By Adrian Parr
In 2010 the world emitted 38.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). This is 48 percent more CO2 than in 1992, and 6.7 percent more than in 2009.1 In 1979 average atmospheric CO2 was 337ppm, in 2000 it grew to 369ppm, and on May 13, 2013 the Hawaii monitoring station recorded a daily level average of CO2 of 400ppm. The safe zone is 350ppm or less. Below, Adrian Parr discusses how the earth’s climate system is reacting.
Society can change climate, and climate can change society. Below, Jörg Friedrichs suggests that it is helpful to look at distant historical periods and episodes for insight on how the social and political consequences of environmental pressures may unfold.
By Terence Tse, Mark Esposito, & Jorgo Chatzimarkakis
The financial crisis has damaged national economies but also hurt segments of societies, including youths aged 15 to 24, many of whom are struggling to find jobs as a result of the economic downturn. Below, Terence Tse, Mark Esposito, and Jorgo Chatzimarkakis warn that countries are bound to suffer significant losses if too few actions are taken to deal with youth unemployment.
By Didier Cossin & Abraham Lu
Since its dual IPOs in 2007, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC), one of the largest commercial banks in China, has received a multitude of best governance awards adding to its global reputation. As recently as June 1999, however, international institutions and analysts broadly considered ICBC as “technically bankrupt” with the nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio reaching 47.59 percent. ICBC drastically improved through a governance transformation with the united effort of the government, the management team, and its employees. The transformation path had four steps: internal restructure, ownership reform, governance overhaul, and public IPOs. With each step, corporate governance became more sophisticated and comprehensive.
By Winston P. Nagan & Craig Hammer
The world’s most daunting challenges are outcomes of the current configuration of sovereign institutions. Below, Winston P. Nagan and Craig Hammer consider whether current understandings of authority and power justify this configuration, and suggest that the challenge is to evolve a constitutive process that more accurately reflects the prevailing distribution of power in the world.
Global society is increasingly expressing itself through globally identifiable institutions of civil society. In this article, Winston Nagan explores the inter-relationship of sovereignty, the Rule of Law, and individual identity in the scheme of evolving global governance and considers the Rule of Law and its potential for global constitutional development.
By Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, founder and CEO, Patients Know Best
Giving patients control of their own medical records and putting them at the centre of their own healthcare management makes sense for patients, for clinicians and for healthcare institutions wishing to improve the bottom line. In creating Patients Know Best, the world’s first patient-controlled medical records system, I have met a number of inspiring people. One doctor I met in 2006 taught me a very valuable lesson about why patients should be put back in charge.
By João Biehl & Adriana Petryna
The Global health community is an evolving and expanding field. Below, João Biehl and Adriana Petryna consider the importance of addressing the medical, social, political, and economic dimensions of the global health enterprise, and demonstrate the crucial role of ethnography as an empirical lantern in global health.
The sociology of capitalism developed by Max Weber and its critique developed by Marxists are unable to account for the transformed structure and practices of contemporary capitalism. The social theory of Chinese capitalism requires new fundamental concepts; the new democratic practices developed in India, South Africa or Brazil cannot be understood in terms of Western liberal democratic theory. Below, Partha Chatterjee discusses the necessity of seeing capitalism itself as lacking a single universal character.
Will Sustainable Development Stay With Us? Wise up to Water Risks at the 2013 World Water Week in Stockholm Environmental Governance for Sustainable Development: An East Asian Perspective Global Economy Capital Flight and Global Crisis: In Search of a Barometer of Country Risk World Politics Can Think Tanks Influence Public Opinion and Improve Policy? Eastern and Western Ideas for African Growth: Diversity and EY’s 2013 Africa Attractiveness Survey: Getting Down to Business Dubai Investments Park: The One-Stop Multi-Purpose Destination Business Smaller Cities Embrace Smart Specialisation – The Exeter Success Story Can Social Media Help Business-to-Business Companies to Learn from their Customers?
Sustainability
Fast Fashion, Luxury Brands, and Sustainability
Annamma Joy
Kees Zoeteman
Josh Weinberg & Maya Rebermark, Communications, SIWI
Akihisa Mori
Eternal Economic Return: The Global Economic Crisis through the Lens of History
Larry Allen
Michel Henry Bouchet
America’s Iran Policy and the Undermining of International Order
Flynt Leverett & Hillary Mann Leverett
Andrew SeleeAfrica
Synergising Western and Eastern Approaches: Facilitating Economic Development in Africa
Snowy Khoza
Complementarity in Development Aid
Izumi Ohno & Kenichi Ohno
Michael Lalor
Middle East
Entry Strategies for Middle Eastern Markets
Tim Rogmans
A Radically Different Innovation: Developing a Unique Business Model
Rick Molz
Richard Ball
Hannu Kärkkäinen & Jari J. Jussila
