News and views from the Blavatnik School of Government community 
Olivier Adam took office as the Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) on 2 January 2017. Growing up during the Cold War, and witnessing the lasting impact of World War II on close family members, Mr Adam holds the UN Charter and the value of peace close to […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that there are essentially two sides to handling the chaos in the health system: trust the government to fulfil his part of the social contract, and rely on solidarity and self-help. In Kyrgyzstan, COVID-19 led to a strong surge of solidarity. Thousands of volunteers got […]
The changing scene of global trade After graduating from high school, I spent the summer of 2011 at the Université de Fribourg in Switzerland. I visited international organisations, interacted with international experts and senior officials, learned about trade and advocacy, and developed an understanding of the role of international organisations […]
The West’s idea of international aid and development as the rich world rightly meeting its ethical obligation to help poor countries to modernise and join the club of developed countries is looking increasingly out of touch with the times. For a start, most aid today is going to people in […]
In theory, there’s no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. A famous example discussed in the past few months has been that of the United States being considered de jure the most prepared country in the world in terms of detecting and responding rapidly to and mitigating […]
War, economic crisis, poverty, political incompetence and endemic corruption have left the Lebanese people feeling hopeless and defeated for many years. The unprecedented explosion that took place on 4 August counting at least 220 deaths, including children, and 7,000 people injured was the final straw. As citizens take to the […]
South Africa is at a crossroads. It is a phrase that has so often been used to describe the myriad of challenges the country has faced over the years: the struggles against apartheid, the dawn of democracy or the scandal-ridden decade under former president Jacob Zuma. Through much of these […]
March was a critical month for the unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world. While the virus started to spread rapidly across different countries, China, Spain and Italy portrayed a sombre future for those that left the virus unchecked. And that seemed to be the case for Brazil. As […]