Putting resilience at the heart of development
Resilience cannot be built overnight. It takes time. But it is our best chance of locking-in progress made to date, and advancing equitable and sustainable human development, writes Helen Clark.
THE WORLD’S population today is healthier, wealthier, and better educated than ever before. Yet, despite incredible progress, disconcerting realities stubbornly persist. Many people still live in extreme poverty, even where economies are growing rapidly. Over 20 per cent of the world’s population lives in states which are considered fragile and highly vulnerable.
The danger of climate change denial
The cynical campaign to spread misinformation and discredit climate scientists and their work is dangerous, writes Michael E. Mann.
As a climate scientist, I have seen my integrity perniciously attacked, politicians have demanded I be fired from my job, and I’ve been subject to congressional and criminal investigations. I’ve even had death threats made against me. And why? Because I study climate science and some people don’t like what my colleagues and I have discovered. Their attacks on scientists are part of a destructive public-relations campaign being waged in a cynical effort to discredit climate science.
We are not there yet
Though in international comparisons Finland is held up as a country of equality, in Finnish society there are still gender equality paradoxes, writes Pirkko Mäkinen.
In international comparative studies, Finland is often seen as a country of equality. This assessment is based on the fact that there are nearly as many women as men in political decision-making positions. The second reason is a good level of education. In fact, on this front, women are gradually increasing their advantage over men. Thirdly, women participate in working life almost as much as men. Both sexes engage in full time work. This is made possible by a well-functioning day care system.
America in decline?
A Q&A with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to US President Jimmy Carter, in which he talks about the implications of the rise of China and what it means for the United States.
There have been other periods in recent American history where the United States was seen to be in decline – for example, after the launch of Sputnik in 1957, and after the Vietnam War and Watergate. Is the decline of the United States in 2012 more real than it has been in the past?
A history of multiculturalism
This mosaic of people with different religious, cultural and linguistic background has its roots in the pre-independent period of Finland, writes Leif Jakobsson.
MOVING back to Finland and Helsinki after many years abroad, I was frequently asked what I thought about the changes in the city. The change most people were thinking of was that Helsinki had become a more cosmopolitan and more multicultural place to live in. Yes, I could notice more foreign languages spoken in the streets and an added element of people of various ethnic backgrounds. But had the city become more diverse? Absolutely, when it comes to demographics – but not necessarily when it comes to spirit and mentality.
Stephen Elop: Putting Nokia back in the race
Canadian CEO of cellphone pioneer is leading a turnaround effort of epic proportion.
The café area in Nokia’s NOK-N slick, airy headquarters in Espoo, hard by the Baltic Sea just beyond Helsinki, houses a display that traces the evolution of Nokia’s mobile phones. One of the first, from 1985, is portable in the same way a cement block is portable. With a power source the size of a car battery, it weighed 15 kilos and cost in the neighbourhood of $10,000.
The Finnish cult behind culture shock
The concept of Culture Shock turns out to have a fascinating history, writes Edward Dutton.
THERE can’t be many expatriates in Finland who haven’t come across “Culture Shock”. But few realize that it was thought up by an academic who was raised in a Finnish national romantic commune on a wild Canadian island and that it actually keeps alive some of that commune’s utopian ideology. Culture shock can ultimately be traced back to that great cause of it: Finland!
Finland seeks to hide arms trade with Israel
Even as criticism increases regarding Finnish arms trade with Israel, the government has decided both to pursue the arms trade with Israel in the coming months and, in a bold and controversial new manoeuvre, try to pass a law that would make the Finnish-Israeli arms trade a state secret, writes Bruno Jäntti.
Waging peace
Modern technology has changed the face of warfare and politics in dramatic and sinister ways, writes Peter Swirski.
A series of executive orders from the 1970s and 1980s prohibits American commanders-in-chief from ordering assassinations of foreign leaders. So what? Most of them tried anyway, mostly by ineffectual aerial bombing.
Act global, think global
Finland needs to engage more deeply with the world at large, not just for its own sake but to help build trust in international programmes, writes Timo Lappalainen.
I RETURNED to Finland in 2005, having worked abroad for around fifteen years. Two things in particular stood out on my return. In the Forum shopping centre in central Helsinki, I noticed that two African hairdressers, one of whom was Sudanese and the other possibly Arabic, were having a conversation – in fluent Finnish.
More Articles...
- The secret life of money
- Finland’s first racially motivated murder?
- Could the EU be replaced?
- ‘Counter-jytky’ proves surprisingly divisive
- Financial crises and business schools
- Crisis of Democracy
- A new Russia?
- The President must defend a diverse Finland
- Finnish immigration
- Steps towards greater social cohesion
