GMF’s Economic Policy Program recently hosted Professor Dan Drezner of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, for a presentation of his new book, €˜All Politics is Global’ (Princeton University Press). You can read more about Drezner’s arguments here, and listen to a podcast interview here. I highly recommend the book for [...]

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Where”Balkanization” has come to mean  the breaking up of a country into smaller, hostile territories, two weeks ago saw the”anti-Balkanization” of the historically hostile Balkan region. And all because of a TV show. As this piece from the New York Times/International Herald Tribune discusses, Serbia won the Eurovision Song Contest, a musical competition of European [...]

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The beginning of the 21st century has been bad for transatlantic relations.   The past seven years have been among the worst  since World War II.     Yet, there are now signs that this time of troubles may be drawing to a close.   The wheels of history are again opening a window of [...]

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The French have a new Prime Minister and a new governement. The list is everywhere so let’s try to assess how it looks like and what it could mean. First, this is a compact government compared to many previous ones: 20 Ministers and Secretaries of state, including the Prime Minister, François Fillion, who has in [...]

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What began only a few days ago as a contest to replace Tony Blair as leader of the British Labour Party and, thereby Prime Minister when Blair stands down on 27 June, has become a coronation. Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) Gordon Brown has succeeded in garnering nominations from 313 of the 354 Labour [...]

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According to a study conducted by the British firm FDS, and partially published by the AFP, French workers are the ones who complain and moan the most at work, followed by  British and Swedish employees ex aequo. Americans come right after, even if, according to the study, they are the luckiest ones in terms of [...]

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Rumors are accelerating in Paris about the new government including a certain number of personalities coming from the left spectrum of the French political class. Different names are floating around, and everything can change in the next 3 days. But if this move on the part of the new President is confirmed, it will really [...]

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Few days after Nicolas Sarkozy’s victory with 53% of the votes and waiting for the new government to be formed (May 17th), two main developments should be noticed. – Talks are going on about offering non conservatives to become members of the future governement. Names such as Hubert Védrine, former Minister for foreign affairs under [...]

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At noon today at a meeting at the Trimdon Labour Club in his constituency, Tony Blair told a group of his friends and political supporters (link requires Real Player) that he has tendered his resignation as leader of the Labour Party and will be stepping down as Prime Minister on 27 June after ten years [...]

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British campaigners against European Union plans to outlaw imperial measures like pounds and ounces have claimed victory, according to news reports today. The self-styled ‘metric martyrs’ say they have say they have won the battle to keep Britain imperial, after confirmation from the European Commission’s industry commissioner, Gunther Verheugen, that dual marking of goods in [...]

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