INASIA
Weekly Insights and Analysis
Philippines: The Black Flag Flies on Facebook
The first news that militants had taken to the streets of the Islamic City of Marawi on May 23, 2017, came from Facebook. Pictures of masked men carrying assault rifles and waving the black flag of the Islamic State were swirling across social media well before...
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Scholarships Help Afghan Women Pursue Higher Education
Women are seriously underrepresented in public life in Afghanistan, a situation that is intimately linked to their low levels of education. According to the government’s 2017 Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey, the national literacy rate is 34.8 percent overall,...
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Community Mediation in Nepal: “A Hospital That Stitches Broken Hearts”
Much of Nepal is mountainous and remote, connected by unimproved roads and paths and far from the services and amenities of the city. Among those services is the formal justice system, a central function of the state that has long been out of reach for poor and rural...
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Policy Dialogues for Peace in Myanmar
When President Thein Sein assumed office in 2011, the international community rushed to assist Myanmar’s democratization and its efforts to resolve the many armed conflicts that have fractured the state for 70 years. Fast-forward to 2019, however, and the giddy...
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From Stand-offs to Solutions: When the Stakes Are High for Everyone
Almost 40 years ago, the indigenous population of a rural district in the far-western province of Nepal were displaced from their homes to make way for a national wildlife reserve. Today, they still live in temporary camps, and most of them have not received...
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Pakistan Tax Reform
This year, 2019, is expected to be the year Pakistan takes significant steps towards improving its tax system. The national economy inherited by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his new Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is a troubled one, with a growing fiscal deficit,...
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A Momentous Moment for Mindanao
On January 21 and February 6, residents of areas affected by decades of conflict in the southern Philippines will cast their votes on a plan for regional autonomy that could bring an end to decades of armed conflict and civil unrest. If the referendum passes, the...
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A New Year for Gender Equality
On January 2, I had the privilege of leading a gender workshop for university students from across the United States, South Korea, and Japan who were in Washington, DC, to participate in the U.S.-Japan-Korea Trilateral Forum. There is nothing quite like a room full of...
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In India’s Cities, Women Should Work, Thrive, and Loiter
They say that India lives in its villages, but this is changing. In 30 years, some 60 percent of India’s population will live in cities. Larger metros such as New Delhi or Mumbai are already grappling with the challenges presented by the constant influx of rural...
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