Country And Regional Studies
History rhymes on Greek debt
Just about everyone agrees that the Greek problem has been kicked down the road again, and probably not even very far.
The fantasy nature of the 'agreekment' is clear. Let's put…
Russia gives way to China in BRICS and SCO
This month saw a super summit of two organisations that are significant for both Russia and China. The 7th BRICS summit and 15th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit,…
Things only get worse for Greece as migrant smuggling surges
In a week in which international news focused on the Greek debt crisis and the possibility of a Grexit, scant attention has been paid to the arrival from Turkey of thousands of…
Five points that get lost about the Greek debt crisis
Rather than focus on the blow-by-blow developments of the umpteenth meeting in the Greek crisis, here are some higher level issues that often get lost in the summitry din:
At…
MRC bows out of Don Sahong discussions
There has been little news of the much criticised proposed dam at Don Sahong in the far south of Laos since the beginning of the year, when the Mekong River Commission (MRC)…
Indonesia under SBY: Stability, stagnation, or both?
'What's in a name?' Shakespeare's Juliet asks. Quite a lot, as things turned out for her. And so it is for the just-published proceedings of the ANU Indonesian Update, titled The…
Still debating inequality, 40 years on
Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-first Century put inequality centre-stage in the economic debate. But the topic has been around for a long while. Brookings has recently…
Asian economies still growing
Despite gloomy talk about slowing economic growth, Asia has continued to grow strongly, and the IMF has forecast this will continue this year and next.
Asia is still by far the…
What the G20 can do about infrastructure
Infrastructure is now a standard item on the G20 agenda. Serious infrastructure shortages are ubiquitous. With global economic growth slow, ample construction capacity and…
With Greece on the brink, has the IMF learnt its lesson?
With Greece once again teetering on the brink of default, a recent paper from the Centre for International Governance Innovation explores one episode in the amazing saga of how…