In 1994 and 1995 I attended two Summer Schools on International Political Economy, the second whose official title was “The Politics of Global Finance” (albeit we agreed on a slightly more “neutral” title for the diploma, “International Political Economy”).
In July 1995 I had to prepare a short essay- and my assigned title was: “Hegemony in an Era of Turmoil” (the focus was in global finance, not on military issues).
This article has been in an eternal “draft” state since, well, forever- at least few months.
Actually, the title has been on my whiteboard for at least one week.
Why the wait? Because I live in Brussels, and I wanted to wait the results of the negotiations.
An interesting, curious article on the Wall Street Journal about the 500 EUR banknotes and seignorage made me think about the headless chicken.
As no revisions to the article have been published, I assume that the information that it contains is confirmed- and I wanted to share some comments.
First and foremost: why the title?
Since 2009 I posted few (ok- well over 100) articles.
Eventually, technologies and political options intertwined.
But each bit of technology, and each political development require a couple of interpretation keys: experience in relevant activities, and plenty of readings to update experience.
In the end, each article is semi-self-contained, as there is, [...]
As I wrote before (”viral politics”), integrating XX century politics with the XXI century environment requires sometimes moving beyond the mere reaction to what happens in the “blogosphere”.
Today’s proposed decision has been considered in some quarters worth of Pontius Pilate: it has been defined by various newspapers, from Turkey to Spain and beyond, as a non-decision.
The title of this article is both a provocation and a simple statement of facts.
It is funny to observe as something that was often the most critical issue with startups and growing SMEs is now visible in sensibly larger organizations.
The issue? The temptation of reducing risk by spreading too thin across multiple line of activities.
In theory, this could mean having multiple “fall-back” opportunities, should one or more of the alternatives fail to deliver the expected results.
In reality, this implies that you have multiple initiatives to coordinate- a tough call, made even more difficult to manage if you are within a competitive environment, where external issues could require a constant refocus.
In this article, taking the lead from the first public speech of the European President, a “what if” story on the application of the streamlining approach to the external relations of the EU 27.
This part of the AGB2009 series (see the presentation)
AGB2009: evolving alliances
BACKGROUND
In business, alliances are often a matter more of opportunity than choice- the lesser of two evils.
ABSTRACT
The lifespan of an alliance? Have a quick look at the European alliances since the French revolution: few alliances lasted more than a generation.
Also if we are now used to see NATO as long-term relationship, slightly more than 60 years ago the first seeds of the alliance, during the African side of WWII, didn’t seem promising: a coordination nightmare.
The old joke, that NATO was created to keep the Germans in and the Russians out is but part of the reason why, in the end, the bloc was able to operate also beyond its original purposes.
We are heading toward interesting times but, as usual, time is the main constraint.
It is a small world- and, moving online, borders become even more irrelevant.
There are some calls to stifle innovation by creating artificial online borders- but it is akin to re-instating border controls within Schengen: a temporary, cumbersome, and annoying palliative.
AGB2009: Bridges
Sunday, November 1st, 2009This part of the AGB2009 series (see the presentation)
AGB2009: BRIDGES
BACKGROUND
I know what some of the locals would say.
But, on an overall “helicopter view”, it is irrelevant.
ABSTRACT
Mixing change in politics and business is always a risky affair- and I am not referring to the tulip craze.
Just read the enclosed bibliography.
I might be wrong- but changing a culture requires a long-term view, that sometimes requires more real-politik and less short-term results.
Tags: AGB2009, china, european, gorbachev, india, israel, politik, real, russia, turkey, union, usa
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