Following release of the Stern Report which foreshadowed a range of new taxes to deal with what were said to be the inevitable effects of climate change, a former British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Nigel Lawson, gave a lecture challenging alarmist predictions about climate change, and calling for governments to adopt sensible policies. Lord Lawson This is…
Commodification of human life THE BABY BUSINESS:How money, science, and politics drive the commerce of conceptionby Debora L. Spar(Harvard Business School Press)Hardcover: 302 pagesRec. price: $49.95 The fact that this book is published by the Harvard Business School and the author is a professor there tells us much about how this topic is broached. The…
The state of the American alliance THE PARTNERSHIP:The inside story of the US-Australian alliance under Howard and Bushby Greg Sheridan(New South Wales University Press, 2006)Rec. price: AUD$29.95 In The Partnership, Greg Sheridan, The Australian’s Foreign Editor, has written a most informative account of the current state of the Australia-US alliance, and the political consequences of…
For most of the 1990s, US foreign and economic policy was based on two assumptions: first, that a healthy economy and sound financial system make for political stability, and second, that countries in business together do not fight each other. The number one priority of US foreign policy was clear: to encourage the former Communist countries of Europe and the developing nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa to adopt business-friendly policies. Private capital would then flow from the developed world into these countries, creating economic growth and jobs. When free enterprise took hold, so the argument went, traditional grievances,…
Colin Teese, a former deputy-director of the Department of Trade, recently addressed the Australian Innovative Farming Conference sponsored by the Nuffield Farming Scholars Association. The conference focus was on “Globalisation and its impact on Australian farming”. The following is an edited version of his paper. Australia has chosen to allow its domestic agricultural policy to be driven by international trade policy. Don’t let anyone tell you that this change is a consequence of globalisation and that our government has no control over it. The choice was ours, and our farmers are paying a terrible price for what amounts to a…
THUNDER FROM THE SILENT ZONE: Rethinking Chinaby Paul MonkMelbourne: Scribe PublicationsPaperback: 336 pagesRec. Price: $35.00 Paul Monk, one of Australia’s most original strategic thinkers, worked until 2000 in the Defence Intelligence Organisation, becoming head of China analysis and chairman of the inter-agency working group on China, where he was directly involved in the preparation of…
