Dr Lindsay Whitfield examines the emergence and trajectory of a new agro-industry in Ghana, the pineapple export industry, using the technological capabilities approach. It explains the limited expansion of the industry and its declining competitiveness in the face of new competition by looking at how Ghanaian exporters developed technological capabilities initially and the incentives and disincentives to building on those capabilities. 

In exploring competitiveness, Governor of Croatian National Bank Boris Vujčić examines European productivity trends relative to the U.S. and Asia, as well as productivity catch-up and divergence across different European economies, including the newer EU states. In exploring diverging trends in productivity across Europe both pre and post EMU, Boris argues that any lasting solution to Europe's growth shortfalls can only be addressed via structural reforms. 

Sheila A. Smith, a senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses her new book, "Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China." 

Dr Micah Muscolino discusses his new book entitled "The Ecology of War in China: Henan Province, the Yellow River, and Beyond, 1938–1950."

Professor Sarah Chartock discusses ethnodevelopment policies--policies that recognize or address the entrenched overlap between ethnicity and poverty--illustrated with the cases of Peru, Ecuador and Guatemala.

In 2013, the UK Parliament legalized same-sex marriage in England and Wales. Dr Scot Peterson discusses whether this is the first time there has been a divergence in the general understanding of marriage and the definition enshrined in law. 

Drawing on her long diplomatic career, former Canadian Ambassdor Jillian Stirk discusses the role that pluralism plays in shaping foreign policy.