Welcome to World Policy’s weekly newsletter, featuring the latest news from across our major platforms—media, programming, and fellowship.
Around the World
In the aftermath of Nepal’s earthquake, Kunda Dixit, editor of Nepali Times, tells World Policy about his hopes for major political changes in how his nation is ruled. After all, he argues, “natural disasters have a cathartic effect on countries in turmoil.” In this case, it may push Nepal’s government to resolve its disagreements and potentially pass a new and improved constitution.
Across the globe, the U.S. has officially assumed its two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council. But Klaus Dodds of the University of London explains how “near-Arctic” actors and other external forces could complicate the American term in power. Since the Ukrainian crisis began, the Arctic has been increasingly used as a stage for larger geopolitical wars affecting nations beyond the region.
Finally, in this week’s episode of World Policy On Air, the promise of normalized relations between the United States and Cuba poses enormous opportunities for both American business and the people of the long-isolated island nation. Lawrence Gutman speaks with host David Alpern about business leadership in the context of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's recent visit.
Around the Institute
Last week, Diana Glassman, a member of the Board of Directors, coined the term “Chief Sustainability Officer 2.0” at the Conference Board Sustainability Summit. The CSO 2.0 delivers “the 5R’s that every CEO is interested in—Revenue, Recruiting, Retention, Reducing Costs, and Reputation.” This newest thinking follows her groundbreaking work linking quantified business results to environmental engagement while Head of Environment at TD Bank.
Meanwhile, this week, on behalf of the Walter Eberstadt World Economic Policy Program, Sherle Schwenninger hosted a special World Economic Roundtable on “Shifting Gears to Growth in Europe: Opportunities and Challenges of Investing in Europe and Central/Eastern Europe,” featuring Harm Bandholz, Chief US Economist at Unicredit, and Michael Buhl, Joint CEO of the Vienna Stock Exchange. Reflecting the overall theme of the meeting, Bandholz explained the policy changes in Europe that are improving the economic outlook in many European countries, while Buhl provided an update of important investment developments relating to specific sectors of the Central European economy.
Fellow Updates
Alon Ben-Meir explores the rise of anti-Semitism and Israel’s moral imperative to address it in Huffington Post.
Greg Lindsay will speak at NAIOP’s “Cities, Smartphones and 787s: The Technologies Driving How We Move and Live Today” Conference on May 20 at the Four Seasons Seattle. To register for the event, click here.
Jim Nolt argues that understanding bulls and bears, two competing forces within the market, can help explain the world’s worst financial crisis in his latest for Polarizing Political Economy.
Damaso Reyes’ current project, The Europeans, documenting how Europe is changing, opened at the Saldahna Gallery in the Fort Dunree Military Museum in Inishowen, Ireland on Saturday May 2. The show, which runs through June 1, will feature prints as well as multimedia audio-visual pieces produced by Reyes from material he has gathered over the last ten years from European countries including Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Ukraine. A gallery of his images was featured in The Irish Times.
*Please note there were will be no newsletter next week. World Policy Institute will be on its exploratory trip in Cuba. Details about the trip and new Cuba programming will follow.
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