debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
In 2001, Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill famously coined the term BRIC to characterize the world’s four largest developing economies – Brazil, Russia, India, and China. But, more than a decade later, just about the only thing that these countries have in common is that they are the only economies ranked among the world’s 15 largest (adjusted for [...]
Geologists have demonstrated that an earthquake is the end-product of many minor episodes of seismic slippage along a fault line; each smaller event increases the tension until finally the whole shebang erupts. History proceeds forward in a similar seismic fashion, and recent events in Europe bear this out. In fact, September 2012 may one day [...]
The world economy faces considerable uncertainty in the short term. Will the eurozone manage to sort out its problems and avert a breakup? Will the United States engineer a path to renewed growth? Will China find a way to reverse its economic slowdown? The answers to these questions will determine how the global economy evolves [...]
The annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have provided a window onto two fundamental trends driving global politics and the world economy. Geopolitics is moving decisively away from a world dominated by Europe and the United States to one with many regional powers but no global leader. And a [...]
I am working on a paper about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Europe (hopefully there will be a post after Easter), so I suppose that colours the way I see this interesting chart posted by The Economist. I really think the EU should take emissions-reduction seriously (indeed that is the point of my piece). We [...]
Since late last year, a series of positive developments has boosted investor confidence and led to a sharp rally in risky assets, starting with global equities and commodities. Macroeconomic data from the United States improved; blue-chip companies in advanced economies remained highly profitable; China and emerging markets slowed only moderately; and the risk of a [...]
It is remarkable how willingly governments have surrendered national sovereignty to S&P and the bond markets while ceding sovereignty on carbon emissions governance to a UN body is anathema. The power of finance to blackmail governments seems much stronger than the power of nature – at least so far. What will act as the sword [...]
For decades at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund the heads of these two institutions lectured the representatives from developing countries on how to manage their economies, from the macro of balancing budgets to the micro of privatizing public sector enterprises. Thusly imparting the enlightenment of sound policy, the [...]
Since World War II, it is plain to see that a high degree of convergence has occurred all over the world around the institutions and practices of political democracy and economy. Country after country has followed the American lead, which offered to the world a development model based on the rise of the middle class. [...]
At the beginning of this series, Thomas Pogge highlighted the close relationship between equality and justice and the connection between these factors and the principles of a democratic society. Within any system, the ability for wealth and power to become concentrated within certain groups has a fundamental impact on a state’s capacity to ensure a [...]
A little more than three years ago, just as the financial crisis was getting into full swing, I published a guide to the international system of financial regulation, Global Financial Regulation: The Essential Guide. It described an elaborate spider’s web of committees, councils, and agencies with overlapping responsibilities, unrepresentative memberships, and inadequate enforcement powers – a [...]
Last Friday’s revelations about India’s use of torture in Kashmir are the latest in a disturbingly long line of stories that undermine attempts to portray India’s rise in the international system as a force for the global good. Following a period of transition that has seen a move away from Cold War non-alignment and a [...]
All Content