Recent commentaries

Language:

Please note that articles not available in your chosen language are displayed in English. Articles available in your chosen language feature a flag in the top left corner of the accompanying image.

  • Newsart for Austere Illusions

    Austere Illusions

    LONDON – The doctrine of imposing present pain for future benefit has a long history – stretching all the way back to Adam Smith and his pra…

  • Newsart for The Chávez Way

    The Chávez Way

    LONDON – I remember the exact date of my visit to Venezuela. I was sunbathing by the pool on the roof of the Caracas Hilton. A waiter came u…

  • Newsart for The Rise of the Robots

    The Rise of the Robots

    LONDON – What impact will automation – the so-called “rise of the robots” – have on wages and employment over the coming decades? Nowadays, …

  • Newsart for Natural-Born Pianists?

    Natural-Born Pianists?

    LONDON – The editor of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, has written a book about how he decided to practice the piano 20 minutes a day. Eighte…

  • Newsart for Models Behaving Badly

    Models Behaving Badly

    LONDON – “Why did no one see the crisis coming?” Queen Elizabeth II asked economists during a visit to the London School of Economics at the…

  • Newsart for Happiness Is Equality

    Happiness Is Equality

    LONDON – The king of Bhutan wants to make us all happier. Governments, he says, should aim to maximize their people’s Gross National Happine…

  • Newsart for Big Countries, Small Wars

    Big Countries, Small Wars

    LONDON – US President Barack Obama has vowed to avenge the murder of J. Christopher Stevens, America’s former ambassador to Libya. How he pr…

  • Newsart for Olympian Economics

    Olympian Economics

    LONDON – As Olympic mania swept the world in recent weeks, it transported the host country, Great Britain, to a rare display of public exult…

Show more

Robert Skidelsky: Against the Current

Are markets moral? What does the East expect from the West? Has globalization killed the idea of equality? Has the concept of “humanitarian intervention” been discredited? Is authoritarian capitalism a viable development option?

Few thinkers embody globalization as thoroughly as Robert Skidelsky. Born in China, a Russian speaker who teaches in Moscow, a working member of the British House of Lords, and a historian who has produced defining work on subjects ranging from fascism to education to economic and social philosophy, Lord Skidelsky's biography and intellectual breadth make him perfectly suited to comment on the diverse problems of our age.

The author of a magisterial three-volume biography of John Maynard Keynes and a fellow of the British Academy in both history and economics, Lord Skidelsky has, throughout his career, defied facile ideological categorization. Originally a member of Britain’s Labour Party, he became one of the founders of the short-lived Social Democratic Party. He moved on to become a Conservative Party spokesman for Treasury affairs in the House of Lords – only to be forced out because of his opposition to NATO’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999. He has since remained a proudly independent “cross-bencher.”

Lord Skidelsky carries on the tradition of Against the Current established by Ralf Dahrendorf: tackling the deeper questions that underlie public issues of the moment.

Why, after more than a half-century of peace and prosperity, are so many Western citizens profoundly unhappy? Why is there hardship – not just lack of money, but anomie and alienation – in the midst of plenty? Are democracy and liberalism on a collision course?

Like Lord Dahrendorf, Lord Skidelsky's extraordinary combination of British pragmatism and Continental intellectual audacity makes abstract ideas comprehensible, and enables newspaper readers to gain a firm purchase on the world that we are creating for ourselves.

Show more

Robert Skidelsky

Robert Skidelsky, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Warwick University and a fellow of the British Academy in history and economics, is a member of the British House of Lords. The author of a three-volume biography of John Maynard Keynes, he began his political career in the Labour party, became the Conservative Party’s spokesman for Treasury affairs in the House of Lords, and was eventually forced out of the Conservative Party for his opposition to NATO’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999.

Further Offers

Videos

Project Syndicate produces video interviews with regular and featured authors, conducted by the editors of Project Syndicate. In these lively interviews, Project Syndicate contributors expand upon their ideas and analyses, and on the events and trends that their commentaries address. These pithy, compelling discussions are the perfect way to enhance the impact of commentaries that you receive from Project Syndicate.

Podcasts

Complimentary English-language podcasts are provided with the majority of our commentaries. Podcasts are a stimulating complement to Project Syndicate content, and an easy means of integrating a popular media platform into your offerings.

Newsart

Project Syndicate works with NewsArt, a collective of artists who create graphics that wittily allude to the topics addressed in the commentaries that they accompany. These inventive representations of the controversies and events of the day provide eye-catching counterparts to the news that you report.

 

With each column that we distribute, we offer a selection of NewsArt graphics that are available for immediate purchase with a simple click of your mouse. You may then use those images alongside Project Syndicate commentaries, or as a means of enhancing your own content.