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Harold James

Harold James

Writing for PS since 2001
229 commentaries
2 videos & podcasts

Harold James is Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University. A specialist on German economic history and on globalization, he is a co-author of The Euro and The Battle of Ideas, and the author of The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization Cycle, Krupp: A History of the Legendary German FirmMaking the European Monetary Union, The War of Words, and, most recently, Seven Crashes: The Economic Crises That Shaped Globalization (Yale University Press, 2023).

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  1. How Trump’s Anti-Globalism Could Backfire
    james_Chip SomodevillaGetty Images_trump Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    How Trump’s Anti-Globalism Could Backfire

    Jan 27, 2025 Harold James thinks the new administration's approach could jeopardize the foreign capital flows that America depends on.

  2. Shock Therapy for Multilateralism
    james225_AnadoluGettyImages_un_security_countil_meeting Anadolu/Getty Images

    Shock Therapy for Multilateralism

    Jan 2, 2025 Harold James considers what another Donald Trump presidency will, and will not, mean for global cooperation.

  3. Is America the Next Soviet Union?
    james224_Francis LochonGettyImages_ussr_dolls Francis Lochon/Getty Images

    Is America the Next Soviet Union?

    Nov 28, 2024 Harold James sees parallels between the United States’ political dysfunction and that of its twentieth-century adversary.

  4. Fascism in Our Time
    james223_Win McNameeGetty Images_fascism Win McNamee/Getty Images

    Fascism in Our Time

    Oct 28, 2024 Harold James emphasizes the similarity of US business leaders’ behavior to that of their counterparts in 1930s Germany.

  5. Trump’s Tariffs Are an Opportunity for Harris
    james222_Win McNameeGetty Images)_debate Win McNamee/Getty Images)

    Trump’s Tariffs Are an Opportunity for Harris

    Oct 7, 2024 Harold James urges the Democratic presidential candidate to reject the new consensus against free trade.

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  1. cnobre2_CARL DE SOUZAAFP via Getty Images_amazonfire Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images

    The Amazon’s Future Will Be Decided in 2025

    Carlos Nobre & Marielos Peña-Claros warn that the world's largest rainforest is reaching a tipping point, beyond which it will largely disappear.
  2. zizek42_Andrej IsakovicGettyImages_serbia_student_protests Andrej Isakovic/Getty Images

    The New Face of Protest

    Slavoj Žižek

    The mass student protests that have swept Serbia since last November are distinctly “apolitical,” because their goal is to create the conditions for a new politics, rather than settle for another version of the same old game. Young Serbs understand that neither justice nor democracy is possible until the tables have been cleared.

    contrasts the pioneering mass student demonstrations in Serbia with widespread private resignation in China.
  3. lee54_Ed JonesGettyImages_korea_elderly_worker Ed Jones/Getty Images

    Reaping Asia’s Silver Demographic Dividend

    Lee Jong-Wha urges governments to develop integrated policies that encourage older adults to stay in the workforce.
  4. ekue1_Peter DazeleyGettyImages_green_jar_coins Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

    Getting Green Investment Where It’s Needed Most

    Serge Ekué & Javier Díaz Fajardo propose a strategy to redirect all financial flows toward the climate transition.
  5. kallot1_pixdeluxeGetty Images_africaAI pixdeluxe/Getty Images

    The Global South Needs to Own Its AI Revolution

    Kate Kallot explains how these countries can advance a community-driven approach to the emerging technology.
  6. adebajo13_Alexis HuguetGettyImages_goma_m23_conflict Alexis Huguet/Getty Images

    Africa’s Year of Warlords and Meddlers

    Adekeye Adebajo foresees growing instability and more foreign interference on the continent in 2025.
  7. basu109_Matt CardyGetty Images_socialmedia Matt Cardy/Getty Images

    Playing at Democracy

    Kaushik Basu explains how a well-known children's game illustrates the logic of today's emerging oligarchies.
  8. gros195_StockbyteGettyImages_deregulation_red_tape Stockbyte/Getty Images

    The Revolt Against Regulation

    Daniel Gros explains why the new push for deregulation in the United States and the European Union may not help either.
  9. sherwin14_Andrew HarnikGetty Images_trump Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    Donald Trump’s Misrule of Law

    Richard K. Sherwin

    By insisting on its own supremacy, the executive branch of the US government under President Donald Trump is effectively seeking to alter America’s constitutional framework of checks and balances among co-equal branches of government. Trump has no authority to execute this change, but that will not be enough to stop him.

    observes that the president's claim of supremacy over the courts amounts to tossing out the US Constitution.

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