Development

John Paul Rathbone Venezuela: What next?

March 5, 2013 11:19 pm by John Paul Rathbone

It is a common error in politics to underestimate your adversary. Ever since Hugo Chávez fell ill from cancer two years ago, many imagined that his rule and his oil-fuelled socialist revolution would also end with his death, undermined by its own prodigious inefficiency and corruption. But now that the Venezuelan president has actually died, it no longer quite looks that way.

Chávez is now bound for mythology. In the imagination of his mourning supporters, he may come to occupy a space similar to Che Guevara’s – another martyr of the revolutionary left, albeit one without as large a cheque book. Indeed, Chávez’s early death is likely to prolong “chavismo” for a few more years rather than bring it to an abrupt end. Read more

Posted in Chavez, Development, Foreign affairs, Global economy, Latin America, Oil, US politics, Venezuela |

Millennium Development Goals need more Davos attention

January 25, 2013 5:12 pm by Financial Times

By Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children

There are two sessions on the future of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals beyond 2015 at Davos this year – the same number of sessions given to meditation and art walks. The word ‘growth’ features in 11 of the agenda’s headings, ‘human’ in four, but ‘poverty’ gets no airtime at all. Yet, if the World Economic Forum is ‘committed to improving the state of the world’, what happens after 2015 is a critical debate for every government that signed up to the MDGs in the first place, and for every business with supply chains or future customers in emerging and developing countries. Read more

Tags: ,
Posted in Davos, Development, Environment, Foreign affairs, World affairs |

Davos Day 3

January 25, 2013 9:02 am by Ben Fenton

(AP)

Friday’s events from the World Economic Forum feature an address by Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, and sessions looking at the challenges faced by, and presented by, the fast-changing Arab world. Reports from FT writers in Davos and by Ben Fenton, Lina Saigol and Lindsay Whipp in London

17.03: The Davos Live Blog is closing down now but for more reading and insight on today’s events, please visit the FT’s in depth page on the World Economic Forum.

16.41: Gideon Rachman, titular proprietor of this blog, has written his surmise from the earlier session on Syria.

16.16: Asked by the Amercian moderator of his panel session about corruption and banking regulation, Nigeria’s central bank governor Sanusi displays a little frustration:

He said: “We are the only country which has taken people out of banks and put them in jail. No bankers in your countries have gone to jail.”

16.12: Martin Wolf has recorded his view on the politics and economics at play in a “low-intensity” Davos this year:

 Read more

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Davos, Development, Financial crisis, Foreign affairs, Islamism, Mali, Middle East, Syria, World affairs |

A Davos Q&A with Lord Paul Boateng

January 25, 2013 8:35 am by Financial Times

Lord Paul Boateng, former chief secretary to the treasury and the former UK high commissioner to South Africa, answers questions about his first trip to Davos.

1. Is this your first trip to Davos?

I have to confess that it is. I’ve reached a fairly advanced age without ever having felt Davos was for me. I have been an active participant, however, both as a cabinet minister and a diplomat at the spin offs in Mumbai and Cape Town where the WEF reaches out to the rest of the world.

2. What’s the best thing about going to Davos?

If you’ve got an idea or a product to sell then this is a quite unique market place. There are lots of serious people on the lookout for the next big idea or opportunity. A voracious media circus with the promise of global coverage also helps. Read more

Tags: , ,
Posted in Africa, Asia, Britain, Davos, Development, World affairs |

Smart reads – November 26

November 26, 2012 2:18 pm by Lindsay Whipp

 Read more

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Africa, Asia, Development, Egypt, Europe, Germany, Global economy, Israel, Media, Middle East, Palestine, Smart Reads, Spain, US politics, World affairs |

Little Qatar goes big on education

November 15, 2012 12:53 pm by Financial Times

By Chris Cook, education correspondent

Qatar has enormous oil and gas reserves, but the little state is trying to kick the petroleum habit and become a high-tech society. It wants a sustainable economy for when the oil runs out – and a more cultured society in the meantime.

The Qatar Foundation is the institution that is leading this drive: I am in the little Gulf state this week for WISE, their annual summit on education, where I was a speaker on the finance of education. The whole thing is rather spectacular.

When they say they are going to do something, they go big – sometimes to a rather baffling degree. One of my favourite examples of this is their super-duper equine health centre, which trains horse-handlers and apparently features a sauna for the horses. Read more

Tags: , ,
Posted in Development, Education, Foreign affairs, Middle East, Qatar, World affairs |

John Paul Rathbone The “Great Game” of Colombia’s peace process

September 5, 2012 8:06 am by John Paul Rathbone

FARC commander Mauricio Jaramillo, is flanked by FARC rebels Ricardo Tellez (left) and Andres Paris, during a press conference in Havana, Cuba, on Sept. 4. Photo AP

For many FT readers, the guerrilla conflict that Colombia has suffered over the past 50 years, and the possibility that it may now end, probably seems like a sordid tropical war taking place in a corner of the world of little interest, and less importance. It is otherwise. In this corner of the Americas there is, in fact, a great and complex geopolitical game at work, in the same way that there was a great game at work in central Asia in the 19th  century.

Only 12 years ago, Colombia was considered an “almost failed” state. That is why the United States – under an initiative begun under President Bill Clinton, and continued under President George W Bush and President Barack Obama – launched “Plan Colombia”: a program of military and development aid that constitutes one of the US’s biggest, and one of its most controversial, foreign policy initiatives. To date, the US has committed some $8bn under this plan, which is designed to combat insurgent guerrilla forces in Colombia and curb drug trafficking. Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Colombia, Development, Foreign affairs, Latin America, US foreign policy, World affairs |

Smart Reads August 3, 2012

August 3, 2012 2:57 pm by Amie Tsang

Here’s what we’ve been chatting about today:  Read more

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Asia, Britain, Development, Environment, Europe, Middle East, Smart Reads, Sports, Syria, US foreign policy |

Smart Reads August 1, 2012

August 1, 2012 2:23 pm by Amie Tsang

The Olympics are on our doorstep, but we’re still picking up interesting articles from around the world: Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Africa, Asia, China, Development, Europe, Islamism, Middle East, Smart Reads, Syria, Syria |

Alan Beattie Taking aim at the China model

July 12, 2012 8:07 am by Alan Beattie

If you can have remarks that are both pointed and veiled, Hillary Clinton managed it this week – her comments on the limitations of authoritarian capitalism clearly taking a swing at China without mentioning it by name.

The State Department has been trying to improve what Mrs Clinton calls America’s “economic statecraft”, appointing its first-ever chief economist and musing on ways to advance US influence in the global economy. It’s hard for the US to do so directly, especially with Congressional suspicion of bailing out foreigners – which has limited its role in the eurozone crisis – and of signing new trade deals. So noting that rich countries are generally democratic ones might be a way of extending American soft power. Read more

Tags:
Posted in China, Development, Foreign affairs, US foreign policy, World affairs |
BackOlder entries