In The News

Climate Change and Capitalism: Guardian

Phil McDuff June 2, 2019
Children witnessing climate disruptions express alarm about the future and question why governments fail to take action against the planet’s destruction. “Today’s children, as they become more politically aware, will be much more radical than their parents, simply because there will be no other choice for them,” suggests Phil McDuff for the Guardian. “Climate change is the result of our current...

Australia’s China Challenge: New York Times

Damien Cave May 26, 2019
The Chinese government, under President Xi Jinping, has expanded its covert sphere of influence in countries like Australia. China relies on the substantial ethnic Chinese population and Chinese economic ties representing 24 percent of Australian imports and exports to push its agenda within Australia with a say on the nation’s foreign trade policy. Beijing has weaponized economics, and Chinese...

BBC: UK Ready for No-Deal Brexit?

Chris Morris February 1, 2019
The United Kingdom, as an EU member, shares four decades of laws on trade, immigration, finance, health and safety, and more. If the EU and the UK part ways with no deal or extension for the negotiations and if the UK does not prepare replacement laws, that could pose uncertainty and serious disruption in most policy areas, reports Chris Morris for the BBC news. The report outlines progress on...

BBC: Three Brexit Defeats for May

December 5, 2018
Members of parliament found British Prime Minister Theresa May’s ministers in contempt, ordering release of the government’s complete legal advice on proposed terms for Brexit. The government had been trying to rush the proposal through to avoid too many second thoughts. The attorney general published a summary and answered questions, but advised that release of the complete version was not in...

Financial Times: World Fears “Trumpism” Is Here to Stay

Gideon Rachman November 6, 2018
Global observers view the outcome of US midterm elections as a test of the durability of Donald Trump’s policies. “If the Republicans do well, then many will conclude that ‘Trumpism’ is here to stay,” explains Gideon Rachman for the Financial Times. “The rest of the world would have to make a long-term adjustment to an America that is highly protectionist and suspicious of treaties on principle...

Lawfare: Fear, Loathing in the Global Middle Class

Raj M. Desai October 31, 2018
The global economy has reduced poverty and increased the ranks of the middle class. For the first time in recorded history, people who earn enough for a comfortable life outnumber the poor. “But without a functioning system of social protection on which middle class individuals can rely, the growth in their numbers also carries significant risks of democratic retreat, conflict, and instability,”...

Foreign Affairs: The Failures of Capitalism

Robin Varghese July 26, 2018
Wages for the poorer half of the population in Europe and the United States have had sluggish growth over the last 50 years, while corporate profits have soared. Karl Marx, philosopher and economist, had predicted that the nature of capitalism would lead to inequality, unemployment, stagnant wages and oligopolistic firms. While communist revolutions did occur in countries like Russia and China,...