Kategorie: Allgemein

G20 Italy 2021 at the crossroad between closure and the revamp of multilateralism

By Allgemein, Future of Globalisation, , , ,
Photo: Panorama Rome

By Sosinda on pixabay

Multilateralism reached its low point in 2020 with the crystallization of the confrontation between major global powers, the further rise of nationalism, deglobalisation and trade protectionism that even threatened access to medical products and more recently Covid-19 vaccines in the midst of a pandemic. The latter profoundly affected global health, peoples’ livelihoods, and deteriorated existing systemic problems, from climate change to inequality, and intensified national reflexes as the G20 leaders turned their focus on domestic management of COVID-19. All these factors stood in the way of a successful G20 Riyadh Summit in November 2020 and still dominate the multilateral landscape in 2021.…

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Cooperation with Africa in the 21st Century: On Peer or Paternalistic?

By Allgemein, Future of Globalisation,

Photo: Ship in a harbour from above

Modern development cooperation renounces paternalism. It relies on the market to negotiate projects and puts partner countries to compete with each other for favorable conditions for investments.

When talking about developing countries, we think primarily of miserable conditions. Too often the three „Cs“ characterize our view of Africa: crisis, corruption and conflict. Positive developments, such as the halving of the number of people living in poverty and the establishment of middle classes are rarely discussed. New, locally adapted technologies have emerged in developing countries. Unfortunately, we pay too little attention to these developments. Accordingly, German and European development cooperation is still far too often based on an outdated image of African countries. It rarely sees actors from African countries as peers.

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Political transition in the US – a tidal change for the Future of Globalisation? A collection of experts’ opinions

By Allgemein, Future of Globalisation, ,

Photo: The White House in Washington

Globalisation in the sense of increasing global connectedness has seen difficult times over the last years. The global financial crisis showed the vulnerability of our economic systems and middle classes. Multilateralism was challenged by “my country first” movements, not least so from the US, one of the godmother nations to the post-WWII world order. The other godmother, the UK, turned its back to the EU’s integration project. Furthermore, trade wars increased trade barriers and changed the setting for global production chains. And certainly in 2020, a global pandemic was (and is) most effectively curbed by the limitation of individual movements, often reducing cross-border linkages.

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Recalibrating The G20 in the Aftermath of Saudi Arabia’s Summit: Testing a Secretariat!

By Allgemein, Future of Globalisation, ,

Image: Renovation Construction Site, Recalibrating The G20 in the Aftermath of Saudi Arabia’s Summit: Testing a Secretariat! by Andrew F. CooperIn the Special Issue, After one decade of G20 summitry, edited by Axel Berger, Sven Grimm at the DIE and myself, I argued that the G20 had morphed from a crisis committee or steering group to being a hybrid focal point. In other words, the G20 could no longer be judged simply by its instrumental delivery. As a crisis committee, the G20 concentred its collective efforts on managing the aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), but gradually ran out of momentum. Alternatively, as a possible steering group, the G20 has not been able to embrace the mandate of working together beyond the core financial agenda whether on climate change, migration, or other compelling issue areas.

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