Guinea's Great Game
Written by Benjamin Wishart Edited by Camilo Pallasco-Prophette Resource nationalism, Sino-American rivalry and the limits of sovereign statecraft between resource curse and resource imperialism Guinea-Conakry presents one of the starkest paradoxes in African political economy. It sits atop some vastly valuable resource endowments: the world's largest bauxite reserves, and the highest-grade untapped iron ore in the Simandou mountains - and yet it remains tethered to the botto
The GDP trap: why Starmer cannot change what he will not question.
Written by Billy Gilbey Edited by Bhing Turongpun The core of Starmer’s government can be found in the Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto. The front-cover contains only a picture of Starmer and the word “change”. More precisely, change for Starmer is the recovery of “two fundamental beliefs"[1] - “first, that politics should be driven by a sense of service"[2], and secondly that Britain must “respect your contribution and give you a fair chance."[3] Workers’ ‘fair chance’, the man
Facing Constraints: Risks of Rising Debt Levels
Written by Max Bardong Edited by Bhing Turongpun Government debt can be something extremely useful. Most notably, debt helps finance government spending that goes beyond tax revenues, i.e., spending that would otherwise require higher taxes. The most well-known application of this goes back to John Maynard Keynes: in economic crises with high unemployment, Keynes advocated for increased government spending to make up for low aggregate demand and stimulate private consumption
