The crisis of contemporary democracy has become a major subject of political commentary. But the symptoms of this crisis, the vote for Brexit and Trump, among other things, were not foreseen. Nor were the underlying causes of this new constellation…
Category: Columns
Don’t blame victims for EU’s migration crisis
In the pre-9/11 period, there was a Development Aid System (DAS) of transferring capital from rich to poor countries to encourage economic and social transformation. It was designed to take capital to labour. Its effect was to retain labour in…
Last chance for a soft Brexit
So far so good. Brexit is still on track, Theresa May retains her majority, Jeremy Corbyn remains popular without threatening to bring down the government. Yet everything suggests that this relative political stability in Britain could swiftly unravel and provoke…
When two mass movements clash
Last week saw leading lights in one mass movement, the Labour party, attack elements of another mass movement, those who want to remain in the EU. What led to this attack seemed to be posters issued by an organisation called…
Western footprints on Saudi Wahabbism
By Andre Vltchek When the Saudi Crown Prince gave an interview to the Washington Post, declaring that it was actually the West that encouraged his country to spread Wahhabism to all corners of the world, there was a long silence…
Europe’s Economic Recovery Continues In Times Of Political Instability
Europe is showing visible signs of progress; in most countries, labour markets are healthier than they have been in a decade, with more people active and in work than ever before, while social exclusion is declining. However, it is also…
The costs of trade war
by Mukhisa Kituyi Geneva – According to an old African proverb, “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” The same is true for full-blown trade wars: when major economies clash, developing countries will be among the hardest hit.
What European democracies can teach America
Amid authoritarian and illiberal forces buffeting social democracies, it is helpful to renew appreciation for their political architectures, especially the central role developed over a century and a half for the principle of proportional representation (PR). Its absence is one…
Humanity’s ‘Dirty Little Secret’
Starving, enslaving, raping, torturing and killing our children Robert J. Burrowes In a recent article titled ‘Challenges for Resolving Complex Conflicts’, I pointed out four conflict configurations that are paid little attention by conflict theorists.
Food sustainability, migration, nutrition and women
By Enrique Yeves Rome, Jun 19 (IPS) – We worry about how we can continue to put food on our tables, and yet one-third of food is never eaten, instead of being lost or wasted.
19 organizations nourishing refugees worldwide
From Danielle Nierenberg To commemorate World Refugee Day, Food Tank is highlighting 19 organizations that are nourishing the world’s refugees and internally displaced people. While recent cuts in food aid threaten refugee communities, these organizations prove that food and agricultural…
Spectre of Munich 1938 hangs over Singapore
Eighty years ago, British PM Neville Chamberlain went to Munich for a summit meeting with Adolf Hitler, to save the world from a military cataclysm. At the time, Hitler’s scientists were already working hard to unlock the destructive force of…
You are more powerful than you think!
By Monique Barbut Bonn, Jun 14, 2018 (IPS) – Are you overwhelmed by the depressing news coming at you daily? Conflict, forced migrants, famine, floods, hurricanes, extinction of species, climate change, threats of war … a seemingly endless list. It…
Greener, greater cities
by Pascal Mittermaier Washington, DC – What should a “green” city look like? Should it resemble Copenhagen, with its high rates of bicycle commuting and recycling? What about Curitiba, the capital of Brazil’s Paraná state, with its pedestrian-centered planning? Or…
ILO as a global catalyst
Of all the institutions established by the international community in the wake of that cataclysm that was the First World War only one has endured to this day, the International Labour Organisation. That it has done so is testament to…
Is there an algorithm to end world hunger?
From Danielle Nierenberg Every day, thousands of researchers and scientists are collecting massive amounts of data about agricultural systems—from soil chemistry and germination rates to harvest indicators and market logistics. At the same time, an estimated 500 million smallholder farmers—the…
Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union
US President Donald Trump is not naturally inclined towards the EU. The EU represents the antithesis of what Trump aspires for in himself, or of the value he sees in others. For the President, the EU is an essentially effete…
Nourishing cities with nature
by Carlo Ratti Boston – Ever since the ancient Greek poet Theocritus wrote his pastoral idylls romanticizing rural life, people have been pondering how to build cities that are in concert with their natural surroundings. But with rates of urbanization…
Warnings of a new global financial crisis
By Martin Khor Penang, Malaysia, Jun 11 (IPS) – There are increasing warnings of an imminent new financial crisis, not only from the billionaire investor George Soros but also from eminent economists associated with the Bank of International Settlements, the…
We are all ordo-liberals now
At what was probably the most unpropitious moment in recent economic history to make the claim, US President Richard Nixon declared that we ‘are all Keynesians now’. In his view, the key problem of macroeconomic management, namely how to stabilise…
Politics of fear vs politics of hope
There are many different ways to understand the dimensions of politics. The classic right-left scale has dominated most European politics for over a hundred years and is mainly about redistribution.
Reform freedom of movement to help workers, reduce migration
We now have a glimpse into the hard Tory vision of how a fully Brexited Britain will treat Europeans who want to work here. All during the 20th century after 1945, Britain had to import workers to do the jobs…
A Climate-Friendly Response to Trump’s Protectionism
by Michael Kellner, Barbara Unmüßig Berlin – As US President Donald Trump translates his “America First” strategy into import tariffs, and the European Union prepares to adopt countermeasures moving the global economy toward a trade standoff, the real challenge facing…
Business takes all or win-win
The new European Commission company mobility package is unbalanced. It aims at establishing European rules for business mobility in three areas: company conversions, mergers and divisions (corporate break-ups). On one side, there is a threefold delivery to the business community…
Italy’s crisis democracy and the Euro
The Critiques Many commentators have argued that President Sergio Mattarella’s decisions of May 28 wounded Italy’s democracy and were damaging or counterproductive (e.g., most interestingly Jan Zielonka, on this site, and, more radically, Yanis Varoufakis; and, on Twitter, in alphabetic…
In memory of young Palestinian paramedic Razan al-Najjar
By Orly Noy The 21-year-old paramedic was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers while trying to aid wounded protesters near the Gaza-Israel separation fence. Many Israelis either refuse to believe she was actually killed or claim that her killing was…
Europe’s curse of wealth
I have already written before (in a tweet) that no one who travels through Western Europe, especially in Summer, can fail to be impressed by the wealth and beauty of the continent as well as by its quality of life.…
A globalisation for people not business
Economists were certain that free trade would be a major source of general welfare enhancement. Resistance against it has been widely seen as irrationality driven by blind nationalism. Recent developments have shaken this firm belief in the benefits of free…
Neonatal nursing is a holistic approach: Needs bottom lining
AHM Nouman Neonatology is a subspecialty of Pediatrics that consists of neonatal and newborn nursing care. It is now accepted that mother and child must be considered as one unit.
The cost of child marriage
Henrietta H. Fore, Natalia Kanem, and Mabel van Oranje New York – The human costs of child marriage are well known; around the world, child brides are, on average, less educated, poorer, and more prone to sexual violence than women…