In The News

Time: Financial Crisis Undermined Global Order

Ian Bremmer September 21, 2018
Crises give countries an incentive to adjust, and the 2008 financial crisis – following on the heels of the costly war in Iraq – eroded confidence in US leadership and capitalism. Likewise, Europe struggled with the euro crisis and a stream of migrants fleeing unrest and conflict in the Middle East. “Today, the global balance of power is no longer clear,” argues Ian Bremmer for Time. China...

Bloomberg: EU Wants Members to Respect Values or Take Pay Cut

Leonid Berehidsky May 4, 2018
The European Union represents values as much as much as trade, political or economic relationships – and its staff proposes reducing budgets of member states that weaken the rule of law and tolerate corruption. The European Commission has proposed a $1.3 trillion budget that would “make it more difficult for nationalist governments to use the union’s money to garner voter loyalty,” explains...

Inside Story: Domestic Disharmony for China and India

Kerry Brown and Marya Shakil April 27, 2018
Before aspiring to global leadership roles, China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi must demonstrate capability for handling domestic challenges. “Xi and Modi may operate in very different contexts, one in charge of the world’s largest Communist Party–controlled state, the other running the world’s largest democracy,” explain Kerry Brown and Marya Shakil for Inside Story. “But both can be...

Project Syndicate: The Globalization Backlash Paradox

Arvind Subramanian April 26, 2018
Some forms of globalization tend to be appreciated more than others, and economist Arvind Subramanian delves into why cross-border financial exchanges are more widely accepted than trade or migration despite having “regularly wreaked havoc on rich and poor economies alike over the last 40 years.” He concludes: “When it comes to real global integration, it is easy to identify perpetrators and...

New Statesman: No Serious Strategy for Syria

John Bew April 23, 2018
After seven years of civil war, Syria is in peril. UN peace efforts have flailed, and leaders of Iran, Turkey and Russia have met just before a chemical attack on Ghouta. The three countries do not agree on a role for Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad, but are “are increasingly alienated from the West, have a substantive military presence on the ground within Syria, want to keep the Saudis and...

Spiegel: EU Mulls Funding Cuts for Eastern Europe

Markus Becker, Peter Müller, Christoph Schult and Jan Puhl April 10, 2018
Europe’s largest and most powerful economies maintain that values embracing human rights and the rule of law have enhanced European prosperity. So it’s understandable that the Germany, France and others do not want to subsidize Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and other states that skirt the rule of law, refuse to support refugees and engage in corruption enriching a few individuals in power rather than...

New York Times: Can the US Stop Trump Before It’s Too Late?

Madeleine Albright April 6, 2018
Terrorism, populism, sectarian conflicts and greed test democracy, writes Madeleine Albright for the New York Times, and disorder and volatility contribute to support for fascism and authoritarianism. Embracing nationalism, the Trump administration applies a wrecking ball to international agreements and political norms. “Instead of mobilizing international coalitions to take on world problems, he...