Finance
Finance has become an important aspect of contemporary international relations, not only for its effects on the economy, but also for its possible "weaponization" for political ends.
Related Subjects
War in Ukraine: How Does the Russian Economy Stand?
The Russian economy is weathering the war and Western sanctions: it has maintained its exports, its business sector has shown marked dynamism, and the population is managing in part thanks to state spending.
The South versus the West?
In 2023, forums that amplify the voice of the “Global South” have proliferated and grown louder. As contradictory and divided as they may be, these forums (BRICS+, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), G20, the Group of 77, the European Silk Road Summit…) attest to the emergence of new power relations, and especially new directions in foreign policy, with states rejecting alignment with the dominant powers of the past in favor of putting their own interests first. A new world is taking shape, with changeable, still uncertain, contours.
COP28: Daunting Stakes and Pivotal Decisions on the Table
The UN climate conference in Dubai faces a moment of troubled geopolitical agenda lowering the focus on the climate emergency, but natural ecosystems will not wait for human decisions. A challenging test for the survival of diplomacy.
COP28: A Tale of Money, Fossil Fuels, and Divisions
“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, in September 2023, three months before COP28. The sense of urgency that he conveyed seems shared across the international community.
Impossible Decoupling, Improbable Cooperation: Economic Interdependencies in the Face of Power Rivalries
Export restrictions, economic and financial sanctions, politicization of monetary and financial choices, screening of inward and outward foreign direct investments, exceptional customs duties, and state interventions in sectors deemed strategic: the political vise is tightening around international economic and financial relations.
The End of a Happy Parenthesis. How the War in UkraineI Is Forcing Germany to Rethink Its Model
The period of peace, economic prosperity, and political stability that Germany has experienced since the end of the Cold War ends with the Ukrainian war. The shock wave of this conflict particularly hit its economy and thereby undermines the foundations on which Germany had based its power, its international influence and established its identity.
European Union: A Geopolitical Illusion?
The European Union (EU) is holding firm in the face of the war in Ukraine—perhaps better than expected. But what long-term effects will the war have on European institutions and policies? The institutions will need to be changed to cope with the forthcoming expansions. The EU has certainly made progress toward common industrial and technological policies. But will this dynamic do away with a conception of strategic autonomy, encompassing both diplomacy and strategy? The European Union, which will undoubtedly be a key mover of future changes for the continent, remains largely uncertain in terms of its future configurations.
Fiscal Policy in France and Germany: Insurmountable Differences?
The state of public finances in France and Germany is often compared. Germany is considered a model of rigor, through its ability to contain its deficits and generate surpluses, particularly between 2012 and 2019, thanks to the introduction into its constitution of a debt brake mechanism.
One Year of War in Ukraine: Where Do the Russian People Stand?
The overwhelming majority of the Russian population, having been fed Kremlin propaganda for years, approves of the war in Ukraine.
Raising the Costs to President Putin
-by building dissonance within. Some like to remember fondly the call by Ronald Reagan for Gorbachev “to tear down this wall”. The United States “Won the Cold War” said George Bush Senior in his State of the Union Address. We need to step back and recognize with some humility that the Soviet Union fell largely of its own weight rather than as a result of external pressure. Again today Russia is economically weak. It has become an exporter of raw materials, its industrial sector is weak, and its revenues are already falling. Conditions now offer the opportunity to aggravate Russia’s economic frailty – let’s focus on that.
Reading Rouhani Right
Poll numbers are the life blood of politics these days. Anything expressed in digits has a claim to truth that assertions without digits cannot make. They inspire confidence - especially among those aspiring to public office - that they actually understand what public sentiment is. If you lived between nuclear-armed Israel and Pakistan and had as many world class enemies as Iran has accumulated - would you give up your pursuit of a nuclear weapon?
Don't Bank on Change: Finance and Regulatory Reform in the U.S.
As a number of provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act are entering into force, five years after the beginnings of the financial crisis, Professor Herman Schwartz explains how the U.S. banking community will continue to hurt the interests of the American economy and political system.
The G20 and the Challenge of International Financial Re-regulation
The crisis, it is now widely accepted, means that markets failed. Meeting for the first time in Washington in November 2008, the G20 embarked in a ride of re-regulation. Months of negotiations later, it dramatically appears different to agree on principles and broad objectives, and to write and enforce rules and commitments.
The Financial Challenges of the Sub-Saharan Africa Telecoms Boom
Telecom industry has taken a significant place within of the economy of most African countries. In this aspect, it is an undeniable source of economic growth and development. It impacts on the financial sphere at three levels.
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Geoeconomics and Geofinance Initiative
Economic questions are approached from a political economy perspective: the evolution of the global economic system, governance and institutions, dynamics and trends of various economic zones (United States, Russia, China, emerging markets...). European issues are at the core of our research.