-
23.8.2017
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation represents a rare example of two rising powers establishing their own organisation. It fulfils several roles: an alternative to West-led institutions, a driver of regional integration, and an unaffiliated platform for Russian-Chinese negotiations. Both countries perceive Central Asia important for themselves. For China, it’s a land of opportunities: natural resources (above all – gas) and logistics (infamous project of ...
-
16.8.2017
The G20, the club of the supposedly 19 most important countries plus the European Union, is in deep trouble. The gnawing question on legitimacy has been joined by fundamental doubts whether the elitist format at the apex of the global system can, indeed, deliver in face of rising nationalism and authoritarian egotism. The G20 sees itself not as concert of powers but rather as guardian of the global common good, determined to promote the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable ...
-
12.8.2017
The Doklam standoff has monopolized the news over the last weeks. It is not every day that the world observes two Asian global powers, India and China for instance, wrestling over a territory. So what is really behind this conflict? The Protagonists: Modi, Xi… and Trump. Since Modi took office in 2014, he has developed close relations with both Japan and the US, rejecting OBOR and China (its historical ‘problematic’ neighbor) fiercely. Knowing that the couple Japan-China ...
-
19.7.2017
The 12th G20 summit meeting convened in Hamburg on the July 7-8th 2017 has raised a pertinent uneasily answered question: Will this salient event pave the way for the G20 to play a leading global role in creating a New Globalized Just Order? The predicament of G20 centres on going beyond the fulfilment of its prime mission of acting as “a kind of steering committee of global governance”. What gives the G20 such a distinct power leverage is that it represents two – ...
-
17.7.2017
The global surge in refugees has left most of the financial burden to developing countries in volatile regions. According to the UNHCR low and middle-income countries play the greatest role in sheltering the world’s displaced (UNHCR, 2016). Developing countries in the global south have been looking into cooperating and learning from the best practices as a result of the abandonment by the developed countries. The global neglect has also left developing countries with the ...
-
8.7.2017
The Hamburg G20 Summit reaffirmed the decentralizing authority in global economic governance. Echoing aspects of the May 2017 Taormina G7 Summit, it further indicated the recent ‘G6/19 + 1’ dynamic in informal global governance. Nearly a year since my earlier piece here on the G20, it seems a lot has changed in world politics. There are deep concerns about the prospects for the G20 and multilateral cooperation, especially on climate change, trade, and economic growth. ...
-
27.6.2017
When Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and some other Arab states recently issued a list of 13 demands for Qatar to fulfill in order for the blockade against it to be lifted, it was eerily reminiscent of the demands issued by the Austro-Hungarian Empire against Serbia after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. Those demands, like the ones issued to Qatar, were designed to be rejected, so as to give a pretense for further action. In 1914, this led to World War I. In ...
-
21.6.2017
Conflicts and disasters take a huge toll on people’s lives and aspirations. The loss of life, livelihoods, homes and assets is a testament to the destructive impacts of crises. When the ability of communities and governments to provide relief and protection to affected people is lacking or overwhelmed, international humanitarian actors try to meet these needs. They are often described collectively as the ‘international humanitarian system’, and include donor governments, ...
-
8.6.2017
With the drawdown of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the most significant contribution to UN Peacekeeping in Brazil’s history will soon be coming to an end. Since 2004, the country has constantly provided military force commanders and the largest troop contingent to MINUSTAH. This engagement was part of Brazil’s activist foreign policy under President Lula da Silva (Worker’s Party, in office 2003 – 2011). The aim of showing regional leadership as an ...
-
21.5.2017
In the last few years we are witnessing a shift in Turkey’s foreign policy, moving from once being a bastion of Western civilization to a more undefined Eurasian understanding. Turkey’s leadership started flirting more actively with Moscow with ties getting normalized, after the apology for downing of a Russian airplane over Syria. Vladimir Putin was faster than Western politicians in condemning the failed coup. Some even say Putin himself warned Turkey’s president that ...
