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The Washington Consensus has been wobbly for some time, challenged by abundant research COMMENT | DANI RODRIK, LAURA TYSON & THOMAS FRICKE | Paradigm shifts in mainstream economic thinking usually accompany crises demanding new answers, as occurred after stagflation – low growth and high inflation – gripped advanced economies in the …

As the world rushes to it for lithium and more, here is how the continent should deal with the demand COMMENT | JAMES BOAFO, ERIC STEMN JACOB OBODAI & PHILIP NTI NKURUMAH | Global demand for critical minerals, particularly lithium, is growing rapidly to meet clean energy and de-carbonisation objectives. Africa …

COMMENT| Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko | For over sixty decades, from the Mali Empire through to the OAU Summit of May 1963 and incrementally to date, African unity has remained but a collective dream. One that has been sustained more by a recognition of its essence rather than a conviction for its …

Pandemics, wars, and widespread ecological breakdown, and worse force us to ask that big question COMMENT | SLAVOJ ZIZEK | I fought for years with and for Julian Assange. But upon hearing that he has regained his freedom, my first thought was that he is returning to a world that looks – …

But earlier this month, the 194 members of the WHO World Health Assembly passed several International Health Regulations COMMENT | MICHAEL BAKER & ALEXANDER GILLESPIE | The international community’s recent failure to conclude a global pandemic agreement leaves large gaps in our capacity to deal with the next major infectious disease …

The recent Putin-Kim summit has roots in an earlier 1950s alliance when Moscow and Pyongyang took on the US COMMENT | ROBERT BARNES | The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, recently spent two days in Pyongyang, meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and signing a “comprehensive strategic partnership”. Few details …

Many people have less reason to identify themselves only with what the workplace affords them COMMENT | JAMES LIVINGSTON | Critics of identity politics argue that close attention to matters of race, gender, and sexuality distracts from “real” politics, by which they typically mean the struggle between labour and capital over …

A lack of global norms leaves Uganda’s government able to manipulate social media COMMENT | SOLOMON WINYI | Uganda is facing many of the same challenges with social media as other countries but the lack of globally accepted regulations has left a path for an authoritarian regime to stifle the public …

COMMENT | Olivia Nalubwama | The member of parliament (MP) position is so exalted and privileged that elected MPs automatically earn the title of ‘Honourable’ before proving their capacity for honour. Over the past week, Rakai District Woman MP Honorable Juliet Kinyamatama has faced a baptism of fire and brimstone owing …

The perceived threat of artificial intelligence seems greater compared to past technological breakthroughs COMMMENT | JOSHUA GANS |  The arrival of new technologies tends to stoke widespread anxiety, most commonly about automation and displacement of human workers. The Luddites at the beginning of the industrial age are perhaps the most frequently …