I-BRIDGE's blog (Link Campus University's Research Centre on Global Affairs) - editor, Marco Emanuele - Critical thinking, complexity, international relations (Twitter, @Glob_Eye - Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/marco.emanuele.50)
Showing posts with label Global. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Global. Show all posts
Friday, 7 October 2016
Putting the Populist Revolt in Its Place (Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Project-Syndicate)
In many Western democracies, this is a year of revolt against elites. The success of the Brexit campaign in Britain, Donald Trump’s unexpected capture of the Republican Party in the United States, and populist parties’ success in Germany and elsewhere strike many as heralding the end of an era. As Financial Times columnist Philip Stephens put it, “the present global order – the liberal rules-based system established in 1945 and expanded after the end of the Cold War – is under unprecedented strain. Globalization is in retreat.”
Should Children Have the Right to Die? (Peter Singer, Project-Syndicate)
Since 2002, Belgium has permitted terminally or incurably ill adults to request and receive euthanasia from a doctor. In February 2014, the Belgian parliament removed the provision of the country’s law on euthanasia that restricted the law’s use to adults. That led to an outcry.
The Cost of Overhyping Globalization (Daniel Gros, Project-Syndicate)
As the world’s financial elite converges on Washington, DC, for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, they cannot escape yet another clarion call to reverse the retreat of globalization. Faltering trade, it is assumed, must be an adverse trend that needs to be addressed. But the assumption is simplistic, at best.
Global economy loses billions from internet shutdowns (Darrell M. West, Brookings)
This past June, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a non-binding resolution condemning the intentional shutdown or disruption of domestic internet access. Despite the support of many member states, governments such as India, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, Brazil, the Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, Turkey, and Algeria have shut down internet or mobile service, sometimes for an extended period.
Thursday, 6 October 2016
Voices from the supply chain: an interview with the National Guestworker Alliance (Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum, openDemocracy)
BTS speaks with JJ Rosenbaum of the National Guestworker Alliance on ways to protect workers in global supply chains, including a global minimum wage.
Five Questions About the Historic UN Summits on Refugees and Migrants (Jamille Bigio, CFR)
The number of people displaced from their homes by conflict and persecution in 2015 was a record high at 63.5 million people—that’s one person in every 113. What are some of the unique challenges faced by displaced women and girls around the world?
The Holy Grail of Future Work (Kelli Wells, Project-Syndicate)
Understanding the future of work is difficult, if not impossible. According to the MacArthur Foundation, 65% of today’s schoolchildren will eventually be employed in jobs that don’t exist yet.
Who Should Lead International Institutions? (Ngaire Woods, Project-Syndicate)
The United Nations is seeking a new secretary-general. The World Bank presidency is up for grabs. The World Health Organization needs a new head. The same goes for several other international organizations. At a time when conflicts of interest among the United States and its allies, together with the rise of China and Russia, are undermining global cooperation, the question of who fills these vacancies could not be more important.
GDP growth — is it “good enough” or does it distort policymaking? (Carol Graham, Brookings)
Today, standard benchmarks of progress, productivity, job quality, and democracy are being upended. Income-based measures such as gross domestic product (GDP) served us well for decades, yet when GDP counts pollutant-generating economic activity on the positive side of the balance sheet, or when it fails to measure unpaid labor activity, it falls short. This is especially worrying given that we live in a world wracked by social inequities.
Are certain countries doomed to remain emerging? (John Page, Brookings)
Incomes in developed and developing countries have been converging, especially since the turn of the century, but the unevenness of that trajectory merits further examination. Beginning in the early the 2000s, the average per capita income of developing countries (adjusted for purchasing power parity) has increased substantially relative to the average per capita income of developed countries (Figure 1). Output per person in developing countries almost doubled between 2000 and 2010. The average annual rate of growth for all developing countries over the decade was 7.6 percent—4.5 percentage points higher than the growth rate in rich countries.
Can globalization be rescued from itself? (Homi Kharas, John McArthur, Brookings)
Globalization—the integration among national economies of markets for goods, services, technology, capital flows, and, to some degree, labor—has played an enormous role in advancing global prosperity. Yet a backlash has emerged, manifested in the recent U.K. Brexit vote, strident “local first” demands, and calls to block trade agreements. The issues are not entirely new. In 1997 Dani Rodrik’s book famously asked Has Globalization Gone Too Far? Joseph Stiglitz published Globalization and Its Discontents in 2002. In between, the 1999 “Battle in Seattle” protests forced the World Trade Organization’s ministerial to shut down.
Skills in the digital age—How should education systems evolve? (Rebecca Winthrop, Timothy P. Williams, Eileen McGivney, Brookings)
At no point in history have more children been enrolled in formal education. Thanks to global commitments and movements such as the Millennium Development Goals and Education For All, more than 90 percent of all primary-age children are now in school.
Five megachanges that could transform the world (Darrell M. West, Brookings)
Large-scale change is transforming the world. Many of the beliefs and institutions that used to anchor international and domestic affairs have grown weak. Political and economic tidal waves have crashed in many parts of the world. We live in a technological era where new developments take place on a seemingly regular basis.
A new global agenda: Implications for the role of the World Bank (Amar Bhattacharya, Homi Kharas, Brookings)
The new global agenda hammered out in 2015 is more comprehensive in scope, more universal in its relevance to countries across the income spectrum, and more ambitious in its targets than the MDG agenda of 2000-2015. The three central goals now are to reignite growth, deliver on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and ramp up actions in line with the ambitions of the Paris climate agreement.
The international monetary system: Is it fit for purpose? (Eswar Prasad, Brookings)
The key question concerning the international monetary system is whether it can function in a manner that promotes global economic and financial stability rather than become a source of instability in itself or a channel through which such instability becomes more pervasive.
Is better access key to inclusive cities? (Jeffrey Gutman, Nirav Patel, Brookings)
Nine years ago the global urban population surpassed the world’s rural population, making it clear that the fate of cities will determine our future prosperity. As enshrined in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, for cities to thrive, action is needed to ensure that urban areas and human settlements are “inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.” With the October 2016 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Housing and Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador set to agree on a new global urbanization agenda for the next two decades, the time to advocate for inclusive, accessible cities is now. Achieving better physical accessibility of all households to employment, services, and commerce within cities is essential.
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
When Globalization Eats Its Young (Harold James, Project-Syndicate)
Evidence that globalization is reversing continues to pile up: trade and international capital flows are sluggish, and migration is increasingly being restricted. These trends emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, so they can’t be blamed on a new populist backlash against globalization. Rather, their source can be traced to national authorities’ failure to take the logic of globalization seriously.
Restoring Support for International Trade (John Veroneau, CFR)
The politics of international trade have always been complicated. The bashing of trade agreements in last week’s Presidential debate may not fully reflect the views of most Americans, but clearly the political environment for trade is deteriorating. While open markets have been and will continue to be hugely beneficial to the United States, maintaining political support for such markets will require three steps: reframe the case for trade through the eyes of the consumer, refocus trade enforcement through the eyes of companies and workers, and renew the social safety net through the eyes of responsible dislocated workers.
WATCH: World Bank Group President Kim on globalization, ending extreme poverty, and addressing climate change (Fred Dews, Brookings)
We need more cooperation [and] greater economic integration and stronger partnerships than ever before if we want the world economy to return to higher rates of inclusive, sustainable growth,” World Bank Group President Dr. Jim Yong Kim told a Brookings audience this week, on the eve of the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund.
Tuesday, 4 October 2016
A Virtuous Cycle for Conservation (Arancha González, John E. Scanlon, Project-Syndicate)
Poor and rural people around the world rely on plants and animals for shelter, food, income, and medicine. In fact, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 15) on sustainable ecosystems acknowledges many developing societies’ close relationship with nature when it calls for increased “capacity of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities.” But how is this to be achieved?
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