WASHINGTON – With all the focus on democracy and despots, the rising price of food is being overlooked as a trigger in the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. Food prices are at an all-time high, and while the impacts are hardly felt in the United States and Europe, where basic commodities are [...]

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On both sides of the Atlantic budgets are under severe pressure. Governments are seeking to improve the effectiveness of development resources. Last week, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development unveiled the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, which seeks to bring a more unified, focused and results-based approach to U.S. civilian power. [...]

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WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund and the annual G8 gathering of major industrial nations have become increasingly anachronistic in today’s world. Their legitimacy has been in question because of the lack of influence and representation of the world’s poor at their decision-making tables. But an unprecedented shift in power in the post-World War II [...]

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WASHINGTON — Last week, while attention was focused on New York and the U.N. conference to review the global development goals, a less prominent UN gathering took place in Rome. It was an emergency meeting, an emergency about food. Concerns are growing that a surge in wheat prices could trigger a global food crisis. Therefore, [...]

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The world’s leaders will gather next week at the United Nations in New York to review progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) first laid out a decade ago–eight goals, 20 targets, and more than 60 indicators. Not surprisingly, there will be a lot of self-congratulation on the part of a small group of [...]

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Jonathan White, German Marshall Fund from World Bank on Vimeo. Full write-up available here.

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WASHINGTON — There are two sets of policy issues emanating from the rubble and horror of Port-au-Prince: “Whither Haiti?” and “Whither relief aid?” With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah visiting the country, most of the attention is on the first question.   Is there, policymakers are asking, some dynamic by [...]

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Great Decisions 2010 Special: The World’s Bottom Billion hosts GMF Senior Program Officer Jonathan White to discuss the Millennium Development Goals and the impact of the financial crisis on the world’s poorest countries.

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COPENHAGEN — It will be discussed for some time whether the “Copenhagen Accord” represents an unsatisfactory compromise or an unmitigated failure. Whatever the ultimate answer, there are some preliminary lessons that can be drawn from a memorably chaotic global gathering. The full text can be found with the Financial Times.

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Besides resolving to clamp down on bankers’ bonuses, the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh produced two major results. The first was a pledge to expand emerging markets’ say and sway in the IMF by increasing their quota by five percentage points to 43 percent of the total. The U.S.-sponsored idea will go some ways to addressing [...]

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