As Boko Haram attacks increase in northern Nigeria, millions of refugees fleeing the Islamist insurgent group are creating a strain on local resources, aid groups say. More than a million Nigerians have been displaced as they attempt to flee Boko Haram’s violent attacks, according to the International Organization for Migration. They have settled in various cities around northern Nigeria, leaving aid groups and the Nigerian government scrambling to keep up with the growing demand for food and supplies.

China’s increasing dominance offers something of a surprise: It suggests that Colbert’s philosophy could actually work better than long believed. But it also offers a cautionary lesson for China, and perhaps an encouraging one for its Western rivals. The experience of France suggests that the most important resource of all—human capital—may be, paradoxically, very difficult for a centralized state to capture.