This week, the twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) is taking place in Marrakech, Morocco. In light of the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, Simon Chin Yee and Lauren Gifford blog from the conference, reflecting on what the election might mean for global climate change policy. […]
Why Brexit is a bad idea if you want to avoid the effects of TTIP
While prominent left-wing critics of the EU argue that Britain can avoid the worst excesses of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership by leaving the EU, Dr Gabriel Siles-Brügge argues that a Brexit may actually be counterproductive. Stiglitz and the left ‘Brexiters’ ‘I think that the strictures imposed by TTIP [the Transatlantic Trade and Investment […]
Intervening in conflicts
Should governments send weapons or troops to conflicts in other countries? Professor James Pattison compares the ethics of supplying arms with militarily intervention. Western states are less likely to wage major wars in the future. This is for (at least) four reasons. First, despite ongoing conflicts, the world is generally more peaceful. Second, the US’s […]
Social climbing makes the English happy, but not Americans
In a paper published this week, and covered in the national media, Bram Vanhoutte explores social mobility in England and US. What are the policy implications of these findings? Social mobility, or the difference between the social position of your upbringing and the one you yourself are in, can yield powerful insight into mechanisms that […]
Beyond the headlines on TTIP: Beware the fine print
Although much of the criticism in the UK of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has focused on the NHS and ‘corporate tribunals’, Gabriel Siles-Brügge and Nicolette Butler argue that this overlooks one of its central purposes: a series of provisions that could make it more difficult for governments to regulate in the public […]
‘Lies’ : Elections, outbursts and EU-US free trade talks
The European elections have coincided with the latest round of talks on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Dr Gabriel Siles-Brügge and Dr Ferdi De Ville argue that election campaigns have continued to put advocates of the deal on the defensive, but it has not prompted any fundamental shift in their position. ‘We observe […]
What’s happening with Obamacare?
The issues currently plaguing the rollout of Obamacare in the United States are a stark illustratration of the problems that can arise when politicians and policymakers fail to fully consider management and implementation issues, writes Professor Steve Kelman. I have just returned from a month in Sweden, during which I have been following – albeit […]