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The fifth international conference on regional climate (ICRC 2023), organised by World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) coordinated downscaling experiment (CORDEX), has just completed. It was a hybrid on-site/online conference with hubs in both Trieste/Italy (hosted by the International Centre on Theoretical Physics, ICTP) and Pune/India. The hybrid set-up, with video links between the two hubs […]
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Connecting Grassroot Actors and Public Servants to Create a Tech-Empowered Democratic Future
The post IRI's Regional Civic and Govtech Convening appeared first on International Republican Institute.

While California's unemployment rate has ticked up over the past year, in some regions unemployment is lower than it was before the pandemic.

Regionalorganisationen wie die EU haben zum Teil weitreichende Kompetenzen über ihre Mitgliedstaaten. Prominente Beispiele sind das Urteil des deutschen Bundesverfassungsgerichts gegen den Europäischen Gerichtshof, in dem das höchste deutsche Gericht dem europäischen Gericht Kontrollversagen vorwirft, oder um die Forderung des EU-Parlaments nach stärkeren Sanktionen gegen Ungarn, das nach internationalen Demokratieindizes nicht mehr als "demokratisch" gelten kann: Mitgliedstaaten und Regionalorganisationen ringen nicht nur um wechselseitige Kontrolle, sondern der Ruf nach der demokratischen Kontrolle der Organisationen durch entsprechende Organe wird immer lauter.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) brings unprecedented opportunities to the country. Together with 14 other states, Australia joins the world's largest trade partnership ever created, tapping into 2.2 billion consumers and 30 percent of the world's GDP.

In a speech at this year's Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese set out a balanced approach to handling China's aggressive regional expansion: 'Australia's ...

Hamas's surprise attack on October 7 upended three major developments that had been taking place in the Middle East.

The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 represents a major geopolitical shift for the country's immediate neighbours and the wider region. Neighbouring countries have expressed deep concern about the security threats emanating from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and about …

We're told that this is a problem and that something must be done: Northern schools get less funding than those in London, report revealsAnalysis found that pupils in London received 9.7 per cent more funding than those in the North on averageGosh, how dastardly. This is from the Child of the North group for an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). From the report: Schools in London received an average of £6,610 per pupil compared to £6,225, £5,956, and £5,938 in theNorth East, North West, and Yorkshire & The Humber, respectively.A thought did hit us. There's London weighting on teacher pay isn't there? In fact there would be on all pay, support staff and so on. Umm, London weighting runs from - measured by Mk I Eyeball, no more accurate than that - 10% in the fringe to 30% in the centre. And teacher pay is half of schooling costs and also: Expenditure on teachers and education support staff accounts for around two-thirds of all school spending, and in a tenth of schools it accounts for over three-quarters. So split the difference there on the London zones and pay is 20% higher, pay is 50% of costs and that explains a 10% difference overall. Which is what is being complained about, a 10% difference in funding. We did read the report. We looked at footnotes. We found no mention at all of the London Weighting. That could be our eyesight, we don't claim perfection. But our basic reaction here is come along now people, the APPG isn't even trying here, is it? So, having solved the iniquity of regional education funding what time's the footie start?

In July 2023, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced the Inter-American Development Bank Transparency Act seeking to limit Chinese influence at the IDB — a regional financial institution established in 1959 at the request of Latin American leaders to promote development in the region.U.S. policy makers are right to be concerned about some of China's activities in the region and interactions through the IDB, which today is owned by 48 sovereign states. Likewise, during her presentation to the House Armed Services Committee, U.S. Southern Command Commander, General Laura Richardson, noted that the United States should seek to maximize its shares in the recently voted on IDB capital increase as a means of countering China. However, Washington must be careful in how it approaches China's engagement in regional organizations lest it undermine U.S. interests and the ability of regional organizations to address the challenges that are facing the Americas.China joined the Inter-American Development Bank as a non-borrowing member in 2009 and in its first few years the IDB quickly developed ties to Beijing. Indeed, in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, not only did China engage with the region through the IDB, but was an important source of regional finance.However, in recent years, U.S. policy makers have become increasingly wary of Chinese engagement in the Bank and in the region at large. Not only are U.S. leaders concerned about Chinese influence, but also about Chinese firms winning a disproportionate share of IDB-funded infrastructure contracts — receiving approximately $1.7 billion in contracts between 2010 and 2020 compared to just $249 million won by U.S. firms.It is important to note, however, that while U.S. firms win 61% of the IDB contracts that they compete for, they are unlikely to compete for all contracts — thus ceding some to others such as Chinese companies. And Chinese firms often employ Chinese workers, limiting the positive spillovers of these loans to Latin American and Caribbean countries.But given the sizable value of contracts going to Chinese companies, there has been push back from both the United States and other member states within the Bank. In 2019, the IDB canceled its annual meeting in Chengdu due to Beijing's refusal to recognize Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela.Furthermore, in 2020, the bank elected U.S. citizen and vocal China critic, Mauricio Claver-Carone, as its president — he has since been removed from the role. These efforts put a spotlight on Chinese engagement at the bank and showcased concerns to key U.S. policy makers.The IDB is not the only regional organization in the Americas where China has sought to curry favor. The Americas are home to over 30 regional organizations, forums, and initiatives with overlapping memberships and mandates. While China is only a formal member of two of these organizations, it is a permanent observer in six and there are signs of active engagement with 11 other regional bodies. China has even developed a forum with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to further facilitate its engagement with the region.Also, the IDB isn't even the only regional development bank in the Americas where China engages. China is also a member of the Caribbean Development Bank — where it holds 5.58% of shares and engages in regional projects. It also has actively sought to boost its engagement with the CAF- Development Bank of Latin America through the Belt and Road Initiative and it was recently reported that China was seeking to become a member of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. Given the number of channels that China is engaging Latin America and the Caribbean, simply pushing to limit its engagement through the IDB would be futile.I've been researching the topic and recently authored the report, "When the Dragon Joins the Club," published by the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University.While U.S. policy makers are seeking to curb Chinese influence at the Inter-American Development Bank, the organization's recently elected president, Brazilian economist Ilan Goldfajn, is making it clear that he does not want the bank to become embroiled in U.S.-China geopolitical competition.While it is true that the IDB allows the United States to leverage its funding to greater impact in the region, which can improve U.S. perceptions vis-à-vis China, forcing the bank to engage in a "cold war" between the United States and China will undermine the ability of the IDB to promote regional development or to push for meaningful reform. While the United States has previously leveraged its position in the IDB for geopolitical purposes, doing so makes the bank appear to be an extension of U.S. foreign policy rather than as a tool for Latin American and Caribbean leaders to access critical resources for development and as a purveyor of knowledge on development practices. Pushing for a U.S. president of the IDB, as the Trump administration did with Claver-Carone, already fueled this perception.Furthermore, the IDB is actively engaging with the United States in ways that promote U.S. interests. In September 2023, the IDB launched its "BID for the Americas" initiative aimed at encouraging U.S. companies to engage more and promote regional development through deeper integration across the Americas.In November, the IDB hosted an event on boosting interconnectedness in the Americas in the leadup to the White House's Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Summit. Goldfajn also visited Miami where he sought to build ties between the city and the region, an effort that would further promote regional U.S. trade and interests. He also met with U.S. Southern Command which has recently taken the approach that "economic security is national security." These actions support U.S. regional interests and can boost U.S. influence vis-a-vis China while supporting the IDB's role and not directly putting the bank into confrontation with China.As the United States seeks to curb Chinese influence in the Americas it must be cautious and recognize both the interests of the region and the important role that regional organizations play. Forcing regional organizations, like the IDB, to choose between China and the United States hinders their ability to meaningfully engage on the issues impacting the region. Engaging this way also reeks of the Monroe Doctrine and of U.S. interventionism, perceptions that will undermine U.S. interests and engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean.Instead of seeking to counter Chinese involvement at the IDB, the United States should engage with the bank and the region to develop mechanisms to encourage U.S. companies to integrate with the region and compete for IDB contracts. By showing that the United States wants to engage rather than trying to ban the region from relations with China, U.S. policy makers will not only build closer relationships with the region, but limit Chinese influence in the process.

Last week's terror attacks in Moscow and in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar have once again raised the spectre of international terrorism. According to US officials, both attacks—in which dozens were killed and wounded—were ...

The second commentary in our ongoing symposium on Katharine Millar's Support the Troops: Military Obligation, Gender, and the Making of Political Community. Pinar Bilgin is a professor of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara. She is the author of The International in Security, Security in the International (Routledge, 2016) and Regional Security in the Middle East: … Continue reading The International in Support the Troops

The upcoming Barbie movie is anticipated to take the box office by storm. Something as silly and innocent as a movie about dolls without reproductive organs shouldn't offend anyone, but Vietnam is concerned that, in Barbieland, the ongoing South China Sea disputes appear to have been resolved in favour of China.

We have to hope that Jerome Powell's Fed has learned from that experience. Maybe then it will not make the mistake of keeping interest rates too high for too long and thereby avoid an unnecessary hard economic landing.
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