A part of President Obama's visit to Brazil is to be an outing to a favela, a slum neighborhood, in Rio de Janeiro. Rio's government wants to show off the progress of its so-called Pacification Plan (UPP) designed to address the criminality, underdevelopment, and lack of state presence of these...

The recent murders of four Americans sailing off the coast of Somalia have led to calls for a tougher action against Somali pirates. Many argue that paying ransom only encourages more piracy, and that stronger action against the pirates is needed. Unfortunately, however, effective alternative options to stop piracy are...