INASIA
Insights and Analysis
Afghanistan’s Covid-19 Bargain
Battered by conflict and dependent on dwindling foreign aid, Afghanistan may have no alternative but to let the virus run its course. Yet, amid their suffering, Afghans are also finding solidarity and political initiative.
Mongolia’s Lessons on Democracy during a Pandemic
Mongolia holds parliamentary elections today, June 24, in a political landscape transformed by Covid-19. A case in point: the nation’s clever and ambitious “virtual” parliament.
In a Time of Covid-19, Screen-Time Worries Miss the Point
Parents of locked-down children are more worried than ever about screen time. But preparing children for the future won’t happen by looking backwards to a pre-screen world that has already come and gone.m Today’s kids need screen-time mentors, not screen-time monitors
Covid-19 vs Climate Change: What Can We Learn?
If humanity can put our economies on hold to fight a global threat like Covid-19, why haven’t we been able to take similar measures to confront a global killer like climate change?
Opportunity in Crisis: Making Green Energy the New Normal
Some of the most indelible images of the pandemic have been the brilliant skies that replaced toxic smog as the world stayed home and fossil-fuel use plunged. With renewables now cheaper than coal, green energy’s time has come.
In Nepal, Federalism, Health Policy, and the Pandemic
Across Nepal, the coronavirus pandemic is confronting cities and towns with a defining challenge to that nation’s nascent federal system, as young local governments struggle to meet their constitutional public-health mandate.
Working from Home: Not the Utopia We Were Expecting
“Before the pandemic took over our lives, we all sometimes wished we could simply work from home,” writes the author. “So why do 85 percent of my colleagues want to come back to the office as soon as possible?”
In Bangladesh, Tanneries in Trouble
A two-decade push by Bangladesh to reform its leather tanning industry was supposed to clean up pollution and end worker exploitation. So far, it hasn’t quite worked out as planned.
Vietnam: A Covid-19 Success Story
How has a country of 96 million that can barely get its citizens to obey the traffic laws managed the Covid-19 pandemic with less than 300 cases and no deaths?