STWR - Share The World's Resources

Where do the politics of the World Trade Organisation negotiations stand now? It appears that the paralysis in multilateral trade talks is leading to yet another North-South (industrialized versus developing country) divide. And we still need a multilateral framework for trade, writes Sophia Murphy.

Most of the countries that have come under the sway of the World Bank have experienced declining development outcomes in recent decades - but this is no accident. The Bank will never be an effective tool in the fight against poverty without fundamental changes in its power structure, argues Jason Hickel.

The IMF has decided to spend a $2.7 billion windfall from selling gold at a high price by subsidising lending to low income countries. The decision was taken at a meeting of the IMF Board in Washington DC on Friday 28 September, according to the Jubilee Debt Campaign.

The economic causes of Egypt's revolution are obscured by political and religion tensions, and barely discussed in the mainsteam media. But the path to genuine development, a fairer distribution of wealth and falling poverty remains open – unless the IMF gets its way, writes Nick Dearden.

A United Nations report slams 30 years of global policies and ineffective recent austerity measures, arguing that reducing the widening gap between the rich and poor is not only necessary for social justice, but is also a precondition for sound economic growth. By UNCTAD.

The extreme neoliberal model has failed to produce economic growth, exacerbated inequality, and is transferring wealth away from the majority of people and into the pockets of big corporations. It is time to support movements for justice, and to get involved, writes Deborah James.

The world is about to get simultaneously bigger and smaller depending on the field of human activity concerned. It won’t be a return to provincialism and a hierarchical society, but this radical re-ordering won’t be easy and may at times be violently resisted, says Jason F. McLennan.