Andrew Cooper

It is tempting to think that good ideas will prevail, even (or especially) in technical issues such as those on the global financial governance agenda. Yet this type of advance may prevail in areas such as those relating to the highly complicated but vital "Basel III" framework, so-called because it...

I have been in Mexico City for a pre-G20 event at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). This conference, among many other matters, allowed me to reflect on the status of the country that has become a significant outlier at the global top table: Argentina. On top of the...

The intense controversy over the praise accorded to Fidel Castro by Ozzie Guillen, manager of baseball's Miami Marlins (in an interview with Time magazine) illustrates the wide-spectrum of reactions to the intrusion of figures from the world of entertainment into the world of global politics.

When celebrities...

I have been spending the last few days in Singapore at a very interesting conference sponsored by Nanyang Technological University and the Asian Development Bank Institute on the theme of the evolving de-centralized global economic architecture. Such a theme highlights the interest that a small but smart state such as...

Two trials that connect small states to different dimensions of financial mismanagement have grabbed my attention in the last few weeks.

The first -- the trial of Geir Haarde -- the former Prime Minister of Iceland -- focuses attention on who or what is culpable for a financial...

France has a long history of exceptionalism. But the manner by which the campaign against the earnings of the rich has been conducted in the current French presidential campaign embellishes the image of uniqueness. In most countries, the backlash against extreme inequality has come from the bottom up, as projected...

Youssou N'Dour's thwarted bid for the presidency of Senegal deserves attention in and outside Africa. By any standards N'Dour is a major hybrid musical/activist celebrity very different from the stereotypical image of the dominant "Big Man" in African politics.

Not only is N'Dour a 2005 Grammy winner...

The beginning of the New Year brings an opportunity akin to other pundits about how trends or results will come to the fore in 2012. Given the enormous range of possibilities, I will limit my choices to the country level, options that leave out questions about the fortunes of specific...

The Greek tragedy of sovereign debt, the overlay of a potential for regional recession, social turmoil, perceptions of structural corruption, and political theatrics and brinkmanship is all too familiar. This is reminiscent of Argentina in 2002, which remains the largest sovereign debt default in economic history. This comparison should give...

A week is a long time in global summitry. This reality is dramatically captured in the performance of President Barack Obama and the shift from the Cannes G20 to the Hawaii meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

At Cannes, President Obama performed as a distracted, only partially-engaged participant,...

The first day of the French G20 is a good indication the U.S. is losing its dominant role -- and even strong interest -- in the G20. By way of contrast, with the pivotal role that the U.S. enjoyed in the time-span from the original Washington, DC in November 2008...

Two major waves of high profile activists are trying to change the way financial institutions do business.

The first is a bottom-up wave, with prominent individuals from the world of entertainment notably the filmmaker Michael Moore and the actress Susan Sarandon joining in with the Occupy Wall Street campaign.

Although...

Happiness is grabbing an enormous amount of attention in terms of global public policy. A resolution passed at the UN General Assembly in July stated that "the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal" embodying the globally agreed targets in the Millennium Development Goals.

UN member-states, along...

When massive financial shocks hit three years ago -- punctuated by the collapse of Lehman Brothers on Sept. 15, 2008 -- scenarios were ripe concerning new forms of heroic political leadership.

At the core of the call for a revamped G20 was the notion that only...

Bono's hybrid life was fully on display in Toronto last Friday.

His life with U2 was presented in the form of the documentary From the Sky Down as the opening gala screening at the TIFF -- with the Irish front man showing that he could still do a stellar...

The post-Cold War years were good for the fortunes of small countries. Small states did indeed seem beautiful in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The end of bipolarity and the competing alliances ended the vulnerability of small countries to choose between bandwagoning with or balancing against either the U.S. or...

There have been a number of extremely positive signs that Canada is at last seriously engaging the BICS (BRICs minus Russia), the ascending countries of Brazil, India and China. After a period of time where Canadian governments either ignored or alienated this important constellation of states an impressive shift has...

A well-publicized list of western celebrities has attracted enormous attention for their engagement in African development as well as peace and conflict issues.

Many of these celebrities have received abundant coaching from international organizations notably United Nations specialized agencies such as UNICEF and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees....

Top-tier athletes from traditionally powerful countries such as the U.S. and the UK appear to have a wide range of choice in terms of public life.

Besides those who have become robustly engaged in celebrity activism such as David Beckham, others are marked by a decided reluctance to get involved....

There are serious obstacles for celebrity activists from non-Western countries in gaining a global audience.

Psychological issues present formidable barriers even for stars from big emerging countries like Brazil China and India -- the core of the so-called BRICS.

Some of these constraints are generic -- an adverseness...