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The Global Economy’s Biggest Untapped Resource

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Indermit Gill, Tea Trumbic, Nadia Calviño, Kristalina Georgieva, Odile Renaud-Basso, Rudo Kayombo, Yanis Varoufakis

At the current rate of progress, it will take about 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to deliver full gender equality under the law, and 140 years to achieve equal representation in leadership positions in the workplace, the United Nations reports. This moral failure is compounded by its enormous opportunity cost: a massive improvement in human welfare.

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    How Resilient Is Putin?

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    Anastassia Fedyk , Yuriy Gorodnichenko , Michael R. Strain , Nina L. Khrushcheva , Robin Brooks , Simon Johnson , Ian Buruma

    As Russia prepares for another sham presidential election, the West is introducing new sanctions over the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, considering seizing some $300 billion of Russian central-bank assets, and struggling to overcome political hurdles to continued support for Ukraine. How, if at all, will these developments affect Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on political power?

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    Europe Must Defend Itself

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    Joschka Fischer , Philippe Legrain , Mark Leonard , Daniela Schwarzer

    Donald Trump – who spent his presidency lambasting NATO – recently suggested that he would encourage Russian aggression against NATO allies that had not met their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense. With Trump vying for another term in the White House – and the Ukraine war still raging on the European Union’s doorstep – EU countries can no longer ignore the difficult but essential task of taking charge of their own security.

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    Defensive Democracy

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    Eric Posner , Jan-Werner Mueller , Michael Bröning , Daniela Schwarzer , Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

    As the US Supreme Court weighs whether Donald Trump is eligible to appear on the Colorado primary ballot – and, effectively, to run in this year’s presidential election – Germany is engaged in a heated debate about whether to ban the far-right Alternative für Deutschland. While disqualification of anti-democratic candidates and parties has been the exception in the world’s democracies, has it now become necessary?

  4. GettyImages-1958536297 Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images

    What Will the Next Three Months Mean for Gaza and the Middle East?

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    Shlomo Ben-Ami , Charles A. Kupchan , Mark Leonard

    After months of relentless aerial bombardments and a ground invasion, divisions within Israel over the way forward in Gaza are becoming increasingly apparent, and the international community’s patience appears to be wearing thin. With the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepening – and the risk of regional escalation growing – we asked PS commentators what the next phase of the war may bring.

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    Preventing Big AI

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    Mike Loukides , Tim O'Reilly , Eric Posner , Diane Coyle , Ian Ayres , Aaron Edlin , Robert J. Shiller , Giulio Boccaletti , Carme Artigas , James Manyika , Ian Bremmer , Marietje Schaake

    Predictions that generative artificial intelligence could revolutionize everything from manufacturing to health care, and even upend creative industries, are fast becoming reality. But with every fresh development and novel application seeming to bring new questions and challenges, how can regulators and policymakers uphold the public interest?

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    A New Year of Economic Risks

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    Jim O'Neill , Nouriel Roubini , Mohamed A. El-Erian , Kenneth Rogoff , Indermit Gill , M. Ayhan Kose , Dani Rodrik

    As 2024 begins, most economists and market analysts are significantly more optimistic about the global economy’s prospects than they were a year ago. But growing geopolitical and other risks – all of which threaten developed and developing economies alike – leave no room for complacency.

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    Could Trump Be a Dictator?

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    Sergei Guriev , Aziz Huq , Nicholas Reed Langen , Michael Lind

    During his first term in the White House, Donald Trump tested America’s constitutional system like no president before him. With Trump almost certain to clinch the Republican Party nomination for next year’s election, we asked PS commentators whether that system could hold him in check for another four years.

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    Whac-A-Populist

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    Jacek Rostowski , Soňa Muzikárová , Chris Patten , Ian Buruma , Daron Acemoglu , Eric Posner

    Though Polish voters in October ousted their right-wing populist government, recent elections in Slovakia and the Netherlands show that populism remains as malign and potent a political force as ever in Europe. But these outcomes also hold important lessons for the United States, where the specter of Donald Trump’s return to the White House haunts the runup to the 2024 presidential election.

  10. bp - two state solution Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua via Getty Images

    Is the Two-State Solution Back?

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    Carl Bildt , Raja Khalidi , Anne-Marie Slaughter

    Israel and Hamas have agreed to a hostage-release deal and a four-day pause in fighting – the first since Israel launched its assault on Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack. But, with the specter of more violence and regional escalation looming large, achieving a lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has never been more urgent.

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    The Revenge of the Inflation Doves

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    Joseph E. Stiglitz , Jayati Ghosh , Jeffrey Frankel , James K. Galbraith

    When inflation began to surge in the United States in 2021, battle lines were quickly drawn among economists: some insisted that the price increases were transitory – the result of temporary factors, especially supply-chain disruptions – while others blamed massive fiscal stimulus and called for a forceful monetary-policy response. With new data showing a significant decline in inflation, alongside relatively robust employment and GDP growth, has “team transitory” been proven right?

  12. bq israel hamas Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images

    Will the Israel-Hamas War Spread?

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    Comfort Ero , Negar Mortazavi , Djavad Salehi-Isfahani , Sinan Ülgen

    As Israel’s war against Hamas enters its second month, tensions are running high across the region, with some observers predicting a geopolitical reshuffling, and others fearing a wider Middle East war. We asked PS commentators to assess the likely behavior of Israel’s neighbors and regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey.

  13. bp gaza Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

    Israel Goes to War

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    Peter Singer , Shlomo Ben-Ami , Barak Barfi , Richard Haass

    The latest outbreak of violence between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began just days ago, but the death toll is already in the thousands. With Israel gearing up for prolonged military intervention in Hamas-controlled Gaza, will the massacres the group carried out bring anything but suffering to ordinary Palestinians?

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