Book reviews from Dr Sarah Nason at Bangor University and Professor Francesco Bilancia at Sapienza, University of Rome
Tiny Georgia is a crucible of East-West and regional tensions. In the months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the US and European governments pressed Georgia to open a second front against Russia. When the government refused, western sources denigrated it as “pro Russia”, and several leaders became subject to sanctions. What lay behind the western pressure and the Georgian government’s response?
Under President Trump, the US rejects responsibility for leading multilateral coalitions. Jakob Vestergaard and Robert H. Wade argue that dealmaker-in-chief may derive considerable satisfaction in breaking deadlocks that have prevailed in World Bank for decades, which would actually strengthen multilateralism.
This report is an edited dialogue between George Yeo, former Foreign Minister of Singapore, and several distinguished professors from Oxford University. It focused on a series of important issues around China-US relations and China’s outlook, including China’s vision of world order, the Taiwan issue, China’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, the inevitability of a US-China war, and the role of Southeast Asian countries in navigating US-China geopolitical tensions.
In this podcast, Stefan Dercon, Professor of Economic Policy at Oxford University and former chief economist at UK Department of International Development, argues that the elites’ policies, rather than the people, are the ones that matter for economic development. He also notes, while democracies and autocracies perform similarly well in economy on average, the real difference is the variance among autocracies.
Drawing on her recent work “China’s new playbook” , Professor Keyu Jin discusses with Brian Wong the present opportunities and challenges of the Chinese economy and the future of Sino-American relations. She also reflects on how she feels regarding commenting on China in an increasingly polarized setting.
