Asia

Ben Chester Cheong argues that Singapore’s unique political and legal system helped lay the foundation for the country’s economic growth. He points to Singapore’s high-quality judiciary which is trusted by its citizens to deliver principled and fair outcomes, as well as its use of deterrence which has enabled its reputation as one of the safest cities in the world.

At present, Singapore is the only country to have taken steps to dissolve a local chapter of South Korea’s Shincheonji Church. Jonathan Chan uses this decision as a lens to probe the state’s approaches to religious management. He argues that Shincheonji failed to align with Singapore’s model of multi-religious toleration, in particular through its lack of transparency about its intentions and motivations. This was seen as potentially causing fissures within families and Christian denominations, prompting the government’s intervention in dissolving the chapter.

Trained in literature, dance, and music, Devdasis, or servants of God, are women and girls dedicated to temples in South India. A traditional religious practice among Hindus dating back to the 6th century, girls as young as seven are “married” to a temple deity and dedicate their lives to the performance of sacred rituals and […]

Ng Qi Siang argues that it was ultimately beneficial for Singapore to be omitted from the US-organized Summit for Democracy in December last year. By highlighting key characteristics of the summit, he shows how Singapore’s participation is likely to signal a weakened commitment to its foreign policy principles, which includes the city-state’s commitment to non-interference in the internal affairs of other states and the pursuit of good relations with all who wish to work with it. He then discusses great-power tensions between the US and China, and how Singapore’s non-participation in the summit aligns with its strategy to navigate a more polarised world order.

JMEPP Senior Staff Writer Christina Bouri, and Editor-in-Chief, Ghazi Ghazi sat down with Dr. Omar Al-Razzaz on March 10th to discuss the Jordanian economy and labor market, the education system, the effects of climate change and COVID-19 on the Kingdom of Jordan, and democratization efforts in the country.

Sama Kubba explores the competition for power between the United States and China in the Middle East and argues the U.S. and China should cooperate by leveraging their comparative advantages to make grand strategy gains in their Middle East foreign policy.

Offensive realism, developed by Professor John Mearsheimer at University of Chicago, is the idea that great powers fear each other, and are always looking for opportunities to gain power at the expense of others. They do this to maximize its share of world power, regardless of domestic policy, foreign policy, and ideological differences on both […]

“I have killed many Arabs in my life, and there’s no problem with that.” “When you [Palestinians] were still climbing trees, we had a Jewish state here.” These are the words of current Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who 282 of our HKS classmates met with last month as part of the HKS Israel Trek. […]

The author made updates to this piece on April 18, 2022. The paragraphs added later are identified with an asterisk at the end. The author would like to acknowledge that the timing of publication coincides with the deadly terrorist attacks in Tel Aviv that have killed 13 Israeli civilans as of March 22nd. While this […]

H.D. Wright provides an analysis of the European diplomatic engagements that pulled apart existing territories and forced them between the borders of new states, sealing a nearly inevitable destiny of domestic strife.

Sarkawt Shamsulddin provides his insights on the recent student protests in Kurdistan, what led to them, and what they mean for the region.

Jordan Cope, Esq. explores how the role of law and policy has been used in three countries—Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, respectively—to both accelerate and to frustrate Palestinian integration. In doing so, the essay also explores the necessary history to contextualize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the status of the Palestinian diaspora.