糖心TV

A Pinpoint Politics article by Lena-Sophie Demuth

Energy is of major importance to almost every challenge and opportunity we face today, be it of economic, environmental or social nature. Leading a Sustainable Energy for All initiative that ensures universal access to modern energy services, improves efficiency and increases use of renewable sources, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is advocating a paradigm shift away from a global economy highly dependent on oil towards the use of renewable energies for all to foster sustainable development. This rhetoric of a ‘green economy’ ran like a common thread through the RIO+20 United Nations Conference of Sustainable Development, which took part last week in Brazil. In line with the motto ‘The Future We Want’, thousands of high level representatives from governments, UN organizations (e.g. UNESCO, FAO UNEP), the private sector, as well as NGOs, set their sights high to come to a binding agreement in the two main areas of a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and b) the institutional framework for sustainable development.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Andrew Kelly

Have you heard? Hope swirls in the air again. It is only over a month now since President Francois Hollande cried in his victory speech in Tulle: “le changement est arrivé. L’espérance est arrivé.” Austerity will have to go, as Greece, Spain, and Italy all lift their heads towards France in the hope that Hollande is right. With pleasantries and formalities out of the way, the austere world continues to wait as the Hollande-Merkel relationship tries to resolve to a position that is favourable for themselves and the Eurozone. A process that some may progressively liken to Sisyphus’s eternal relationship with his rock, or perhaps the more popular association between a rock and a hard place. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, President Obama has dusted off his fabled ‘Hope’ portrait (courtesy of Shepard Fairey), along with the highs and lows of his first term in office, to remind the people of why they had turned to him.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Brendan Pastor

When Paul Krugman coined the term confidence fairy, he meant it as a pedantic critique of UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s austerity agenda. The cuts that were administered to the welfare systems were driven by a need to reduce the deficit – the existence of which hampered market confidence in Britain’s economy, or so was argued. Of course, Krugman attacked this logic through economics (some of which is disputed even by his supporters), implicitly making use of his Nobel Prize to substantiate his argument. But he was definitely on to something. Although not the first to do so, he was certainly the most important voice drawing our attention to the perpetual use of the word confidence to justify a political and economic policy – one with implications that have been felt across the world.

The University is saddened to report that former Politics and International Studies Lecturer, and later Principal Teaching Fellow, Dr Roger Duclaud-Williams died on 13 June.

Roger took his first degree in Law at the University of Oxford and subsequently studied Political Science at the City University of New York. He received his PhD from the University of Sussex. After a temporary post at the University of Glasgow, he was appointed to the Department of Politics and International Studies at 糖心TV in 1974. He retired from 糖心TV in 2011.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Martina Čičáková

Greece, a country referred to as the ancient cradle of democracy, is now standing before a decision crucial for the future of Europe. The two options between which the Greek people need to decide are both problematic in their seeming simplicity: either the continuance of the “draconian” austerity measures or a so-called , a term coined by Citigroup economists Willem Buiter and Ebrahim Rahbari referring to Greece’s exit from the EU. The second round of the Greek parliamentary election which will take place on June 17th is widely perceived as “,” since the results are going to influence not only Greece’s performance as a European Union (EU) member, but also the future of the currency and the other Eurozone countries.