Growth of the metros

ALAN BERUBE and PHILIPP RODE examine economic and employment data in 150 of the world’s largest metropolitan economies located in 53 countries for their analysis "Global MetroMonitor: The Path to Economic Recovery". The Brookings Institution analysis shows that these metropolitan areas function as locations for high-value economic activity in their respective nations and world regions, accounting for 46% of world GDP with only 12% of the population.
They state that the the past two decades had seen a shift in the metro map with the emerging market metros closing their gap with higher-income metros due to increased mobility of capital, market reforms and offshoring, with this shift accelerated by the global financial crisis of 2007-09. They forecast a rise in demand from emerging middle-classes for consumer goods and services, improved public services such as infrastructure, environmental quality, and educational opportunities this could provide further opportunities for both low-income and high-income metropolitan economies.

Nuclear energy in a box!!

Heritage Foundation nuclear policy experts, JACK SPENCER and NICHOLAS LORIS tout the potential of small, modular nuclear reactors (SMR) in the generation of abundant emissions-free power. They argue in their opinion piece, "Small Nuclear Reactors, Big Energy Pay-Offs", that this nascent technology could significantly transform the nuclear industry due to its numerous advantages such as lower up-front capital costs, mobility, scalability and multi-functionality. They state that the current U.S. regulatory environment was dominated by inefficient licensing and rule-making, failed nuclear waste management policy leading to barriers to new nuclear technologies and call for a market-based approach that provided a stable regulatory environment, promoted competition, relied on private investment and sustainable economics.

Analyzing China Inc's M&A trends and future scenarios

DEREK SCISSORS of the Heritage Foundation analyzes China Inc.'s  global investments since 2005 across countries, sectors and investors quantifying it at $224 bn in successful investments and $140 bn in unsuccessful investments. In his analysis, "China Global Investment Tracker: 2011", Australia, U.S., Brazil, Canada and Iran, were the most popular destinations and energy, metals and finance accounted for over 80% of all investments. CNPC, Sinopec, CIC, Chalco and CNOOC were the top firms investing $120 bn or over 50% of Chinese cross-border mergers and acquisitions. 

CHARLES WOLF of the Hoover Institution states that China's appetite for acquisitions of foreign companies could quadruple from current levels of 6.6% share of global cross-border M & A by 2020 on the back of its growing trade surplus, diversification away from US debt and its appetite for natural resources, emerging technologies, and financial know-how.

In his Wall Street journal op-ed, "China's Next Buying Spree: Foreign Companies", he states that this would make China a more active and influential player in global mergers and acquisitions markets enhancing its integration into the world economy and could also lead to an improvement in China's domestic corporate governance practices. He states that there could also be a rise in tensions both within host countries and China on differential barriers to cross-border investments.

Asian geopolitics - in charts

WALTER LOHMAN, JOHN FLEMING and NICHOLAS HAMIESEVICZ of the Asian Studies Center of the Heritage Foundation state that the global financial crisis had impacted perceptions of American power and its relationships in Asia while these perceptions were not grounded on fact. In their report, "Key Asian Indicators: A Book of Charts", they provide a visual representation of factoids across the spectrum of economics, politics and defence to support their argument of American predominance across all areas in Asia and an absence of American power could lead to a decline of peace and prosperity in Asia.

Online networks as a trigger for regime change

MARKO PRPIC and SEAN NOONAN examine the benefits and vulnerabilities of using social media tools to organize protests and revolutions using examples of various protests organized over the recent past that achieved varying degrees of success and failure.

In a Stratfor analysis, "Social Media as a Tool for Protest", they state that while social media undoubtedly offered advantages in disseminating messages quickly and broadly, a revolution required much more including organization, funding, mass appeal well beyond the internet-savvy youth and an ability to inspire and motivate individuals to get away from the comfort of their homes and face off against the government on the streets.

They caution that an over-reliance on social-media tools was no substitute to effective real-world leadership and ingenuity to tackle government counter-protest tactics while they could also be detrimental to the evolution of the leadership beyond cyberspace and potential isolation from alternate political movements with whome they may have shared goals.

EU's Strategic Partnerships

ANNE SCHMIDT of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs) reviews the debate on 'strategic partnerships' within the EU in the wake of the guiding principles drawn up for the strategic partnership format. In a working paper for SWP, "Strategic Partnerships – a contested policy concept", she reviews recent publications within the EU to recommends that the EU itself had to develop into a strategic actor and achieve  the stated goal of effective multilateralism as well as reconciling the EU’s broad normative concerns with its narrower interests.

Centralized vs Distributed Water Management

NIRVIKAR SINGH of University of California, Santa Cruz states that rapid economic growth, low per capita availability of water and underdeveloped physical and institutional infrastructure could lead to a potential 50% water supply shortfall in India making it one of the most severely affected countries as reported in the McKinsey-Water Resources Group study on the economic aspects of water supply.

In an East Asia forum commentary, "India’s water management challenge", he advocates an approach that focused on improving water usage efficiency in agriculture which accounted for 80% of India's water utilization and a shift away from large-scale infrastructure projects, municipal dams and river interlinking towards local water management practices to promote greater efficiency of water use while state governments could focus on promoting innovation in agricultural practices and productivity.

He states that although the National Water Mission offered a comprehensive approach including conservation, efficiency and government co-ordination, there were vital shortcomings related to lack of an economics-based prioritization, adequate co-ordination vertically down to the local level and horizontally across government departments and calls for an inclusion of local water-management bodies to fill the current gaps.

Raising the game in Lagos

PARVATHI VASUDEVAN of the Centre for International, Strategic and Development Studies in India traces the evolution of Indo-Nigerian ties over the past 50 years from a foundation of historical & political links to one based on economic links. While India's major oil players evinced a keen interest in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, which contributes 20% of India's oil imports, their moves had not yielded the expected benefits. In a report for the Chatham House, "The Changing Nature of Nigeria–India Relations", she calls for a rehaul of New Delhi's Africa policy with Nigeria as a template, with the key focus areas as follows:

• Enhanced commercial transparency and adherence to international legal best practices
• Increasing frequency of government-government contacts and expansion of India's diplomatic presence
• Expansion of India's Trade and Economic relations committee's mandate beyond hydrocarbons into all sectors
• Enhanced Indian media presence on the ground in Africa
• Expansion of the educational scholarships program to support Nigerian students

She concludes that New Delhi had to raise its game to compete both effectively and transparently in Africa's economy.