Joe Biden’s election as president of the United States has dealt a serious blow to the illiberal nationalist governments of Hungary and Poland. But the ongoing dispute over the European Union’s new budget and COVID-19 recovery fund suggests that Europe’s right-wing populist leaders – and their attacks on the rule of law – are not about to fade away.
Arab governments argued for decades that an Israeli-Palestinian peace should be the precondition for normalization of relations with the Jewish state. But the recent diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain suggests a major regional shift that threatens to leave the Palestinians out in the cold.
US President-elect Joe Biden’s victory has fueled hopes of renewed international cooperation after four years of President Donald Trump’s zero-sum “America First” approach to the world. But although Biden will undoubtedly improve the tone of US foreign policy, America’s allies and adversaries alike should be prepared for some hard bargaining in tackling major global threats.
The 2020 US presidential election has confounded many on the American left, with President Donald Trump receiving millions more votes than he did four years ago despite his administration’s disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. Even if Trump loses, as seems likely, his distinctive brand of divisive populism will remain a potent force in American politics.
The United States’ global image as an exemplar of democracy and the rule of law has taken a battering during Donald Trump’s presidency. If the November 3 election descends into widespread violence, protracted litigation, and a long-term constitutional crisis involving the Supreme Court, America’s most valuable asset – its soft power – would be shattered.
Policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly unwilling to leave the governance of technology in the hands of those who design it. But will they succeed in taming Big Tech and developing global rules for the digital economy, or will dominant platforms and national interests prevail?
In little more than a decade, the global financial crisis, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic have transformed the monetary-policy environment. How responsive central banks should be to shifts in public opinion, and how broadly they should interpret their mandates, have become urgent questions for those who run them.
The COVID-19 crisis has prompted renewed calls for corporations to contribute to social welfare and the common good, rather than seeking only to maximize their profits. But stakeholder and shareholder capitalism, though widely viewed as competing models, may have more in common than many think.
The US presidential election on November 3 will be one of the country’s most consequential ever – and the most fear-filled since the Civil War era, with President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis adding to the jitters. Whether voters re-elect Trump or opt for his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden – and, more important, whether they accept the result – will determine not only America’s future economic course, but possibly also the fate of its 233-year-old democracy.
The United Nations is marking its 75th anniversary in muted fashion, and not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With rising nationalism and the return of great-power rivalry threatening to paralyze the organization at the heart of the multilateral system, many are asking whether global cooperation has a future.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s unexpected resignation for health reasons has ended the tenure of Japan’s longest-serving premier, raising questions about the future direction of economic and foreign policy. His successor, Yoshihide Suga, who was Abe’s closest ally in government, must now convince voters and the rest of the world that he is up to the job.
As rich-country governments spend unprecedented sums to mitigate COVID-19’s economic impact, levels of public debt unseen since World War II seem like a problem for another day. But once the pandemic has passed, the inevitable question will arise: Who will foot the bill?
Since the Industrial Revolution, major urban hubs have powered the global economy by serving as magnets for talent and capital. But as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc and millions discover the benefits of remote working, are the megacities of the pre-pandemic era approaching their expiration date?
