Archives: Publications

Reading Piketty I: A Concise and Comprehensive Summary of Capital and Ideology

In this summary, Walden Bello distills the key ideas and data contained in Thomas Piketty’s monumental work Capital and Ideology. The French economist deserves to be read by more people, but many have neither the time nor energy to work through this sprawling 1,042-page classic. This short volume is …

‘Big Tech’ & the Global Economy: A Primer

Global economic development has been going through a process of rising polarisation. Countries in the global South are far from being able to catch up with the global North, where digital technology companies are the new corporate giants. How does the digitalisation of the economy contribute to the …

Ten years of Nyéléni—Much to Celebrate!

A decade ago, the movements of peasants, fisherfolk, shepherds, women, migrants, workers, young people, and indigenous peoples sowed a crucial seed in the defence of Food Sovereignty and the right to food—the Nyéléni Newsletter.  During this ten year germination period, we have shared challenges, ex …

Busting the myths around the Energy Charter Treaty

A guide for concerned citizens, activists, journalists and policymakers The ECT was signed over two decades ago without much public debate. It protects all investments in the energy sector, including coal mines, oil fields and gas pipelines. Any state action that harms a company’s profits from these …

AFTER TRUMP: What the Global South Can Expect from Joe Biden

It would be a mistake for progressives in Asia to assume that the Biden presidency would steer the US in a direction that would boost, or even align, with their struggles for justice, human rights, public interest and peace domestically, regionally and globally. The Biden and Trump models of governa …

The Bretton Woods Twins in the Era of COVID-19: Time for an Exit Strategy for the Global South?

As they mark their 76th year, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been presented with a grand opportunity, not to save the world, but to salvage their tattered reputation. The Fund enters the annual IMF-World Bank meetings with a big image problem. Covid-19 presented the Fund wit …

Rogue Capitalism and the Financialization of Territories and Nature

Climate change, social inequalities and the democratic crisis – the critical global challenges of our times – are all tied to an economic system that is dominated by financial markets. Today, global finance is not only fueling environmental destruction, but also leading to ever-increasing dispossess …

Defending Food Sovereignty

While food sovereignty has long been practised at the grassroots level, the concept has not won the popular support needed to significantly influence government policies and programs as a step towards more meaningful systemic change and transformation. One obvious reason is that capitalist interests …

RCEP vs TPPA: Lessons for e-commerce in the WTO (Hindi Version)

This is the Hindi translation of Important differences between the final RCEP electronic commerce chapter and the TPPA and lessons for e-commerce in the WTO, by Professor Jane Kelsey, Faculty of Law, The University of Auckland.

After COVID-19: Can we tame global finance?

The Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated how irrational the financial sector has become. Even as the real economy has ground to a halt, stock prices have gyrated wildly, first collapsing, then shooting up. Even as hundreds of millions suffer, big tech corporations like Apple are gaining in value and ri …