Stories written by Jomo Kwame Sundaram
                                                                                                                                                                  Jomo Kwame Sandaram is a Malaysian economist who currently serves as research advisor at the Khazanah Research Institute, a visiting fellow at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University, and an adjunct professor at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).                                                                                                                                                                   He was Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) from 2005 to 2012, and Assistant Director-General and Coordinator for Economic and Social Development at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from 2012 to 2015. From 2010 to 2012 he acted as the G20 “sherpa” to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and from 2011 as the UN’s G20 finance deputy.                                                                                                                                                                                     After the 2018 Malaysian general election, Sundaram was appointed as one of five members of the Council of Eminent Persons, advising then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed. Throughout his career, Sundaram has authored over 50 books, edited more than 50 volumes and written numerous academic papers and media articles. He has contributed over 400 opinion editorials to IPS Inter Press Service, covering a wide range of topics related to development, globalization, human rights and environmental issues.

A New Non-Alignment for the Global South

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The Global South had little voice, let alone influence, in shaping the economically ‘neoliberal’ and politically ‘neoconservative’ globalisation leading to contemporary geopolitical economic conflicts. Pacifist non-aligned cooperation for sustainable development offers the best way forward.

Inequality Worsens Planetary Heating

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The accumulation of still growing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in an increasingly unequal world is accelerating planetary heating. It is also worsening disparities, especially between the rich and others, both nationally and internationally.

Bullying Southeast Asia with Tariff Threats

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Nadia Malyanah Azman
US President Trump has successfully used tariff threats to achieve economic, political and even personal goals. These threats, reminiscent of colonialism, have secured submission and concessions.

Trump Tech Big Bro: Monopoly Is Best

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Trump’s billionaire cronies want more monopoly profits, not competition. With more policies crafted for them, wealth concentration is set to become greater than ever.

Trump Undresses Rival Trade Myths

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
President Trump’s tariffs have exposed neoliberal trade ideology and undermined corporate lobbying in the name of free trade. But his rhetoric has also exposed the fallacies of his own economic strategy.

Weaponizing Food Worsens Starvation

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Nadia Malyanah Azman
Wars, economic shocks, planetary heating and aid cuts have worsened food crises in recent years, with almost 300 million people now threatened by starvation.

Can East Asia Show the Way?

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
With two-fifths of the world economy, East Asia can inspire others by creatively responding to the US President’s tariff challenge by promoting fair, dynamic and peaceful regional cooperation.

Will Europe Wage Peace?

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
With President Trump’s efforts to end the Ukraine war, Europeans are now mainly responsible for prolonging it. Despite lame protestations of peace, Europe seems committed to fighting ‘to the last Ukrainian’.

Trump Accord Sows Discord in US Empire

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
US President Donald Trump has deliberately sown discord worldwide in attempting to remake the world to serve supposed American interests better. He will not cede influence, let alone power and control, to other nations, let alone people.

Trump Wants World to Subsidise US Empire

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Donald Trump’s top economic advisor claims the President has weaponised tariffs to ‘persuade’ other nations to pay the US to maintain its supposedly mutually beneficial global empire.

Trump’s ‘Shock and Awe’ Tariffs

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
US President Donald Trump has again seized global attention by arbitrarily imposing sweeping tariffs on the rest of the world. He reminds us America is still boss, claiming to ‘make America great again’ (MAGA) by ensuring ‘America first’ at everyone else’s expense.

Malnutrition Not Due to Cash Poverty Alone

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The World Bank set its US ‘dollar-a-day’ poverty line using its 1990 data. Despite many doubts and criticisms, its poverty numbers fell until the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

Western Climate Hypocrisy Exposed by NATO Energy Policy

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
NATO geopolitical strategy has now joined the ‘coalition’ of Western geoeconomic forces accelerating planetary heating, now led again by re-elected US President Donald Trump.

America First Deepens World Stagnation

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) appeal captured US mass discontent against globalisation. In recent decades, variations of America First have reflected growing ethnonationalism in the world’s presumptive hegemon.

Imperialism (Still) Rules

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Many in the West, of the political right and left, now deny imperialism. For Josef Schumpeter, empires were pre-capitalist atavisms that would not survive the spread of capitalism. But even the conservative Economist notes President Trump’s revival of this US legacy.

An ‘Exorbitant Privilege’ for All?

By Ndongo Samba Sylla and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Ending US dollar dominance alone will not end monetary imperialism. Only much better multilateral arrangements to clear international payments can meet the Global South’s aspirations for sustainable development.

Food Systems Worsen Diets, Health

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Corporate-dominated food systems are responsible for widespread but still spreading malnutrition and ill health. Poor diets worsen non-communicable diseases (NCDs), now costing over eight trillion dollars yearly!

Financing for Development Priorities Today

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The forthcoming fourth United Nations Financing for Development conference must address developing countries’ major financial challenges. Recent setbacks to sustainable development and climate action make FfD4 all the more critical.

New Geopolitics Worse for Global South

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The new geopolitics after the first Cold War undermines peace, sustainability, and human development. Hegemonic priorities continue to threaten humanity’s well-being and prospects for progress.

New Approaches Urgently Needed to Tackle Resurgent Social Crises

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Despite uneven economic recovery since the pandemic, poverty, inequality, and food insecurity continue to worsen, including in the Asia-Pacific region, which used to fare better than the rest of the Global South.

Western Finance Ruining Economies of the Rest

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Western financial policies have been squeezing economies worldwide. After being urged to borrow commercial finance heavily, developing countries now struggle with contractionary Western monetary policies.
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