The G20 leaders have met three times, giving the IMF $1 trillion of new resources with which to fight the fires of the global financial crisis. The World Bank has also been put on the job – to respond to what the World Bank and IMF have called a “development emergency”. How well are the [...]
Though our work and research on matters of global economic governance continues, our posting here does not. For up-to-date information on the latest GEG news and research, please check the main GEG website and Facebook page.
-
A scorecard for the G20, the IMF and the World Bank
Comments OffOctober 26, 2009 / aid, financial crisis, imf, world bank -
October 19, 2009 / financial crisis, G20
*UPDATE 15 Feb 2010*: Poul Nyrup Rasmussen’s lecture is now available online. To listen to the audio or watch the video of The post-crisis politics of financial reform: business as usual or new global order?, visit the OpenSpires project. You can also find it on iTunes U and via the University of Oxford’s podcasts. Will Poul Nyrup Rasmussen inflame [...]
-
July 17, 2009 / aid
The outcome of last week’s L’Aquila meeting confirms a common (and worrying) aspect of G8 summits: an abundance of promises and commitments, without sufficient details and clear mechanisms that would ensure effective implementation. Perhaps it is finally time to relegate the G8 to the history books and leave it to the G20, or another more inclusive forum for dialogue and coordination, to take the reins of global economic policy.
Tags: aid, development, g8
-
G8 lessons for a climate deal: Build trust
Comments OffJuly 13, 2009 / climate change, financial crisisCan 192 countries agree on a global deal to confront climate change when 17 economies cannot? For those watching the proceedings at the G8 summit in L’Aquila last week, this must be a nagging question in the lead up to the much-anticipated meeting on climate change in Copenhagen in December. The signs are mixed but [...]
-
June 30, 2009 / climate change, financial crisis
Arunabha Ghosh writes in Indian business newspaper, The Financial Express, that developing countries face a triple challenge of increasing income growth, building energy infrastructure, and confronting climate change. In her speech to Parliament last week, President Patil declared that one of the top priorities for her government would be ‘energy security and environment protection’. The [...]
-
Competing needs: clean coal is key
Comments OffJune 30, 2009 / climate change, financial crisisArunabha Ghosh writes in Indian business newspaper, Mint, that reconciling the competing concerns of poverty reduction in and lower emissions from developing countries depends upon a credible multilateral mechanism for technology transfer. Is it possible for India to make a significant contribution towards mitigating climate change without undermining its growth and poverty-reduction imperatives? Indian policymakers [...]
-
Committed to Complacency
Comments OffJune 22, 2009 / aidKevin Watkins writes in The Guardian that Africa needs G8 leaders to follow Gordon Brown and fulfil their aid pledges. But the signs aren’t good.
It’s easy, what with the duck ponds, ministerial hissy fits, and media hysteria in the Westminster village, to see how events in Africa can slip under the political radar – events like a few million people dropping below the poverty line, surging child malnutrition, and parents struggling to keep their kids in school.
-
May 19, 2009 / health
The World Health Organization and its director-general received high praise for the handling of the H1N1, or ‘swine flu’ pandemic. The pandemic has spread to 39 countries and nearly 8500 persons, and appears to be no more lethal than a normal seasonal flu. Despite the positive press for WHO and health agencies throughout the world, this H1N1 outbreak reveals fundamental shortcomings in our preparedness for a major, and more lethal, pandemic.
With the exception of information-sharing, WHO’s performance has been far from stellar. WHO has not been able to limit unilateral measures lacking a scientific basis, nor has it demonstrated the functioning infrastructure to redistribute medicines and vaccines to curb an epidemic. Today’s H1N1 pandemic shows that once a pandemic is active, WHO’s ability to facilitate international cooperation is constrained. International agreement is needed not only to report cases, but to coordinate policies based on scientific knowledge, and to make supplies available where they are needed.
Tags: h1n1, health governance, swine flu, who
-
The nightstand: what GEG’s reading
Comments OffMay 13, 2009 / readingOn GEG’s nightstand this week: high food prices in developing countries; and the perks and dangers of aid agency work.
-
May 6, 2009 / aid
A ‘surge’ in Afghan aid won’t solve the big problems facing international reconstruction efforts. More aid is needed, but so are fundamental reforms to its delivery. Opportunities are being squandered by wasteful donor practices and a military strategy that overlooks humanitarian needs.
The announcement of a new Afghanistan strategy by President Obama and his NATO allies brings with it the promise of more resources for reconstruction. Encouraging news, given that the financing shortfall stands at around 48% of estimated needs. Efforts to date have been ‘laughably insufficient’, wrote Paddy Ashdown and Joseph Ingram last week: while reconstruction efforts in Bosnia and East Timor received $580 and $400 per capita respectively, Afghanistan today receives about $57 (though the lack of census data makes this figure hazy).
So, will renewed international commitment to Afghanistan help?
Tags: afghanistan, aid
