In The News

Forget Fake News – The Real Filter Bubble Is You

Will Self November 29, 2016
Banning false news on popular social media sites amounts to censorship. Will Self, writing for New Statesman, questions any manipulation of news on such sites – curating news for positive or negative stories, writing algorithms that match stories to readers or selecting specific articles for trending news. “Back in the days when everyone read the print edition of the New York Times this sort of...

Wanted: Equal Opportunity Globalization

Branko Milanovic November 29, 2016
Populist stances are resonating with dissatisfied voters in the wealthiest places including Europe and the United States. The West has posted low growth rates for its middle class over the past 25 years while the average income growth of a median household in Asia during the same period was about four times as high – Asia still has some catching up to do as income levels and gross domestic...

League of Nationalists

November 25, 2016
Despite living in a world that shares numerous global challenges, voters increasingly place their trust in a new nationalism. Some are unnerved by lost jobs and blame an increasing number of foreign-born living in their midst. Others long for self-reliance. “All societies draw on nationalism of one sort or another to define relations between the state, the citizen and the outside world,” notes...

Russia Wants to Remake Globalization in Its Own Image

Richard Weitz November 24, 2016
Globalization and global institutions are in crisis, confronting varying levels of mistrust around the world. The Valdai Discussion Club, a group of Russian and foreign international affairs experts, assessed the global order. “Russians described Western-led neoliberal globalization as universally destructive economically, culturally, and politically and responsible for sparking a worldwide...

How Can We Tackle Abuse in the Global Garment Industry?

Alice Evans November 24, 2016
In the face of rampant labor exploitation in the clothing industry, many unions in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Bangladesh are trying to increase the minimum wage and improve working conditions. In the mutual pursuit of financial gain by countries and corporations, the “mobility of capital (and immobility of labour) creates a global race to the bottom,” notes Alice Evans for the...

Is A Trump Presidency Really a Big Win for Putin?

Reid Standish November 24, 2016
Among Donald Trump’s consistent positions during the US presidential campaign was a respect for Russian President Vladimir Putin and a desire to restore US ties with a Cold War adversary. Reid Standish writes in Foreign Policy that Putin celebrated Trump’s win because it represents a chance for him to “restore Russia’s global status and reopen ties with the West.” Trump has not laid out clear...

Globalization’s Last Gasp

Barry Eichengreen November 23, 2016
World trade was slowing and protectionist tendencies were apparent years before the British vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trump’s winning the US presidential election. “It means that the benefits of openness and specialization are being squandered,” suggests Barry Eichengreen, a professor of economics, for Project Syndicate. “So far, slower trade growth has been the result of slower...