THE EMERGING ECONOMIES AND THE CHANGE OF GUARD AT THE IMF

Despite the loud rhetoric about how the centre of gravity of the global economy and, with it, political influence, have moved from the trans-Atlantic to Asia, there continues to be strong resistance to reflecting this shift in the institutions of global governance.

WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT AMERICA

Whenever I praise something, my Japanese wife Fumiko asks, "And what is bad about it?" When I criticise something, she says, "Tell me something good about it." This is the Daoist "yin-yang" principle: in everything bright, there is also something dark, and vice versa, ad infinitum.

TECHNOLOGY AND THE NEW DEMOCRACY

The time has come to take a stand, to say calmly and firmly that humanity cannot continue to subject itself to the interminable throes of a system that has resulted in the current grave and multi-faceted (social, financial, food, environmental, political, democratic, ethical) crisis.

GROWTH WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE: TIME FOR A NEW ERA

More than 200 million people are officially unemployed worldwide, including nearly 80 million young women and men eager to secure their first job. Both figures are at their highest points ever, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. The number of workers in vulnerable employment – 1.5 billion (around half of the worldÂ's labour force) – and persons working but surviving on less than US$2.00 per day – 1.2 billion – is on the rise again.

HUMANIZING GLOBALISATION

In the past two decades, it has often been claimed that trade liberalization can, on balance, be a positive force for development. During this time, the Least Development Countries (LDCs) themselves became some of the most open economies in the world, based on the share of their exports in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But greater opening of LDCs markets has not always benefitted all people in these countries, and the impact of trade reforms has affected their populations differentially.

THREE MEALS A DAY IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT

Lula launched the Zero Hunger Programme when he assumed the Brazilian presidency in January 2003, pledging that every Brazilian would be able to eat three meals a day.

NO SILVER LINING TO THE IMF CLOUD

European powers appear set on perpetuating their arbitrary “entitlement” to the position of Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund in the wake of the controversy that precipitated the resignation of Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Despite claims from the IMF that the selection this time around would “take place in an open, merit-based, and transparent manner” as well as a longstanding commitment to open the position to nationals of all member states, most developed country representatives had expressed clear preferences for European candidates even before nominations opened on May 23. Their stances will do nothing to allay fears among developing countries and civil society that pledges to address unrepresentative governance at the Bretton Woods institutions are mere window dressing. They are in direct contravention of the explicit recommendation that resulted from extensive civil society consultations last year that the election would be conducted “without pre-selection by any sub-group of powerful countries”. Particularly since the arguments being proffered in favour of European candidates fly in the face of reason and logic.

AS KYOTO EXPIRATION NEARS, EMISSIONS TRADING SHOWN INEFFECTIVE

The Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012. Its global focus on CO2 emissions and trading schemes based in London and other financial centres has grown suspect.

EUROPE: THE EPIDEMIC OF XENOPHOBIA

From Scandinavia to the Mediterranean Europe is being swept by social and political changes so massive that they are calling into question its fundamental principles. Diversity, which has been a positive constant throughout our history, is now considered a threat. The signs are plain to see: a propagation of intolerance and fanaticism, growing support for populist and xenophobic parties, an ever more massive presence of immigrants without status or rights, "parallel" communities that do not interact with the rest of society, the repression of individual freedoms, and democracies in crisis.

DRINKING AND DRIVING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CONFRONTING THE CHALLENGE

There has been much progress in reducing drinking and driving in industrialised countries over the past 30 years. However, while drinking and driving continues to be a source of concern in developed countries, it is an even greater concern in developing countries. This is not only because alcohol-related crashes have significant [social and] economic costs, but because they often result in the death or serious injury of breadwinners such that families are no longer able to pay for essentials and are forced into poverty.

WORLD’S “LEAST DEVELOPED” COUNTRIES MUST EMERGE TOO

The remarkable rise of emerging economies has become a commonplace in public debates. Yet, not long ago, China, Indonesia, Brazil, and Turkey, to name a few were, considered off-limits by many foreign investors.

OBAMA AND OSAMA: VIOLENT OPPONENTS

There is no evidence that Osama bin Laden planned the attacks of September 11, 2001, just as there was no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the pretext used for the 2003 US attack on Iraq. Osama applauded 9/11, but that falls under freedom of speech.

THE POST-NUCLEAR AGE

Fukushima marks the end of the era of atomic energy illusions and the beginning of the post-nuclear age. Now classified at level 7 on the international scale of nuclear accidents (INES), the Japanese disaster is comparable to the Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine 1986 in terms of its "considerable radioactive effects on the human health and on the environment".

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS AND CHANGE IN NORTH AFRICA

Was Al Jazeera the key factor in the fall of the governments in Egypt and Tunisia, in the protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria, and Syria, and in the rebellion in Libya? I don't think you can make this claim: the changes arose not from communications but objective conditions, though communications played a powerful role.

THE BOOM IN CAPITAL FLOWS TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CAN TURN INTO A CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

An unusual feature of the global financial crisis is that for developing countries (DCs) the financial band seems to have picked up the pace of the music. While many advanced economies (AEs) continue to encounter debt deflation, financial stringency and risks of insolvency, the financial problem for most DCs is asset inflation, credit expansion and currency appreciations. Except for a brief interruption in 2008, DCs have continued to receive large capital inflows as major AEs have responded to the crisis caused by excessive liquidity and debt by creating still larger amounts of liquidity to bail out troubled banks and governments, lift asset prices and lower interest rates.  Quantitative easing and close-to-zero interest rates are now generating a surge in speculative capital flows to DCs with higher interest rates and better growth prospects, creating bubbles in foreign exchange, asset, credit and commodity markets.

TERROR VS. CONSENT

You would have to be living in a cave in Tora Bora or North Waziristan to avoid the news of the killing of Osama bin Laden that dominated virtually all media this week. Reactions ranged from juvenile triumphalism through conspiracy theories to the scoring of cheap political points.

TERROR VS. CONSENT

You would have to be living in a cave in Tora Bora or North Waziristan to avoid the news of the killing of Osama bin Laden that dominated virtually all media this week. Reactions ranged from juvenile triumphalism through conspiracy theories to the scoring of cheap political points.

COULD A PRIMEVAL PLANT BECOME A FUTURE FUEL, FOOD, AND BIO-PLASTIC?

At a time when most conventional fuels cast ever longer shadows of unintended consequences, algae ­that lowly pond scum-- offers a pleasant surprise: a near-term, low-tech alternative with apparently few of the hidden costs of more elaborate, expensive and exploitive energy sources.

PEACE: THE ONLY SOLUTION TO HUNGER IN NORTH KOREA

On April 28, former US President Jimmy Carter and three former European heads of state landed in Seoul after travelling to Pyongyang to help reopen dialogue between the two Koreas. Known as the Elders, they carried this message to the leaders of South Korea and the United States: "Chairman and General Secretary Kim Jong-il said he is willing and the people of North Korea are willing to negotiate with South Korea or with the United States or with the six powers on any subject any time and without any preconditions."

HOW TO END NUCLEAR WHILE SAVING MONEY AND IMPROVING SAFETY AND HEALTH

The technologies exist and are in use today that could make it possible to replace nuclear power with renewable sources while saving money.

UNITED STATES: WALKING THE TRAIL OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Recently, I joined some of our nationÂ's heroes walking the trail of the civil rights movement in Alabama. No one has done more to stop hate groups in the United States over the past three decades than Morris Dees through the Southern Poverty Law Center. Morris pioneered the strategy of holding hate groups accountable through civil suits awarding damages so expensive that the defendants are forced into bankruptcy and closed. Over thirty people have gone to prison for plots to assassinate him.