Innovation

Last Fall, World Policy Journal spotlighted the Global Canon, asking a critical question—has the Western Canon, which has set the creative agenda in the West since Shakespeare and Bacon, been superseded by a Global Canon? In the course of our discussions, we considered whether a Global Canon is indeed developing beyond the world of arts and letters—in technology, infrastructure, and especially Innovation. We elected to confine our issue a year ago to creativity in the arts. Now, one year later, we are exploring the issue of Innovation as an international phenomenon.

As the world's economies sputter and companies struggle to dream up industry-saving innovations, many countries and businesses still only pay lip service to fostering a creative culture. Noted science fiction author Neal Stephenson sets the scene for us. He questions why in this century, despite big challenges, we have created no truly Big Ideas. Stephen Ezell suggests the problem may be systemic—that we have no institutions capable of nourishing creativity and that some global body, a parallel to the World Bank or International Monetary Fund, is essential if we are to encourage innovation. For our Map Room, we examine the consequences of the arrival of the cell phone in one corner of Africa—in Kenya where this simple innovation has spawned bank accounts across vast swaths of this country, suddenly propelling a subsistence society into the modern world. We also examine three of the most innovative spots on earth—Israel and its Silicon Wadi, the Otaniemi district in Finland, and Singapore, whose government seems to be monopolizing, most effectively, the talent that private industry is mining elsewhere. Many innovations lead to unintended consequences, and few writers are better equipped to explore these paths than Greg Lindsay. From Princeton, nuclear physicist Professor Rob Goldston lays out the anatomy of a fusion reactor as the future generator of clean atomic power. And from the depths of the British Defense Ministry, Major General Jonathan Shaw describes the perils and promise of 21st century warfare.

To see Tim Hetherington's photos of the Korengal on World Policy Journal's website, go to www.bit.ly/korengal, or scan this barcode with your mobile device.

For our Portfolio, we turn to the work of the late, great Chris Hondros. This remarkable Getty photographer was killed in action in Libya in April alongside his close friend Tim Hetherington. World Policy Journal was honored to publish Tim's last major portfolio, "Into the Korengal," in our Spring issue. Now, we are privileged to publish the results of a project that had consumed Chris for years—looking out at the world from inside American humvees as these armored vehicles make their way through villages and towns across Iraq and, in this case, Afghanistan. His most compelling goal was to examine villagers examining us. Introducing his work is a moving tribute to Chris from writer Greg Campbell, who knew him since the two formed a bond back in high school 27 years ago at the age of 14.

In Yemen, behind the violence and Change Square demonstrators lies a profound story of a generation of young people on the brink of starvation—their lives all but unchronicled by an outside world consumed by the violence of the president and his allies. Now journalist Jennifer Steil, who edited the Yemen Observer for years, explores the sad underbelly of the Yemeni revolution—which could have an outcome even more tragic than Somalia just across the Red Sea. Then we examine Afghanistan and Pakistan from two different perspectives. First, there are the defenseless victims of the Taliban—the citizens of the Swat Valley, and especially the young women, dancers, and musicians, documented by Shaheen Buneri. For years, he's known these performers, including many who have lost their lives and livelihoods as the Taliban try to stamp out Swat's artistic traditions. Veteran American diplomat Peter Tomsen examines the consequences of America's benign neglect in the war that has spilled from Afghanistan to Pakistan with the encouragement of Islamabad. Farooq Kathwari, the chairman, president, and CEO of...