would you rather then have Saddam Hussein still in power? It's a fair question that deserves a serious answer. Unlike in 1990, when Hussein did have a few admirers, last year he had none. This makes the failure...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2004
New coalitions of the willing seek change
While I was in London in January, The Guardian newspaper ran a front-page story about an independent evaluation of some of Britain's leading international charities that tried to help southern Africa avoid a food crisis in 2002-2003. The evaluation concluded that the charities had overstated the seriousness...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2004
India's nukes pose paradox for nonproliferation regime
NEW DELHI -- At the conclusion of their midlevel official talks in Islamabad on Feb. 16-18, India and Pakistan outlined an aggressive timetable for wide-ranging peace talks on Kashmir, nuclear safeguards, terrorism and other topics leading up to talks between the two foreign secretaries in May or June...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2004
Hope for Indo-Pakistani peace
Some years ago, I was visiting Samarkand in Uzbekistan, from where the Mughal Dynasty came down to the subcontinent. The only other person from South Asia in the group was a senior Pakistani military officer. We soon realized we had more in common with each other than any other members of the group because...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2004
2003: worst and best of times for U.N.
Twelve months ago, the international community heaved a sigh of relief as the major powers appeared to reach a compromise on how to manage Iraq. But Washington's determination to act on its own cut short the role of U.N. weapons inspectors and challenged the very notion that the organization has a role...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2003
U.N. voice for 'civil society'
In his opening address in Beijing to the U.N. conference on the question of Palestine on Dec. 16, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo paid particular at- tention to the role of civil society -- academic and business communities, nongovernmental organizations and others -- in appealing for peace...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2003
Democracy vs. GDP growth
China is the world's biggest country and India is the world's biggest democracy. Each accounts for one-sixth of the world's people. Their fates matter.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2003
Reforming the United Nations
The United Nations is our collective instrument for organizing a volatile and dangerous world on a more predictable and orderly basis than would be possible without the existence of the organization. As the year that saw war in Iraq draw to a close, the future and prestige of the U.N. is under scrutiny...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2003
Is Japan to mainland Asia what Britain is to Europe?
The European landmass lies to the south and east of Britain, the Asian landmass to the north and west of Japan. A newspaper headline in Britain once famously declared: "Fog over the channel, continent isolated." Japan may lack such endearing chauvinism, but is far more homogeneous and closed as a society...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2003
Antinuke regime crumbling
Speaking on the opening day of the U.N. General Assembly's disarmament committee on Oct. 6, Ambassador Sergio Querioz Duarte of Brazil noted that "to attain a nuclear-weapon-free world, it is vital to prevent nuclear proliferation, and at the same time, it is imperative to promote nuclear disarmament."...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2003
South Africa's challenge
We were in Pretoria in August. That month, a baby, its mother and grandmother were shot to death and their car stolen; a man visited his wife in the hospital only to be "carjacked" and shot dead when he came back to the car park; a woman was critically wounded when she was shot in her car as she visited...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2003
World holds vested interest in a successful South Africa
PRETORIA -- The last 10 to 15 years have not been the best advertisement for the human species. Our brutality toward fellow human beings, including children and women, seems to plumb ever-lower depths. The positive side of identifying with fellow members of a particular religion, race, tribe or ethnic...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2003
Too early to write off India
Earlier this year I had argued that on balance, China was outperforming India on the world stage ("China leaves India in the dust," Jan. 27). While keeping costs as low and offering the lure of a market as big as India's, I argued, China has attained levels of infrastructure closer to those of Southeast...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2003
Choosing human security
The notion of "human security" has gradually but steadily gained greater international currency. Canada and Japan, especially under former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy and the late former Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, respectively, were prominent early advocates of incorporating the...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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