Category: Current Affairs

Behind Bars: Rethinking the Morality and Economics of Prisons

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” The words of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and a man who spent 27 years locked up as a political prisoner, ring true even in the modern age.

Therefore, the question is: how do the nations of today present themselves when put under the scrutiny of these words?

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Gold is losing its sparkle, yet the economy cheers

With rising fears about the US-China trade war and an imminent global recession, investors sought safety in assets like precious metals and sovereign bonds to hedge the risk against unfavorable market conditions. Gold prices move inversely with inflation, and bonds are perceived to be a safer bet as the risk of default is lower than equities. In recent months, demand for gold has risen as global outlook looks increasingly pessimistic. That trend, perhaps comfortingly, started to falter last week.

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Hong Kong Protests: Danger, Democracy, and Disillusionment in the Far East

On Sunday, 18th August,  1.7 million people gathered in Hong Kong’s second-largest pro-democracy march, defying a police ban and increasingly sinister warnings from the Chinese Central government. The demonstration, the latest in a series of protests which have gripped the island region, was initially sparked in June 2019 by a widely controversial extradition-bill which would empower local authorities to detain and extradite individuals to countries Hong Kong does not have formal agreements with, including Mainland China and Macau. Fears were ignited that these laws would undermine the autonomy of the region by placing Hong Kongers and visitors under mainland Chinese jurisdiction, where forced confessions and unfair trial procedures for political prisoners are common. Continue reading “Hong Kong Protests: Danger, Democracy, and Disillusionment in the Far East” →

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The Roar of the Asian Economy: If Asia is the economic engine of the future, who drives the car?

In a two-part series, the Warwick Economics Summit explores how changing consumption, trade and business patterns are set to reshape the global economy, and how the might of the Asian consumer is pulling the centre of economic gravity towards them.

In the second part of the series, we wonder if the political power will shift as well, most notably the tango of values between the United States and China. It might be the case that the economic engine of the world is the East, but the political driver may very well be the West. 

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WES Exclusive: The Center for China and Globalisation on US Protectionism and China’s faltering growth

Donald Trump has triumphantly claimed his tariffs are the primary cause for China’s slowest GDP growth in three decades. Unconvinced, we asked the Center for China and Globalisation for their views.

China’s softening economy came at the back of a tumultuous trade war with Washington, where its exports suffered heavily due to tariffs from the US. In turn, this affected the GDP numbers for China which recorded a year-on-year growth of 6.2 percent, its lowest since records began. Impulsive as ever, President Trump immediately tweeted that China’s ailing GDP is a result of the effectiveness of the US’s tariffs.

But many are unconvinced the dip in China’s economic numbers can be largely credited to President Trump’s trade war. For that, the Warwick Economics Summit reached out to the Center for China and Globalisation (CCG), a leading Chinese non-governmental think-tank based in Beijing, for their thoughts on the factors that led to China’s faltering performance.

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WES Exclusive: The European Neighbourhood Council (ENC) on the Japanese Oil Tanker Attack and its consequences for Europe

On June 13th, a Japanese tanker was attacked off the Gulf of Oman, provoking accusations by the US of Iranian culpability. Numerous conflicting reports have cast doubt on the US’s accusations and ignited uncertainty of how Europe should best respond to prevent the situation escalating further.

WES had the exclusive privilege of receiving comment on the matter from the European Neighbourhood Council (ENC), an independent think-tank focused on European, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern regional policy.

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