As a student, I was intrigued by Newton’s laws of motion. As I grew older, I sought to understand how these laws apply in a real-world setting of economics and politics. I spent my full professional life in this search and held several positions – Minister of Finance, Governor of the Central Bank, Minister of Foreign Affairs. I was decorated over the years with several awards. I had a good education at the London School of Economics and at Harvard University. After it all, I still did not quite comprehend how Newton’s Laws work to advance the quality of life in communities and countries. The Caribbean on The Edge is a reflection of that journey.
I wrote...
The Caribbean on the Edge: The Political Stress of Stability, Equality, and Diplomacy
In a time of persistent uncertainty, fragile eco-structures, the politics of "populism," and limits in institutional leadership, The Caribbean on the Edge acts as an analytical roadmap to a challenging era of globalization for the countries on the edge of history in the Caribbean, those often at a policy standstill pondering which way and how to turn.
Examining various schools of thought that influence policy choices, The Caribbean on the Edge discusses new approaches and risk factors that are aligned with the current realities in the region. Above all, this book is about the development of a new mindset that will usher in a radical shift in thinking, policy, and practice in order to unlock the paralysis of a Caribbean on the edge.
This book is on the same theme as my book, but located in a global frame on the science of politics. I found the chapters capture the contemporary challenges of small states across the world and elucidate on the theory and practice of politics of small states. It is a recent publication that points towards the future. Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of Malta (2013-2020) described the book as follows “giving rise to the apparent dichotomy of small states afflicted by a permanent inferiority complex and perceived as having a political ego inversely proportional to it." It provokes new thoughts and inspires new confidence.
Comprehensive and timely, this Handbook identifies the key characteristics, challenges and opportunities involved in the politics of small states across the globe today. Acknowledging the historical legacies behind these states, the chapters unpack the costs and benefits of different political models for small states.
Contributions from key scholars challenge the idealization of the small state, disputing views that these states are inconsequential at best and a nuisance to world politics at worst. Offering evidence-based discussions on their importance to the global political order, the Handbook explores how small states 'do' politics, the major opportunities and challenges of policy-making and implementation,…
This book explains why small states fail or succeed in world politics, and as such, set the parameters to assess Caribbean diplomacy and its promise and shortcomings. This book adds a compelling framework to my work, and I enjoyed reading this book, which was written "with clarity and rigor," according to noted scholar Anders Wivel.
A complete guide for how small states can be strikingly successful and influential-if they assess their situations and adapt their strategies.
Small states are crucial actors in world politics. Yet, they have been relegated to a second tier of International Relations scholarship. In A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics, Tom Long shows how small states can identify opportunities and shape effective strategies to achieve their foreign policy goals. To do so, Long puts small states' relationships at the center of his approach. Although small states are defined by their position as materially weaker actors vis-a-vis large states,…
This book sets the global challenge due to the Covid -19 pandemic. As such, taken together, the books bring into focus new thinking in the old orthodoxies in economic theory, and their arguments fit together. I believe that the World Economic Forum's claim of ‘inclusivity,' often challenged, could find a ready answer in my book that allows them an opportunity to include the plight of small Caribbean states in their focus.
"COVID-19: The Great Reset" is a guide for anyone who wants to understand how COVID-19 disrupted our social and economic systems, and what changes will be needed to create a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable world going forward. Klaus Schwab, founder and executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, and Thierry Malleret, founder of the Monthly Barometer, explore what the root causes of this crisis were, and why they lead to a need for a Great Reset.
Theirs is a worrying, yet hopeful analysis. COVID-19 has created a great disruptive reset of our global social, economic, and political systems. But…
This book is a penetrating analysis of how economic institutions can foster a resilient economy. It is path-breaking in its search for sustainable development. I find this book to be ‘a bible’ for policy making and for students of economics, and provides a sound theoretical frame for policy initiatives. Linking the theory and practice of economics has been at the center of my main arguments.
This book provides a synthesis of the ‘region’s place in world politics and the global economy.’ Its applicability to the Latin American region in the context of international relations theory is a salient feature of this book which lends credence to these insights in this sense, there is a commonality of thinking in both books, and adds intellectual creditability to the meshing of both logics. It is a key insight.
Current perspectives on Latin America's role in the world tend to focus on one question: Why is Latin America always falling behind? Analysts and scholars offer answers grounded in history, economic underdevelopment, or democratic consolidation. Bagley and Horwitz, however, shift the central question to ask why and to what extent does Latin America matter in world politics, both now and in the future.
This text takes a holistic approach to analyze Latin America's role in the international system. It invokes a combination of global, regional, and sub-regional levels to assess Latin America's insertion into a globalized world, in historical, contemporary,…
I’m a professional historian and life-long lover of early American history. My fascination with the American Revolution began during the bicentennial in 1976, when my family traveled across the country for celebrations in Williamsburg and Philadelphia. That history, though, seemed disconnected to the place I grew up—Arkansas—so when I went to graduate school in history, I researched in French and Spanish archives to learn about their eighteenth-century interactions with Arkansas’s Native nations, the Osages and Quapaws. Now I teach early American history and Native American history at UNC-Chapel Hill and have written several books on how Native American, European, and African people interacted across North America.
A magisterial history of Indigenous North America that places the power of Native nations at its center, telling their story from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue today
Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world in ways that reverberated globally. And, as award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, no civilization came to a halt because of a few wandering explorers, even when the strangers came well armed.
A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. Then, following a period of climate change and instability, numerous smaller nations emerged, moving away from rather than toward urbanization. From this urban past, egalitarian government structures, diplomacy, and complex economies spread…
