News and views from the Blavatnik School of Government community 
The devastating 2019–20 Australian bushfire season seems a lifetime ago. With the vast changes we have seen to our daily lives brought on by the spread of COVID-19, it’s hard to believe the bushfire season only officially ended in March. The extent of the Black Summer bushfires – with an […]
Last year, almost ten years since I was last in the UK, I came back to spend some time at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government as their Caixin Visiting Fellow. In the middle of the Brexit chaos, Britain almost seemed a completely different country. In addition, having grown up in […]
Upon beginning the Blavatnik School of Government’s Master of Public Policy in September, I could have never imagined that I would be back at home in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada only six months later, having traded the ‘Window to the World’ for calls on Zoom and myriad other online platforms. […]
As the world seeks to “build back better” from the COVID-19 crisis, and as China seeks a political re-set with the world, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) must adapt to a new reality. If China embraces and enforces social and environmental standards, its financial support can play a major […]
After COVID-19 there is a risk the world could be yet more divided, conflictual and nationalistic. But an alternative scenario is within reach. In this scenario, collective action within communities and, where necessary, internationally, will make a more rapid and peaceful exit from the crisis possible. The high-risk scenario […]
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted many aspects of our lives and has affected hundreds of economies around the world. The Bank of England announced last week that the UK will probably be hit by one of the worst recessions in the last 300 years (with the crisis wiping out 14 […]
As the coronavirus pandemic devastates health systems worldwide, several governments have called for an independent review of the handling of the international response to the emergence of the novel coronavirus. In particular, such a review would examine the role of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the chief global health coordinating […]
A single virus spurred a global health pandemic of unprecedented proportions in our times. In a matter of weeks since the outbreak, most of the world’s nations, economies, and societies have come to a halt. In an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, many governments around the world […]