Global Future Challenges Blog

Global governance, local governance

Posted on: 09 Mar 2012 in Events

It is a brave man who prescribes a European cure to global challenges at a time when the European Union is roiled in crisis. Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organisation, is such a man. Addressing a large audience at an Oxfor... Read More »

Globalization: The good, the bad and the uncertain

Posted on: 01 Feb 2012 in Opinions

This blog, written by Professor Ian Goldin, first appeared in The Globalist (1 Feb, 2012) When over 2000 world leaders of government, business and academia descended on Davos last month, discussions were dominated by the global economic... Read More »

Rethinking science and technology for the 21st century

Posted on: 16 Mar 2009 in Events

We are now so dependent on science and technology that, without it, our civilisation could not survive. If global society is to continue to mature and prosper, we have to approach science and technology innovation in the right way. On 12 March ... Read More »

How much can ethical certification achieve?

Posted on: 10 Mar 2009 in Events

Recent years have seen a rapid proliferation in the number of ethical certification schemes, from fair-trade food and sweatshop-free clothing, to sustainable tourism and responsibly logged timber. These certification schemes are fast becoming a new... Read More »

The reality of internet governance

Posted on: 03 Mar 2009 in Events

Decisions that will shape information societies for decades to come are being taken today, but not where you might expect. Rather than the White House or Silicon Valley, we should look to the NSA in Fort Meade and the World Intellectual Property Or... Read More »

Financial crisis has repercussions for migration

Posted on: 23 Feb 2009 in Events

Migrant labour is an integral part of the global economy. Sectors including heavy industry and services, or, at the other end of the scale, banking and research, are heavily dependent on migrants. In some areas, particularly in the Middle East, ent... Read More »

The importance of justice in innovation

Posted on: 16 Feb 2009 in Events

A lot of philosophers have reflected on the subject of global justice, but almost no-one has taken the time to think systematically about the role that innovation has to play in promoting global justice and equality. On 12 February 2009, Allen Buch... Read More »

Can HIV be eradicated without a vaccine?

Posted on: 10 Feb 2009 in Opinions

Professor Jonathan Weber, Director of Research at Imperial College's Department of Medicine, has decided to abandon his search for an HIV vaccine. After 27 years in the field, he no longer believes it to be an achievable goal. In the third of o... Read More »

Time for a new Bretton-Woods conference?

Posted on: 02 Feb 2009 in Events

The 2008 financial crisis has revealed the inadequacy of the institutional structure inherited from the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. Theories that our financial system had little need for regulatory oversight have proved to be false, and response... Read More »

Building Global Norms: the "Responsibility to Protect"

Posted on: 27 Jan 2009 in Events

When does the international community have a responsibility to intervene in the face of humanitarian abuses and what form should that intervention take? How do you get 192 countries to accept this responsibility and at what point does this principl... Read More »