Globalisation

Scramble For Africa: It’s Not 1884 All Over Again, Is It?

By Angela Umoru-David
Not all wars are fought on the battleground. The Cold War has taught us that certain wars could go on for decades, without overt violence. Perhaps, we are in the middle of another one with China as the new rival to the United States of America. This time, the ‘battlefield’ is Africa.

The Regulation Tortoise and the AI Hare

By Robert Whitfield
Regulation of a technology typically emerges sometime after it has been used in a product or service, or, worse, the risks become apparent. This responsive approach is regrettable when real harm is already being done, as now with AI. With existential risk, the approach would risk the end of human existence.

AI ChatGPT Responds to UN’s Proposed Code of Conduct to Monitor Artificial Intelligence

By Thalif Deen
As artificial intelligence (AI) turns into a global phenomenon, it has triggered widespread speculation on both its positive and negative consequences. Is AI technology threatening to go wild? the sceptics question. Will AI be a curse or a divine gift to humanity? ask others.

Will Big Powers Condone a UN Role in Artificial Intelligence?

By James Paul
The UN is hustling to play a role – perhaps even a leading role – in the revolution of Artificial Intelligence. To some degree this is perfectly natural.

AI Genie is Out of the Bottle – UN Should Take the Challenge to Make it Work for the Good of Humanity

By Anwarul K. Chowdhury
Recently when I was asked to offer my thoughts on the phenomenal advances of artificial intelligence (AI) and whether the United Nations play a role in its global governance, I was reminded of the Three Laws of Robotics which are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov and introduced in his1942 short story.

Does Artificial Intelligence Need a Regulatory UN Watchdog?

By Thalif Deen
The frighteningly rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have triggered the question: is there a UN role for monitoring and regulating it? Citing a report from the Center for AI Safety, the New York Times reported last week that a group of over 350 AI industry leaders warned that artificial intelligence poses a growing new danger to humanity –and should be considered a “societal risk on a par with pandemics and nuclear wars”.

Governments Are Changing Fisheries Management for the Better, but More Action Is Still Needed

By Grantly Galland
Global fisheries are worth more than US$140 billion each year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. But this hefty sum does not capture the true value of fish to ocean health, and to the food security and cultures of communities around the world.

Is There a UN Role in Artificial Intelligence Chatbot?

By Thalif Deen
When the UN displayed a female robot back in February 2019, it was a peek into the future: a fast-paced, cutting-edge digital technology where humans may one day be replaced with machines and robots. However, a joke circulating in the UN delegate’s lounge at that time was the possibility, perhaps in a distant future, of a robot-- a female robot-- as the UN Secretary-General in a world body which has been dominated by nine secretaries-general, all male, over the last 78 years.

It’s Time to Move Away from Public-Private Partnerships & Build a Future That is Public

By Océane Blavot, Rodolfo Bejarano and Mae Buenaventura
Last month, we joined more than 1000 representatives from all sectors of civil society who came together in Santiago de Chile to debate the future of – and threats to - public services the world over.

The Value of Strong Multilateral Cooperation in a Fractured World

By Ulrika Modéer and Tsegaye Lemma
The multilateral system, even in the face of heightened geopolitical tension and big power rivalry, remains the uniquely inclusive vehicle for managing mutual interdependencies in ways that enhance national and global welfare. The complex challenges of a global pandemic, climate emergency, inequality and the risk of nuclear conflict cannot be dealt with by one country or one region alone. Coordinated collective action is required.

Corruption: The Most Perpetrated –and Least Prosecuted– Crime – Part I

By Baher Kamal
In these times when all sorts of human rights violations have been ‘normalised,’ a crime which continues to be perpetrated everywhere but punished nowhere: corruption is also seen as a business as usual. A business, by the way, that relies on the wide complicity of official authorities.

Rich Nations Doubly Responsible for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Hezri A Adnan and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Natural flows do not respect national boundaries. The atmosphere and oceans cross international borders with little difficulty, as greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other fluids, including pollutants, easily traverse frontiers.

The Paradox of Invisibility: Submarine Cables and the Geopolitics of Deep Seas

By Manuel Manonelles
The recent incidents of sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the depths of the Baltic Sea, the authorship of which still raises doubts today, have reminded us that some of the key infrastructures that condition geopolitics, and our daily lives, are largely located deep under the sea.

Oil Exporters Make Markets, Not War

By Humberto Márquez
The decision to cut oil production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies as of Nov. 1 comes in response to the need to face a shrinking market, although it also forms part of the current clash between Russia and the West.

Macroeconomic Policy Coordination More One-Sided, Ineffective

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Widespread adverse reactions to the UK government’s recent ‘mini-budget’ forced new Prime Minister Liz Truss to resign. The episode highlighted problems of macroeconomic policy coordination and the interests involved.

Austerity: A Raging Storm for the Developing World that can be Avoided

By Matti Kohonen and Isabel Ortiz
Finance ministers of the G20 and the world met in Washington, October 10-16, to discuss how to navigate multiple crises, including rising cost-of-living, broken global supply chains, climate shocks, and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.

How Digital Can Drive a Green Recovery

By Riad Meddeb
As much of the world was starting to glimpse recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, it now finds itself amid a cost-of-living crisis brought on by disruptions in global energy and food markets that are the result of conflict and climate change.

Chinese Fleet Threatens Latin America’s Fish Stocks

By Humberto Márquez
Illegal and excessive fishing, mainly attributed to Chinese fleets, remains a threat to marine resources in the eastern Pacific and southwest Atlantic, as well as to that sector of the economy in Latin American countries bathed by either ocean.

Reject CPTPP, Stay out of New Cold War

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
Joining or ratifying dubious trade deals is supposed to offer miraculous solutions to recent lacklustre economic progress. Such naïve advocacy is misleading at best, and downright irresponsible, even reckless, at worst. TPP ‘pivot to Asia’ US President Barack Obama’s ‘pivot to Asia’ after his 2012 re-election sought to check China’s sustained economic growth and technological progress. Its economic centrepiece was the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Developing countries and the Perfect Storm
Part II: What Developing Countries Need to Do

By Daud Khan
Developing countries are facing a combination of crises that are unprecedented in recent times. Over the last three years they have had to face the COVID-19 crisis, the food crisis, the energy crisis, the climate change crisis, the debt crisis and, on top of all this, a global recession. The crises have overlapped, and each has added to the problems created by the previous ones.

Developing Countries and the Perfect Storm
Part I: What Should Developed Countries Do?

By Daud Khan
Developing countries – in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America and in the Middle East - are facing a combination of crises that are unprecedented in recent times. Over the last three years they have had to face the COVID-19 crisis, the food crisis, the energy crisis, the climate change crisis, the debt crisis and, on top of all this, a global recession. The crises have overlapped, and each has added to the problems created by the previous ones.
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