William M. Gumede is Associate Editor at Africa Confidential. He is Research Fellow at the School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He recently released the bestselling book Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC.
It is time to overhaul both the role and management of the World Bank and the IMF. Both institutions' primary clientele are developing countries. Their heads should therefore be selected from developing countries, and the headquarter of both must be moved to the developing world.
Rami George Khouri is a Palestinian-Jordanian and U.S. citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is editor at large, and former executive editor, of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune. An internationally syndicated political columnist and book author, he is also the first director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and also serves as a nonresident senior fellow at the Kennedy School of Harvard University and the Dubai School of Government. He was awarded the Pax Christi International Peace Prize for 2006.
He teaches annually at American University of Beirut, University of Chicago and Northeastern University. He has been a fellow and visiting scholar at Harvard University, Mount Holyoke College, Syracuse University and Stanford University, and is a member of the Brookings Institution Task Force on US Relations with the Islamic World. He is a Fellow of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (Jerusalem), and a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard University Divinity School. He also serves on the board of the East-West Institute, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University (USA), and the Jordan National Museum.
He was editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times for seven years and for 18 years he was general manager of Al Kutba, Publishers, in Amman, Jordan, where he also served as a consultant to the Jordanian tourism ministry on biblical archaeological sites. He has hosted programs on archeology, history and current public affairs on Jordan Television and Radio Jordan, and often comments on Mideast issues in the international media. He has BA and MSc degrees respectively in political science and mass communications from Syracuse University, NY, USA.
The world's finance leaders should consider a realistic way to prompt all governments to publish accurate and honest budgets. Their citizens have a right to know how their money is being spent. The World Bank and IMF are well placed to start this global movement in a credible, consistent way.
Dr. Ali Ettefagh serves as a director of Highmore Global Corporation, an investment company in emerging markets of Eastern Europe, CIS, and the Middle East. He is the co-author of several books on trade conflict, resolution of international trade disputes, conflicts in letters of credit, trade-related banking transactions, sovereign debt, arbitration and dispute resolutions and publications specific to the oil and gas, communication, aviation and finance sectors. Dr. Ettefagh is a member of the executive committee and the board of directors of The Development Foundation, an advisor to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and an advisor to a number of European companies. Dr. Ettefagh speaks Persian (Farsi), English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Turkish.
The IMF and World Bank were designed to promote the principles of capitalist economies by protecting them against socialist and communist management. They became laboratories for economy policy experiments isolated from reality. It didn't work, and it is time to break up the fantasy.
Miriam Leitao is a reporter and columnist for O Globo and Radio CBN in Brazil. She is also a commentator on Globo TV Network and runs her own blog, www.miriamleitao.com, hosted at Globo online at www.oglobo.com.br. She was awarded Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2005.
The planet is now facing an emergency that will affect all humankind. But this may provide an opportunity to address our most difficult challenges together. Mitigating the effects of climate change can also mean addressing poverty and creating new ways of life.
Bashir Goth is a veteran journalist, freelance writer, the first Somali blogger and editor of a leading news website. He is also a regular contributor to major Middle Eastern and African newspapers and online journals.
Despite urbanization, Africa still relies on its farmers and nomadic herders for subsistence. Yet the World Bank pours sums into the hands of corrupt politicians, and the farmers get none. I propose a "clean aid" strategy: fight global warming and corruption together.
Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist. He was born in Jerusalem in 1955. Presently he is a visiting professor at Princeton University in the United States. Mr. Kuttab is the former director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah, Palestine and the founder of AmmanNet, the Arab world's first internet radio station. His personal web page is www.daoudkuttab.com
How about a 10% tax on all those billionaires who can never possibly spend the monies they have amassed. And make it a global tax -- give it directly to the world's poor.
Mubashar Jawed Akbar is a leading Indian journalist and author. He's the founder and editor-in-chief of
The Asian Age, a daily multi-edition Indian newspaper with a global perspective and editor-in-chief of
The Deccan Chronicle, a news daily based in Hyderabad. He has written books including
Blood Brothers,
Nehru: The Making of India,
Kashmir: Behind the Vale,
Riot After Riot,
The Shade of Swords, and
India: The Siege Within.
Could these global economic leaders please find some space in the emerging economies for those who work in production lines and services, who have been displaced by technology?
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