In The News

Somalia’s Piracy Offers Lessons in Global Governance

Christopher Jasparro April 6, 2009
Contrary to common perception, the swift and coordinated international response to piracy off Somalia’s coast has been less of a success than reports make it out to be. In fact, it masks deeper problems of unfairness in international economic order and local governance. Somalia’s pirates are a motley crew: some are fishermen defending their turf, while others are guns for hire. And the...

The G-20 and the Future of Capitalism – Part III

Pranab Bardhan April 3, 2009
In the third part of our series on the G-20 and the Future of Capitalism, Berkeley economics professor Pranab Bardhan suggests perhaps much to the chagrin of its naysayers, capitalism is here to stay. But chastened by the crisis, it is likely to take on a much milder form. Financial asset growth will slow; producers rather than traders will resume precedence; and financial regulation will...

China Vies to Be World’s Leader in Electric Cars

Keith Bradsher April 3, 2009
China’s plan to become the world leader in electric cars may not reduce pollution as much as reallocate it. While greenhouse gas emissions would decline by roughly 19 percent, according to a McKinsey study, if electric cars replaced gas-powered ones in China, such emissions would shift from car exhausts to power plants – in other words from the city to the country. But pollution reduction is only...

The Real Summit has been Between China and the US

Hamish McRae April 2, 2009
Posturing and theatrics aside, the most discussed issues of the G-20 summit – tax havens, financial regulation, or the IMF’s voting powers – are of marginal importance at best. The crying need of the hour is to ensure that the current financial crisis does not worsen: a difficult task given that governments so far have tended to exacerbate, rather than solve, recessions. This means governments...

The G-20 and the Future of Capitalism – Part II

Jean-Pierre Lehmann April 1, 2009
At a time when the EU needs to present a united voice if not in policy, at least in speech, at the G-20 summit, the union is in chaos. In the second article of this three-part series on the G-20 Summit and the Future of Capitalism, professor of International Political Economy, Jean-Pierre Lehmann points to the unfortunate coincidence of Europe’s faltering unity at a time when it is needed the...

India in a Changing World

Sanjaya Baru March 30, 2009
Foreign policy has typically been a side issue in Indian politics owing to more exigent domestic issues. However, as former aide to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sanjaya Baru notes, by attending to foreign policy, New Delhi can likely achieve its internal goal of modernization and prosperity. But there are two important considerations: U.S-China relations and regional balance. Should the current...

The G-20 and the Future of Capitalism – Part I

Jeffrey E. Garten March 30, 2009
The world’s eye will be on the summit of the Group of 20 meeting in London on April 2. As the member nations – from Argentina to the United States – represent 80 percent of world trade, their decision will have an immediate and direct bearing on the global economic recession roiling the world. Doubts and anger emerge in nations that have long embraced capitalistic principles and free and open...