Five myths about poverty, growth and inequality

Today, development experts from a range of organisations and universities, including the World Bank, are gathering at ODI to discuss how we can end extreme poverty. 

'Pro-poor' or 'inclusive' growth - ensuring that growth benefits the poor  more than the average  -  is a popular mechanism for achieving this. For example, the Sustainable Development Goals and the World Bank both have targets that aim to promote income growth for the bottom 40% of every country’s population.

25 years on: How the euro's architects erred

A quarter of a century after the euro’s conception, the flaws in its design have become apparent. EU leaders have fixed some of them but the euro needs better policies in order to be a successful currency.

It is almost 25 years since European finance ministers, meeting in Rome in December 1990, launched an ‘inter-governmental conference’ on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Their work emerged a year later as the Treaty of Maastricht, which set out a roadmap for creating what became the euro.

Political Climate Shifting Against The Oil And Gas Industry

Oil and gas companies have had a tough time over the past year trying to weather the storm of falling oil prices. But the political and financial winds are moving in the wrong direction for the industry, raising more “above ground” problems at a time that they can ill-afford it.

Drilling oil and gas wells requires a lot of money. For companies that have seen their revenues vanish because of collapsing oil prices, access to credit is obviously critically important. But U.S. financial regulators are growing concerned about a pile of energy debt that is deteriorating in quality. A reportfrom the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve singled out the oil and gas sector when it concluded that credit risk was rising across the United States.

Αποψη: Νίκη Ερντογάν χωρίς τουρκικό αντίκρισμα

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O Ερντογάν ώθησε το εκλογικό σώμα στο δίλημμα μεταξύ αυτοδυναμίας του AKP και παράτασης της ανασφάλειας.

Η απρόσμενη –βάσει δημοσκοπήσεων– αυτοδυναμία του AKP αποτελεί μία προσωπική νίκη του Τούρκου προέδρου. Επενδύοντας στην πόλωση, χειραγωγώντας τα ΜΜΕ και ενεργοποιώντας τα εθνικιστικά αντανακλαστικά, κατάφερε τον σκοπό του. Μάλιστα, η πρόσφατη βομβιστική ενέργεια κατά Κούρδων στην Αγκυρα λειτούργησε ευεργετικά για τον ίδιο, στη λογική πως υπό συνθήκες αβεβαιότητας έπρεπε να προκύψει μία επιλογή σταθερότητας. O Ερντογάν ώθησε το εκλογικό σώμα στο δίλημμα μεταξύ αυτοδυναμίας του AKP και παράτασης της ανασφάλειας, που δεν αντέχει και η κλυδωνιζόμενη οικονομία, εμφανιζόμενος –οξύμωρα– ως εγγυητής της επιστροφής στην ομαλότητα.

Το Κουαρτέτο της ΑΟΖ

Το κουαρτέτο της ΑΟΖ βρίσκεται σε καλύτερη θέση από το κουαρτέτο των δανειστών μια και είναι πολύ πιο πλούσιο κουαρτέτο. Αυτό το κουαρτέτο, δηλαδή η Ελλάδα, η Κύπρος, το Ισραήλ και η Αίγυπτος κάθονται πάνω σε τρισεκκατομύρια δολάρια υδρογονανθράκων. Η Κύπρος, το Ισραήλ και η Αίγυπτος, για καιρό τώρα, ψάχνουν τους κρυμμένους θησαυρούς που βρίσκονται στους βυθούς της Ανατολικής Μεσογείου, αλλά εμείς, απλώς χαζεύουμε τους τρεις φίλους μας να ψάχνουν στις θάλασσές τους και δεν κάνουμε καμία κίνηση να ξυπνήσουμε και, επιτέλους, να τους μοιάσουμε και εμείς.

Είναι πράγματι λυπηρό να παρακολουθούμε τις εξελίξεις στον τομέα των υδρογονανθράκων και να παριστάνουμε ότι εμείς δεν έχουμε ανάγκη από γεωτρήσεις στην περιοχή μας, μια και καμία από τις τελευταίες τέσσερις ελληνικές κυβερνήσεις όχι μόνο δεν έδωσε σημασία σε αυτό τον τομέα αλλά, ουσιαστικά, τον παραμέλησε.

Πορτογαλία: Αριστερές συνεργασίες για να πέσει η δεξιά κυβέρνηση μειοψηφίας

Μετά το Αριστερό Μπλοκ, το Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα της Πορτογαλίας ανακοίνωσε σήμερα ότι κατέληξε σε συμφωνία με το Σοσιαλιστικό Κόμμα (PS), εξέλιξη που ανοίγει τον δρόμο για μια χωρίς προηγούμενο συμμαχία της πορτογαλικής αριστεράς που αναμένεται να οδηγήσει στην πτώση της δεξιάς κυβέρνησης μειοψηφίας.

Αυτά τα τρία κόμματα και οι Πράσινοι καταλαμβάνουν συνολικά τις 122 από τις 230 έδρες του πορτογαλικού Κοινοβουλίου, δηλαδή διαθέτουν υπερεπαρκή πλειοψηφία για να απορρίψουν, την Τρίτη, το κυβερνητικό πρόγραμμα προκαλώντας την παραίτηση της κυβέρνησης.

Iran’s military and economic investment in Syria

Since the early 1980s, Iran has invested substantial political and economic capital into Syria. Tehran will continue to support the Assad regime, acting as a counter-point alongside Russia to the international community’s largely anti-Assad solutions for the Syria crisis.

It was announced last week that Iran would be invited to attend the upcoming peace talks in Vienna on the Syrian crisis, which took place among major powers from Oct. 30th to Oct. 31st. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif attended the discussions, which ended without significant progress towards a solution to the crisis, as was anticipated.

Law and Justice in Poland. But what about the EU?

Law and Justice Party (PiS) is the absolute ruler in Poland. Couple of months ago Andrej Duda, also coming from PiS, secured the presidential seat, while last Sunday in parliamentary elections Beata Szydlo, Kaczynski's political chosen one, led the party to a landslide.  ​

Especially after this year's twin win for PiS, old-school, veteran Kaczysnki is undeniably Poland's most influential leader. Appeared in the front scene in 1989 after achieving to form the first non-communist post-war government, his comeback is associated with his country's big step in Brussels' decision-making inner room. With Donald Tusk serving as President of the European Council -in spite of his political rivalry with Kaczysnki - Poland increases its influence in the European soft and power politics block. This does not go alone as during the previous years Warsaw's political leadership has proved to be a strong pro-European voice in Eastern Europe, demonstrating a bold stance during CAP talks, assuming a pro-US stance in NATO intervention in Middle East and Central Asia, while balancing efficiently between its Soviet-friendly past and the stakes of European unity when confronted with Russia's interest in the neighborhood.

Russia is creating a global nuclear power empire

Russia is moving to create a global nuclear power empire — a bold power play that elicits opportunity and risk far beyond the nuclear reactors themselves.

With its ploys in Ukraine and Syria coming largely unanticipated in Western eyes, Russia has cultivated a tendency to pursue foreign policies that are not immediately obvious to surface-level observers.

The Anatomy of AntiCorruption

The tradition of abusing political power for personal gain goes back to antiquity, as does the debate over whether corruption is a necessary cultural vice in a country's development or a cancer that must be obliterated for a society to progress. A topic less covered, however, is what is behind the counter-corruption current.



 In the past year or so, a striking number of scandals have been exposed, anti-corruption campaigns launched, probes deepened and leaders toppled over corruption charges. Brazil's state-run oil giant Petrobras, now the most indebted company in the world, is at the center of the biggest corruption scandal in the country's history; dozens of business executives and politicians, including the heads of the upper and lower houses of Brazil's legislature and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, are under investigation. In Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto has been heavily scrutinized for granting big contracts to companies that also sold him houses on favorable terms and for abruptly canceling a contract with a Chinese-led consortium for high-speed rail because of corruption allegations, as well as after the brazen escape of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman from federal prison. In Guatemala, a U.S.-backed anti-corruption investigative committee forced the resignation of President Otto Perez Molina, while in Honduras, another U.S.-led anti-corruption investigation has taken down one of the country's wealthiest and most politically connected families.