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July 16, 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
Oct 28, 2011
Global crises of democracy
In 2000, at the first U.N. millennium meeting in Tokyo, Gallup presented interesting results of a global public opinion survey. Most people, even in the mature Western democracies, believed their government was failing to represent them — refusing to heed their voices, looking after their own and...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2011
Love and loathing of racial preferments Down Under
...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2011
Libyan effect on protection
The invocation of the responsibility to protect (R2P) in Libya has drawn surprisingly intense criticism.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2011
Threats to the realization of India's potential
For all of India's many and weighty advantages and its present trajectory, a fatal stall cannot be ruled out.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2011
Forecasts of robust middle-class growth are reason enough for Chinese, Indian optimism
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted recently that if present trends continue, India will become the world's third largest economy by 2025.
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2011
India scores a wrong-sided goal — again
Presented with a golden opportunity to rise and shine, India has an unmatched capacity to look prosperity firmly in the face, turn around, and walk off resolutely in the opposite direction.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2011
Mumbai attack a new cause to take offense
Three serial blasts in 12 minutes tore through India's commercial capital Mumbai last Wednesday evening, leaving 21 dead and over 140 injured.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2011
Dial Mladic for mass murder
The old saying about the importance of justice appearing to be done as well as being done is perhaps even more relevant to international than national politics.
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2011
India's stirring middle class
India is on the move, with millions climbing into middle class status and a growing pool of super-rich billionaires. Yet it also has more poor, hungry and illiterate people than any other country in the world; access to safe water and sanitation remains a pipedream for most people and disease is endemic;...
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2011
Realignment of Canada's political landscape
In the first election debate between the leaders of Canada's four political parties, opposition leader Michael Ignatieff of the Liberal Party attacked Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the ruling Conservative Party for wanting to shut down anything he could not control.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2011
Way to institutionalize a system of integrity
When a career bureaucrat with a corruption charge pending against him was chosen to be the chief vigilance commissioner, the Supreme Court nullified the appointment to protect the "institutional integrity" of the CVC.
COMMENTARY
Apr 10, 2011
Realigned values help global order evolve
CANBERRA — On March 17, Security Council Resolution 1973 authorized the use of "all necessary measures," short of an invasion and occupation, "to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas": the first United Nations-sanctioned combat operations since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
COMMENTARY
Mar 20, 2011
Acting responsibly to save Libyan civilians
WATERLOO, Ontario — The responsibility to protect is the mobilizer of last resort of the world's will to act to prevent and halt mass atrocities and mitigate the effects of sovereignty as organized hypocrisy, as Stephen Krasner famously put it.
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2011
America's rhetorical gap riles the Arab street
WATERLOO, Ontario — Writing in The New York Times on Aug. 20, 2002, Jeffrey C. Goldfarb quoted an Asian activist's conviction that "American democracy requires the repression of democracy in the rest of the world."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2011
Exposing globalization's dark side
...
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2010
Recalcitrant Indian state turns a corner
WATERLOO, Ontario — Writing here on March 13, 2005 ("The deep end of Indian state democracy"), I noted descriptions of Bihar's first city Patna as the capital of hell on earth, its Hobbesian quality of life with large-scale kidnappings for ransom as the only growth industry, the destruction of...
COMMENTARY
Nov 5, 2010
South Korea uniquely suited to host G20
WATERLOO, Ontario — In Pittsburgh, Pa., a year ago, the leaders of the world's 20 leading countries declared that the Group of 20 summit would henceforth be the world's premier forum for international economic governance. The group meets again in Seoul on Nov. 11-12.
COMMENTARY
Oct 6, 2010
Japan's loss, America's gain?
WATERLOO, Ontario — At the inaugural Singapore Global Dialogue on Sept. 23-24, there was a sharp exchange between retired Chinese and Japanese officials. In response to a question after his opening keynote address, former Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan admonished Japan for its inexplicable...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2010
Pakistan's effect on Iran
WATERLOO, Ontario — The United States, no more but no less than other countries, tends to make self-centered assessments of other countries' policies. This is one reason Washington missed the Iran factor as the most likely explanation for Saddam Hussein's deliberate ambiguity about a weapons-of-mass-destruction...
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2010
Governments have duty to aid citizens caught in a nightmare
WATERLOO, Canada — Australian businessman Stern Hu has been convicted of taking bribes and stealing state secrets and sentenced to 10 years jail in China. International standards of a free and fair trial do not seem to have been met.
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
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