Συμβουλές από την αρχαιότητα

Η δημοσιονομική και οικονομική κρίση στην Ελλάδα έχει οξύνει τις συζητήσεις μεταξύ οικονομολόγων, πολιτικών επιστημόνων και πολιτικών για τους πολιτικούς θεσμούς και την οικονομική ανάπτυξη. Προωθούν όντως οι καλοί θεσμοί -η δημοκρατία και το κράτος δικαίου- την ανάπτυξη; Ή οι καλοί θεσμοί κατέστησαν δυνατοί μόνο λόγω της προηγούμενης ανάπτυξης μιας ακμάζουσας οικονομίας; Σημαντικές αποφάσεις για το μέλλον της Ελλάδας είναι πιθανό να προκύψουν αρκετά διαφορετικές, ανάλογα με το πώς θα απαντήσουν οι πολιτικοί σε αυτήν την ερώτηση.

Το άγαλμα του φιλοσόφου Σωκράτη και η ελληνική σημαία στην Αθήνα, στις 23 Απριλίου 2010. YIORGOS KARAHALIS / REUTERS

Η ιστορία είναι το προφανές πεδίο δοκιμών για τις ανταγωνιστικές θεωρίες. Αλλά οι περισσότερες ιστορικές δοκιμές των βασικών ιδεών στην πολιτική οικονομία είχαν, μέχρι πρόσφατα, επικεντρωθεί στις τελευταίες αρκετές εκατοντάδες χρόνια της κυρίως ευρωπαϊκής ιστορίας. Ωστόσο, ο περιορισμός του δείγματος για την μελέτη της σχέσης ανάμεσα στην πολιτική και την οικονομική ανάπτυξη στα σύγχρονα κράτη είναι προβληματικός, επειδή άλλοι παράγοντες εκτός από την θεσμική καινοτομία, όπως η αξιοποίηση του Νέου Κόσμου και της τεχνολογικής προόδου, έχουν επηρεάσει τις σύγχρονες οικονομίες. Ίσως ειρωνικά, ο δρόμος προς μια λύση οδηγεί πίσω στην Ελλάδα -μάλιστα, πίσω στην αρχαία Ελλάδα, η ιστορία της οποίας προσφέρει μια λεπτομερή «εκτός δείγματος» επίδειξη του πώς οι καλοί θεσμοί προωθούν την οικονομική ανάπτυξη.

Bringing Turkey's Border Strategy Into Focus

Satellite images taken at the Turkey-Syria border corroborate what Stratfor predicted weeks ago: that Turkey, now partnered with the United States, will strike at Islamic State-controlled territory adjacent to the Turkish border. The Turks reportedly began to reinforce their southern border with troops and equipment as early as July 3. But according to these images, which were taken July 26, we now know that that equipment includes Turkish-made main battle tanks and support units poised in a defensive position on the Turkish side of the border.

Cameron’s renegotiation plans: The view from Warsaw

David Cameron aims to get a quick agreement on the EU’s reform agenda but parliamentary elections in Poland on October 25^th may complicate his plans. Although Law and Justice, the party leading in the opinion polls, belongs to the same political group as the Tories in the European Parliament, it may prove a tough negotiating partner in the European Council.

Soon after his election victory in May, British prime minister David Cameron toured Europe to discuss his plans to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with the EU. By making Warsaw one of the first stops on his trip Cameron hoped to improve relations with Poland, which deteriorated as his anti-migration rhetoric hardened. During his first term as prime minister, Cameron did not visit Warsaw at all.

Energy Security and the Cyprus Question: “Securitization” of Energy in the Eastern Mediterranean

In February 2014, Nikos Anastasiades, the President of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and Dervis Eroglu, the Turkish-Cypriot leader, signed a Joint Declaration establishing certain “ground-rules” upon which the then stalled peace talks -aiming at the island’s reunificationcould be revived. This evolution was arguably prompted by the discovery of new energy sources in the Eastern Mediterranean, and especially offshore the RoC. Gas had initially been portrayed as a potential catalyst for a restart of the long-standing peace process, and possibly for its successful conclusion. Nevertheless, a couple of months later, it seemed that these discoveries had worked against these aspirations and added chill to the Cyprus conflict. In October 2014, a Turkish navigational warning notified mariners that Turkey would soon perform its seismic surveys in sea areas that encroach on Cyprus’s EEZ, raising concerns on the escalation of the existing protracted conflict. Anastasiades withdrew from the negotiations, attributing his decision to these activities.

Chasing the dragon: Russia's courtship of China

Russian leaders talk of a pivot to Asia and a strategic partnership with China partly to frighten the West. But behind the warm rhetoric, many Russians worry about China dominating their bilateral relationship, and China worries that Russia’s confrontation with the West will get out of hand. What China wants from Russia is an open road to Europe; but that is not part of Russia’s plan. 

The Russian authorities like to claim that they have a lot in common with China: both emerging economic powers, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, but above all both non-Western and perhaps even anti-Western powers. A recent report by the influential and well-connected Russian International Affairs Council argues that “the bond between Moscow and Beijing…will serve as basis for creating a ‘non-American’ world”. As Russia’s relationship with the West has deteriorated as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian officials have talked more about a Russian ‘pivot to Asia’.

The Geopolitics of the Syrian Civil War

International diplomats will gather Jan. 22 in the Swiss town of Montreux to hammer out a settlement designed to end Syria's three-year civil war. The conference, however, will be far removed from the reality on the Syrian battleground. Only days before the conference was scheduled to begin, a controversy threatened to engulf the proceedings after the United Nations invited Iran to participate, and Syrian rebel representatives successfully pushed for the offer to be rescinded. The inability to agree upon even who would be attending the negotiations is an inauspicious sign for a diplomatic effort that was never likely to prove very fruitful.

Out of the Bretton Woods

When China proposed the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in late 2013, it hoped to offer a regional alternative to the multilateral institutions of the Bretton Woods system that left Asia underrepresented. When 58 member nations bucked Washington’s warnings and joined the bank this year, including allies of the United States and G–7 stalwarts such as France, Germany, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, China realized that it had a potential vanguard for an alternative economic world order.

The Company Getting Rich Off the ISIS War

For the Middle East, the growth of the self-proclaimed Islamic State has been a catastrophe. For one American firm, it’s been a gold mine.

Photo Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast

The war against ISIS isn’t going so great, with the self-appointed terror group standing up to a year of U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

India-Pakistan Clashes in Kashmir

Image Credit: Jammu and Kashmir via OlegD / Shutterstock.com

July was a busy month for India-Pakistan relations. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Ufa, Russia, with the two agreeing that their respective national security advisors would meet to discuss ways to combat terrorism.

How olive oil explains Greece’s problems

The hills of Kalamata, on the southern coast of Greece's Peloponnese peninsula, produce some of the best olives in the world. When pressed, they produce an oil that is almost fluorescent green and sometimes described as "liquid gold."

EPA/ALI ALI

But after much of that oil is pressed in Greek processing facilities, tanker trucks come to take it straight to the sea. In 2012, 60 percent of Greece's olive oil output was shipped to Italy. There, it is packaged in Italian bottles with Italian labels, and then sent around the world. And most of the profits go back to Italy -- according to consultancy McKinsey, Italy captures an extra 50 percent premium on the price of Greek oil.