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Ramesh Thakur

Ramesh Thakur

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Ramesh Thakur, a former United Nations assistant secretary-general, is Emeritus Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. He is the author of The United Nations, Peace and Security: From Collective Security to the Responsibility to Protect. 

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  1. Why Australia Is Burning
    thakur11_Sam MooyGetty Images_australiabushfiremen Sam Mooy/Getty Images

    Why Australia Is Burning

    Jan 9, 2020 Ramesh Thakur argues that the immediate cause of severe bushfires is not climate change, but rather poor land management.

  2. Progressive Phonies
    op_thakur2_ PRAKASH SINGHAFPGetty Images_trudeau Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images

    Progressive Phonies

    Sep 27, 2019 Ramesh Thakur argues that rampant virtue signaling has made the left increasingly vulnerable to moral hypocrisy.

  3. India’s Bad Bet in Kashmir
    Kashmir unrest_AAMIR QURESHI_AFP_Getty Images Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images.

    India’s Bad Bet in Kashmir

    Aug 7, 2019 Ramesh Thakur worries that the removal of the disputed territory's special status will spark a new wave of violence.

  4. New Zealand’s Loss of Innocence
    thakur9_MICHAEL BRADLEYAFPGetty Images Michael Bradley/AFP/Getty Images

    New Zealand’s Loss of Innocence

    Mar 17, 2019 Ramesh Thakur suggests that the killer of 50 Muslim worshipers had two reasons for choosing Christchurch.

  5. India’s Trifecta of Failure
    children education rural india In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images

    India’s Trifecta of Failure

    Feb 20, 2019 Ramesh Thakur says the Modi government's latest caste-based policies highlight deeply entrenched national shortcomings.

  1. galbraith39_rudall30Getty Images_businessmanforest rudall30/Getty Images
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    Economists’ Way Out of the Wilderness

    James K. Galbraith argues that the continued dominance of nineteenth-century thinking has resulted in a catalogue of failure.
  2. benami221_Justin SullivanGetty Images_trump Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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    Trump the Revolutionary Isolationist

    Shlomo Ben-Ami

    America's president subscribes to a brand of isolationism that has waxed and waned throughout US history, but has its roots in the two-century-old Monroe Doctrine. This is bad news for nearly everyone, because it implies acceptance of a world order based on spheres of influence, as envisioned by China and Russia.

     hears echoes of the Monroe Doctrine in the US president's threats to acquire Greenland.
  3. hubbard4_Chen MengtongChina News ServiceVCG via Getty Images_scottbessent Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
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    How the Trump Administration Can Hit Its Growth Target

    Glenn Hubbard urges policymakers to focus on the three pillars of increased productivity.
  4. oneill129_Saul LoebGettyImages_us_treasury Saul Loeb/Getty Images
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    Trump’s First Test Will Be the Bond Market

    Jim O'Neill

    Financial markets and official economic indicators over the past few weeks give policymakers around the world plenty to contemplate. Was the recent spike in bond yields a sufficient warning to Donald Trump and his team, or will they still follow through with inflationary stimulus, tariff, and immigration policies?

     wonders if recent market signals will keep the new administration’s radicalism in check.
  5. ahzhang19_Jaap ArriensNurPhoto via Getty Images_tiktok Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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    The TikTok Boomerang

    Angela Huyue Zhang thinks the US government's ban on the app has left it in an untenable position.
  6. delaney1_Jose JimenezGettyImages_bahamas_dorian Jose Jimenez/Getty Images
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    Turning the Financial Tide for Small Island States

    Maya Delaney & Aminath Shauna tout the potential of green and blue bonds to protect critical ecosystems and build economic resilience.
  7. brown116_Timur MatahariGettyImages_indonesia_free_school_meals Timur Matahari/Getty Images
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    School Meals Provide Food for Thought – and Fuel for Development

    Gordon Brown & Kevin Watkins tout universal nutrition programs in lower-income countries to mitigate a lost decade for poor children.
  8. karl3_Apu GomesGetty Images_LAfires Apu Gomes/Getty Images
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    A House Gutted by Fire

    Terry Lynn Karl blames the inferno now consuming Los Angeles County squarely on greenhouse-gas emissions.
  9. op_janeway17_Natalya KosarevichGetty Images_moneyhandslightbulb Natalya Kosarevich/Getty Images
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    False Economies

    William H. Janeway highlights the high cost of the single-minded focus on efficiency that has come to dominate the discipline.

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