The Economic Impact of COVID-19 and the State of Global Poverty

As co-president of the Club of Rome Sandrine Dixson-Declève is singularly well-qualified to speak to the major challenges we confront today and on which, in the search for solutions, we need much stronger levels of international cooperation. Widening income disparities have started to undermine social and political stability, the needs of the extremely poor are not being met, and we are failing to stem the worst consequences of climate change. There is no shortage of solutions, from better use of the tax system to lower income inequality, to the phasing out of wasteful energy and other subsidies, to the use of innovative instruments to finance the transition to a green economy. What is lacking is enlightened leadership, more in tune with the needs of the many, a greater focus on longer-term solutions not driven by short-term profit considerations, and the recognition that the economic and political empowerment of women is vital for the creation of a more secure and stable world.

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Sundeep Waslekar is a distinguished social scientist who has thought a great deal about the causes and the instruments of war and the risks they pose to the future of humankind. He is the recent author of A World Without War, a book published by HarperCollins in which he argues that while the risks of nuclear holocaust have perhaps never been higher, we can reverse course and not commit collective suicide. We need to abandon narrow-minded nationalisms and develop dual loyalties to our nation and the world, where the problems we face required a renewed unity of purpose. In this podcast he convincingly makes the case that “It is possible to turn death into life. It is possible to convert violence into peace. It is possible to transform darkness into light. It is possible to change despair into hope. It is possible to end wars and unite the world.”

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Arunabha Ghosh, an internationally recognized public policy expert, author and columnist is the founder-CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), one of Asia's top climate think-tanks. In numerous reports, articles and speeches, Dr. Ghosh has convincingly argued that confronting the challenges of climate change will require better policies at the national level and massive levels of cooperation between government and businesses and between nation states across international borders. We will need to address the linkages between the growth of renewable energy and our changing geopolitical landscapes, the role of investment and finance in creating a green future, and persuade ourselves that pessimism at the lack of progress in reducing emissions is not an option. A green future is not an end in itself, but rather the means to an end: a more prosperous and secure future for all. The time to act is now.

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Rebecca Shoot, Executive Director of Citizens for Global Solutions, a US-based organization closely aligned with the ideals of the world federalist movement, is an international lawyer and democracy and governance practitioner with extensive experience supporting human rights, democratic processes, and the rule of law on five continents. In a wide ranging interview, she discusses our climate emergency, the need to give the United Nations a greater role in advancing disarmament, the role of the International Court of Justice in the peaceful settlement of international disputes and how to boost the role of women in global security initiatives. The role of youth in helping us bring about a more hopeful future is also an important core message.

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Andrew Strauss, Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Dayton School of Law, and a graduate of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs discusses why setting up a global parliament, perhaps initially by a core group of 20-30 countries, would significantly strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the system that underpins our mechanisms of international cooperation. It could be a powerful antidote to the world-wide spread of ethno-nationalist-authoritarianism and be a catalyst for strengthening a “holistic planetary consciousness, sensitive to the practical urgency of human unity.”

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Michael Mandelbaum, a distinguished author with seminal contributions to a better understanding of some of the world´s most intractable problems, discusses why we are failing in our efforts to protect the planet from the calamities of climate change and what to do about it. He also analyzes our unsettled global security situation and the risks for an acceleration of nuclear proliferation and the implications of this for world peace. He comments on the role that the United Nations can play in reconciling national interests with those of the international community, at a time of growing interdependence and interconnectedness. In this interview professor Mandelbaum is articulate and cogent, helping us better understand the background and origins of the great challenges of our age, as an important step to help us frame durable solutions.  

Find Michael's latest book The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy on Amazon.

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Steven Phelps is an American physicist, philosopher and translator holding a Ph.D. in Physics, with a specialization in cosmology, from Princeton University. For over a decade he held a research position in the Physics Department at Technion University in Israel and published original research on the masses of nearby galaxies. He is thus singularly well qualified to explain why science and religion are deeply interconnected aspects of a single reality and how can a better understanding of such connections help unlock human potential and point the way to improved systems of global governance, better aligned with humanity’s spiritual and material progress. 

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Fernando Iglesias is a member of Parliament in Argentina and the Director of the Campaign for a Latin American and Caribbean Criminal Court Against Transnational Organized Crime (COPLA). Pervasive organized crime in the region is a huge drag on social and economic development, has led to sky-high levels of violent crime, as the mafias that fuel drug trafficking, money laundering and bribery operate in many countries with impunity in a context of weak states and scant respect for the rule of law. COPLA could be an instrument to enforce the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, also called the Palermo Convention. Iglesias discusses why COPLA is needed, the challenges of establishing a court in a region where free and powerful mafias have often captured the politicians and other public institutions. What is at stake in a region that, over the past 2 decades, has had one of the weakest economic growth performances in the world and what role has organized crime played in this outcome?

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Cedric Ryngaert is the Chairman of the Department of International and European Law at Utrecht University and the Editor-in-Chief of the Netherlands International Law Review. In this podcast he explores the role of an International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC) as a potentially powerful innovation to our global governance architecture.  The IACC would be an enforcement mechanism for laws which are already in existence, but which often are ignored by kleptocrats who control the judges, the prosecutors, and the police. How would the IACC operate and under what principles? Would the court have asset recovery powers, to seize stolen assets and return them to the people who are the victims of grand corruption?  Could the IACC act even in cases of countries no subject to its jurisdiction? Is sustainable development, as envisaged in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, possible without the eradication of kleptocratic abuse?

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Michael Penn, a professor of psychology and a trained clinical psychologist, explores the evolution of the concept of human rights over the past century and discusses why the unfoldment of a culture of respect for the dignity of the individual is essential to catalyse the creation of conditions in societies that will contribute to human development. Why should the primary role of government be linked to the creation of those conditions that will facilitate the development of people’s latent capacities? Why should we include in our educational systems the concept of altruism and why is authenticity in human relationships at the basis of human progress? How can people avoid becoming stuck in hopelessness and instead feel that they are contributing to building up a sustainable future that will not sap people´s zest for life?

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