There may be a new development bank on the horizon--not a development bank, but a defense bank.

After months of negotiations, the World Bank bowed to US pressure to drop the bank's climate finance target, but it will extend its expired climate change action plan and continue to track GHG emissions in its scorecard. A compromise. Let's see what other MDBs do (esp those with strong US presence).

Read more about @tgutner.bsky.social and the Scholar-Teacher award: www.american.edu/sis/research...

Taking away options for opportunity for military personnel to become better thinkers and analysts does not help "US technological innovation, officer development, and strategic competition with China" (and, I would add, elsewhere).

I'm looking forward to joining Alvaro Mendez and Gregory Chin to discuss the AIIB this April at the LSE.

Trump nominated a legit white nationalist to a top post at the State Department. I asked him some basic questions about his belief in the “erasure of white culture”. Watch this embarrassing, fumbling answer. Like he has never before been asked to explain his views.

Looking forward to discussing the AIIB at AU's Washington College of Law.

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

The US is due to officially exit the World Health Organization in the face of warnings that it will hit both US and global health, and in violation of a US law that requires Washington to pay the UN health agency $260 million in fees that it owes reut.rs/4a6aQPg

Important speech by Mark Carney at Davos worth reading in full. To respond to "a rupture in the world order" he lays out a vision of states pursuing "different coalitions for different issues." To me, this is a "go around" (the US) strategy; most states still care about multilateral cooperation.

Trump withdraws from dozens of international organizations, as "contrary to U.S. interests." 31 are UN-related. IFIs spared, at least for now.

The US will not be participating in the upcoming G20 summit and rejected its agenda of promoting solidarity. Argentina and Russia will also be no-shows. Will the G20 meeting be undermined, or able to achieve more agreement?

The World Bank has some tricky navigating ahead at the Annual Meetings given so much support for the bank's continued work on climate change, along with US hostility.

Thoughtful piece on uncertainty about the UN's future. Multiple scenarios possible.

The revamp will merge the divisions that work on climate and gender in SPR. This seems to be in response to US criticism of IMF's work on these issues. (Meanwhile, the head of SPR announced retirement yesterday). www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

apnews.com/article/chin...  Xi seeks expanded role for Shanghai Cooperation Organization at Tianjin summit, inc a new development bank

Republicans see to defund the OECD but it would require some support from Democrats. www.ft.com/content/e8e7...

I am so proud of our American University Model UN Team, which finished the season as the #1 ranked team in North America, and for the fourth straight year!! Congratulations!! www.american.edu/sis/news/202...

It's an honor to receive the William Cromwell Award for Outstanding Teaching. Congratulations also to my colleagues for their awards!

Danny Bradlow and Robert Wade offer an idea to make the G20 a bit more inclusive. theconversation.com/g20-is-too-e...

FYI: The Spencer Foundation, Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have collaborated to offer $25K rapid response grants. "This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF."

Bessent's thoughts on IMF and WB. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

👏 “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” wrote Garber. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/c... Some good news in global governance, and an example where countries came together after the US pulled out of talks.

This was an excellent research group led by @stephofmann.bsky.social. Glad to see our work finally published.

The penguins on the Heard and McDonald Islands announce they are putting 30% tariffs on US goods.

Yet another step to undermine the WTO. www.reuters.com/world/us-sus...

"In an opinion piece that breaks with his usual measured response, Richard Gowan, director of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group in Manhattan, can hardly hide his alarm." genevasolutions.news/global-news/...

I’m pleased to announce my book, The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: China’s Multilateral Experiment, has been published by Oxford University Press. The book offers a comprehensive explanation of the AIIB's birth, design, and performance. global.oup.com/academic/pro...

My new piece is out: theconversation.com/if-us-attemp...

The votes in the General Assembly "on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, were an astounding reflection of the deepening split between the Trump administration and its major allies over support for Ukraine" and disapproval of Trump's unilateral outreach to Russia.

A reduction in/loss of US participation in major MDBs would have enormous consequences for development lending and programs that have long benefited the US and the world. www.omfif.org/2025/02/trum...

www.chronicle.com/article/rese...

All of political science right now

BRICS continues to expand. Nigeria has joined. apnews.com/article/nige...

Several NGOs pleased with this outcome, as they argued separating the Inspection Panel from the Dispute Resolution Service would strengthen accountability overall.

New EU reporting rules would force EIB to show around 1% of its assets are climate friendly, compared with its own metric of "above 50%."

A student somehow accidentally emailed the entire NYU faculty and the reply-all carnage is like a freeway pile-up

OECD study shows literary proficiency is declining in many countries, when the higher levels are what matters in distinguishing fact from opinion. "...on average across OECD countries, 18% of adults do not even have the most basic levels of proficiency...." www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year is “brain rot” — a term that describes that overconsumption of material or content to the point that it deteriorates one’s mental state. (As in, how sludgy you feel after bingeing an entire Netflix show after — or while — doomscrolling.)

www.cnn.com/2024/12/01/w... This is a shame. It would have been such an important treaty. "A small number of petrochemical-producing nations, such as Saudi Arabia, have strongly opposed efforts to reduce plastic production and have tried to use procedural tactics to delay negotiations."

Preparing for #Trump at the #UnitedNations. New from me. ny.fes.de/article/un-n...

Great piece by @dandrezner.bsky.social on how Trump's reelection will define US foreign policy www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

carbon emissions in 2024 set to rise to new record high: 41.2 billion tons up 0.8% from 2023 way out in front: china