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Clive Crook
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2015
The poverty of American presidential politics
The time, effort and money that will be poured into the battle for the U.S. presidency are enormous, but the difference the outcome will make is limited.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2015
Feckless Europe kowtows to China on AIIB
Europe’s decision to support the AIIB over U.S. objections reflects its own weakness more than America’s.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2015
Criminals, frauds taught capitalists about trust
The history of markets is, in part, the history of lying, cheating and stealing — and efforts to fight commercial crime.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2015
Lee Kuan Yew and the myth of Asian capitalism
Singapaore’s Lee Kuan Yew thought a competent meritocratic government should not only provide order but also guide economic development. The success of ‘Asian capitalism’ seems to prove him correct.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2015
Who’ll prevail in the Greece-Europe face-off?
The immediate danger of a run on Greek banks may have eased, but could resume at any point. Neither Europe nor Greece has caved to the other’s economic demands because nothing is decided.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2015
Washington suffers from a tolerance problem
For the next two years, the chances are good that the U.S. government will be almost completely paralyzed.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014
Business Book of the Year is timely but way off target
The economics in Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century,’ chosen the Business Book of the Year by the Financial Times, leaves a lot to be desired. But its timing was fantastic.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2014
Union could unravel over devolution pressure
If the Scottish nationalists had won, they’d have started a risky, costly transition to independence, but the final destination would have been clear. The unionists’ victory avoids that short-term pain but prolongs the constitutional uncertainty.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2014
Europe led by a country that doesn’t want the job
Europe’s stagnant economy and the crisis in Ukraine point to gross failures of leadership. Europe’s de facto and reluctant leader — Germany — is especially to blame.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2014
U.K. should stay in EU until they beg it to leave
The European Union moves under a seemingly irresistible momentum to strengthen its institutions even as it fails to integrate in ways that a well-run single-currency area needs. The best course for Britain is to continue as an EU member for the economic benefits until other members beg it to leave.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2014
U.K. could learn from Canada about destiny
Depending on how it’s done, leaving the EU spans a range of outcomes for the United Kingdom, running from ‘terrible’ all the way up to ‘better than remaining a member.’
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2014
Is the U.K.-Europe marriage beyond salvation?
The nomination of a ‘federalist’ to head the European Commission shows that the EU is institutionally dedicated to the idea of ever closer union, regardless of what its citizens, especially Britons, actually want.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2014
Americans should be worried about polarization
Americans should worry about a new Pew report on political polarization not because there’s too much genuine ideological competition, but because our most energetic citizens appear to be dividing every more coherently into factions that can’t stand each other.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2014
Urge to declare a quick win threatens security
The American urge to declare victory when nobody has won, to divide factions into fast friends and evil enemies, to ground complex decisions into simple, overriding principles rather than complex trade-offs poses a security risk.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2014
Northern Ireland can’t have peace and justice
The bleak truth is that the closest Northern Ireland will get to reconciling irreconcilable principles left over from the Troubles will be to combine a policy of no prosecutions with a tribunal to uncover the truth — along the lines of South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2014
The world’s poor have rights, too
A New York economics professor argues that the West’s efforts to help the poor, or even to understand what holds them back, have been defeated by the failure to recognize them as individuals with rights.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2014
Cameron, Merkel have irreconcilable differences
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made it clear, in a friendly way, that she and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron have incompatible views about the future of the European Union.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2013
Angus Deaton’s ‘The Great Escape’ fetes growth
Angus Deaton’s ‘The Great Escape’ celebrates growth and looks more favorably on aid directed at improving health, because that can address specific failures of market provision.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2013
U.S. obsession with race doesn’t help the poor
In 2013, the factors that deny opportunity in the U.S. to poor blacks affect all poor Americans. Race should be dethroned as the organizing principle for social reform.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2013
Science and politics make for a poisonous mix
Why would a psychology professor believe that science is under attack for its arrogance, vulgarity and narrow vision — from intellectuals and anti-intellectuals alike

Longform

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