All The Monitor's View
- Natural motivators for plastic bans
One global leader in banning the use of plastic, Vanuatu, is also a leader in how to motivate people to adopt a new lifestyle.
- Colombia’s compassion is vital to Venezuela’s future
The country’s generosity to Venezuelan refugees needs to be matched by foreign donors. Such aid gives hope to Venezuelans to resist their brutal regime.
- Sunshine on a shakedown culture
To break its culture of corruption, the former Soviet state has put a light of transparency on private companies and corrupt low-level officials. One result: a welcome spurt in economic growth.
- Why corporations redefine progress
The influential Business Roundtable’s new purpose for corporations reflects the global search for less-material definitions of progress. The search itself is progress.
- Saving the academic integrity of student-athletes
NCAA’s attempts to prevent academic fraud and safeguard amateur sports are not working. Time to consider fresh ideas.
- Hong Kong’s countermessage to ethnic patriotism
The long and popular protests have helped forge a civic identity in contrast to Beijing’s imposed ‘dream’ of cultural unity around a racial stereotype of Chinese subservience.
- In presidential race, sharp elbows or big hugs?
Biden and Booker speak of kindness in politics but have pivoted from it. Yet love can be a winning strategy.
- Why the sudden challenge to autocracies?
Pro-democracy protests from Hong Kong to Moscow may indicate a reversal in the decline of liberties and rights.
- A seed for society’s safety: Gun buybacks
New Zealand’s program to buy guns after a March massacre may be a lesson for the U.S. in how to conduct a dialogue with gun owners.
- For frictions in global commerce, the world tries a new grease
Dozens of countries signed a treaty this week that will boost the use of neutral mediators in disputes between companies. At a time of high global tensions, this harmony-inducing approach is a welcome alternative.
- Climate gloom and innovation bloom
The latest global report on carbon pollution is yet another source of inspiration for nations eager to build an innovation economy. Climate necessities have become the mother lode of green ideas.
- In Dayton and El Paso, the potential power of forgiveness
As in Charleston after its 2015 mass shooting, some families speak of forgiving the shooters even as they denounce their actions and motives.
- The latest lesson in how to end a conflict
In a mark of what international mediators have learned, much of the agreement ending Mozambique’s conflict was already in the works before the signing ceremony. Peace is more than good intentions.
- Safe spaces for young men adrift (and with guns)
The mass killings in Texas and Ohio, like so many before, demand that all of society help people who are looking for belonging in violent ideologies.
- As bullying revives, so must solutions
After a decline in youth bullying, incidents may again be rising. Adults have wise approaches to fix it.
- Generation gap in the presidential race?
Democratic contenders defy stereotypes about age and point to cooperation across generations.
- The sheltering shade of tree planting
Ethiopia claimed a record tree planting this week to stem erosion and climate change. Yet trees also play into a new leader’s imagery to remake the nation.
- Why the protests in Russia are different
Two weekends of protests for a fair election in Moscow reveal a moral intensity rarely seen in Russia. They also reveal Kremlin fears over losing power.
- Puerto Rico’s liberation moment
Mass protests helped oust a scandalous governor. But it is an awakening to constitutional principles that has really changed the U.S. territory.
- An Arab template for peaceful handovers of power
With the passing of its first freely elected president, Tunisia quickly planned to elect a new leader, again setting a model for a region badly in need of democracy.