The BRICS bang! – Signals from BRICS enlargement to South, West and North

By Allgemein, Future of Globalisation

The BRICS group – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – invite six countries to join them for a BRICS+. The final list of invitees is an odd bunch: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran from the Middle East, Argentina from Latin America and Egypt and Ethiopia from Africa, with the former also being an Arab state. This decision on specific members came after apparently tough discussions amongst current membership, as interests varied widely. Yet, the return of geopolitics seems to have revitalised a disparate group. Why (only) these six, what are likely effects on international relations, and who’s benefitting most?

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Photo: Data and graph on a screen, Symbol for open science and dfigitalization

Open Science: A role for the G20 to materialise its global potential?

By Allgemein, Future of Globalisation, , , ,

Photo by Pexels on Pixabay Knowledge cooperation—specifically science cooperation—is a precondition of coordinated efforts for combatting global crises from climate to finance, and from food to public health. Cloud server storage and satellite-based internet connectivity are key technologies to reducing to zero the time and distance necessary to exchange knowledge across the planet. Science could…

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Photo: Landscape

Japan’s climate coalition? – Tokyo’s green chequebook diplomacy campaign is gathering momentum

By Allgemein, Future of Globalisation, , , ,

Addressing a Davos audience last year, in January 2022, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida publicly declared his vision for an Asia Zero Emissions Community (AZEC). Under Tokyo’s leadership, Kishida said, AZEC would drive regional cooperation and joint financing on renewable energy technologies and infrastructure, standardisation, and an emissions trading zone. A year on, Prime Minister…

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Photo: European Parliament, Plenar hall.

The (un)intended effects of EU development cooperation on democracy

By Allgemein, Future of Globalisation, , ,

By CherryX per Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 The EU has long prided itself on being a leading supporter of international democratic change. Its development cooperation budget for the period 2021-2027 has allocated €1.5 billion for a dedicated ‘Thematic Programme on Human Rights and Democracy’. The EU has also joined forces with several of its…

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