In an US election year, then President Obama as represented by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) began a risky precedent. That 2016, the US blocked the reappointment of Appellate Body jurist Seung Wha Chang. Chang was up for a reappointment as the norm is that the jurists serve for four year terms that can be renewed once. The US complained that Chang was responsible … Continue reading Bully capitalism versus the Appellate Body
Breaking it down to sections, it can be noted that there are stages to this process: the first is the consultation process, second the review and reporting of the panel body then the Appellate Body from which comes the recommendation and ways on the implementation of the ruling which may include sanctions, countermeasures, retaliatory measures or compensations. In some cases, Arbitrators are involved in the … Continue reading Breaking down the Dispute Settlement Mechanism
Mary Louise Malig* The 12th Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is finally taking place in Switzerland in a moment when this country has banned all flights from the South Africa region and established a ten-day quarantine for all persons coming from this part of the world plus Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium because of the Omicron variant.[1] Update: Latest news: the 12th Ministerial … Continue reading The anachronism of the World Trade Organization
By: Mary Louise Malig* US President Biden has stated on a few occasions that, “America is back” reinforcing the message that the US is going to repair relationships with allies and institutions. Biden immediately re-entered the US into the Paris Climate Accord. He also reassured the World Health Organization (WHO) that the US was back on board. Biden and the new administration were and are … Continue reading “America is back” and it’s ominously reviving the crisis-riddled WTO
“This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the JURI Committee, explores the concept of “Rights of Nature” (RoN) and its different aspects in legal philosophy and international agreements, as well as in legislation and case-law on different levels. The study delves on the ideas of rights ofnature in comparison with rights to nature, … Continue reading A Study of Rights of Nature in the European context
de Walden Bello english here En este resumen, Walden Bello condensa las ideas y datos clave contenidos en la monumental obra de Thomas Piketty El capital y la ideología. El economista francés merece ser leído por más gente, pero muchos no tienen ni el tiempo ni la energía para recorrer este extenso clásico de 1.215 páginas. Este breve volumen está motivado por la convicción de que … Continue reading Leer a Piketty I: Un resumen conciso y exhaustivo de Capital e Ideología
Raffaella Bollini
[Español] In the last days on the media has been given prominence to a recent discovery: on the contrary of what for a long time has been believed, Neanderthal women were hunters as well as men, and artists.
The ancient and more and more pressing question returns: when did the human being begin to build the hierarchy that governs the world, the one that puts the man above the woman, the dominant man above the dominated, the human being above nature? Where does our destructive lust for power and domination stem from, which is driving us straight into ecocide and suicide?
Continue reading “The paradigm of care”
[Español] Digital Trade is not new, in fact, it has been around since the nineties. Digital trade, to use the narrowest definition of e-commerce, is the sale and purchase of goods and services via the internet of which they are delivered digitally. Many argue that even if the whole process happened online, if the end product is a physical good, then it is not digital … Continue reading Conclusions
[Español] The Digital Economy is a much broader spectrum and digital trade is just a part of it. Digital economy involves new technologies, faster infrastructure and a whole lot more skilled workers in technology and other significant areas. Just see the figure below: Digital Technologies that are already here or coming real soon 1. Blockchain technologies Blockchain technologies are a form of distributed ledger … Continue reading Part 4: The Digital Economy: There is more to it than trade
[Español] As early as 1998, the World Trade Organization (WTO) had issued a Ministerial Declaration on Global Electronic Commerce at the Second WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Simply recognizing that global electronic commerce was growing and that therefore the WTO needed to have a work program to discuss rules that would govern this new form of trade. The most significant impact of this Ministerial … Continue reading Part 3: The State of Play on the debate on the Rules
[Español] To understand the digital platform economy better, this paper breaks down below the various types of platforms, how data changes from raw material to monetized good in the digital value chain and how the discussion on digital trade should not be limited to whether or not tariffs are to be imposed on electronic goods and services but rather, more importantly, should include the complex … Continue reading Part 2: The Digital Platform Economy and Who Owns It
[Español] Digital trade as traditional trade, is a part of the larger picture of the economy. Digital trade is part of the growing digital economy and affects the non-digital larger economy. Digital trade is not new. However, despite it being around for a while, there is no definitive definition and scope globally agreed upon. This has led to lack of consensus and a plethora of … Continue reading Part 1: What is Digital Trade?
By: Mary Louise Malig [Versión en español] Read the entire publication in PDF here Contents Part 1: What is digital trade? Part 2: The Digital Platform Economy and Who Owns It Part 3: The State of Play on the debate on the Rules Part 4: The Digital Economy: There is more to it than trade Conclusions Introduction A current buzzword not only in technology circles … Continue reading Is the future really digital? A deeper understanding of digital trade
Edgardo Lander
1. With the pandemic, debates that had already been taking place from a wide political spectrum of questioning neoliberal globalization are accelerating. The fragility of the productive chains long established with the aim of maximizing short-term corporate profits has fallen to bare in their extraordinary vulnerability. What happens in one link in the chain can have global consequences. Dependence on imports for materials is as critical as basic health equipment and food. This situation has placed in political debate the need for higher levels of self-sufficiency or sovereignty in many different countries of the world. The pandemic has stripped the world like never before. While richer countries are grabbing vaccines for their population and refuse to relax the rules on protection of intellectual property controlled by pharmaceutical corporations developed thanks to massive public funding, many countries in the South will not have widespread access to vaccines until 2022, according to estimates by the People’s Vaccine Alliance[1].
Continue reading “Dominant trends in the capitalist world system in the context of the pandemic”
¿Dónde estamos y qué hacer? Activar subtítulos en español, inglés, francés, italiano o portugués.
By: Walden Bello In this summary, Walden Bello distills the key ideas and data contained in Thomas Piketty’s monumental work Capital and Ideology. The French economist deserves to be read by more people, but many have neither the time nor energy to work through this sprawling 1,042-page classic. This short volume is motivated by the conviction that Piketty cannot be left to specialists in social … Continue reading Reading Piketty I: A Concise and Comprehensive Summary of Capital and Ideology
By Pablo Solón[1]
[Español, Italian] The following proposals[2] seek to motivate reflections on how to deal with the systemic crises. These are ideas that arose from a South American and in particular, a Bolivian context.
1) We must rethink the processes of transitions based on the systemic crises that the Earth community is now experiencing. Although there is no doubt that the ecological and climate crises are the most relevant because they put at risk the continuity of life as we know it, transitions must be multidimensional and inclusive of our relationships with nature, our daily behavior patterns, the State and the political system, the economy, the social, the spiritual, energy, international relations and ethics.
Continue reading “Systemic Transitions”
By Pablo Solón
[Version en Español] The Movement towards Socialism (MAS in Spanish) has won the Bolivian elections in the first round this October 2020. Two exit polls (by Ciesmori and Tu Voto Cuenta) based on different samples concluded that Luis (“Lucho”) Arce and David Choquehuanca had obtained more than 50% of the votes, with a lead of more than 20% over the second place candidate, Carlos Mesa of Citizens Community (CC). We await the results of the official count that will be available on Wednesday or Thursday, but don’t expect a substantive change in the trend of the results of these two exit polls.
Why did Lucho and David won?
Continue reading “Why Lucho & David won the Bolivian elections”
A dialog between Linda Farthing -journalist and researcher who has co-authored three books on Bolivia-, Pablo Solón -social and environmental activist and former ambassador for the Plurinational State of Bolivia to the United Nations (2009-June 2011)-, and Bret Gustafson (Moderator) author of two books on Bolivia, most recently Bolivia in the Age of Gas.
Continue reading “¿Una nueva crisis? Reflecting Upon MAS’ Legacy and the Future of Bolivia”
[Español] Pablo Solón: We are here in a new dialogue of systemic reflections, and this time, with Walden Bello who is a very well known sociologist from the Philippines, author of many books, his most recent book: “Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right”. Walden was the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South a think-tank in Southeast Asia, and now he is … Continue reading How do we avoid the fate of the dinosaurs?
Systemic Alternatives 
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