Writing from Bhopal, I examine India’s declining infrastructure, speculative property and stock markets, persistent poverty, and the emergence of a more rights-conscious entrepreneurial class.

I examine the Celebrity Big Brother controversy involving Shilpa Shetty and ask whether Britain’s accusers are overlooking the deeper prejudice embedded in Indian society.

I examine sati, santhara, dowry, and other Indian social practices, arguing that lasting cultural change cannot be imposed through state coercion.

I examine how affirmative action, legal privileges, and government social engineering can deepen caste divisions instead of dismantling them.

In this September 2006 Liberty Magazine reflection, I examine how institutional charity can become detached from the people it supposedly exists to help.

In this September 2006 Liberty Magazine reflection, I argue that terrorism directed at the West has deeper cultural causes than Western foreign policy.

In this September 2006 Liberty Magazine reflection, I recount my treatment at Western embassies in India and explain why Canadian citizenship still represents a form of warped freedom.

After travelling to Belarus, I examine why authoritarianism survives and argue that liberty requires an ideological transformation rather than externally imposed democracy.

I examine India’s bans on Coca-Cola and Pepsi and argue that political opportunism and anti-development activism ultimately harm consumers and the poor.

In this July 2006 Liberty Magazine contribution, I recommend two books that shaped my thinking about freedom, human development, culture, and poverty.