The Ingenuity Gap in a Fragmented World
June 11, 2001
This morning I’m going to talk about “The Ingenuity Gap in a Fragmented World.” I’ll ask whether humanity can meet the ever more complex and fast-paced challenges it’s creating for itself.
Resources
The Virulence of Violence: Small Arms, Many Wars, Large Threat
February 4, 2001
The proliferation of light weapons is seriously impeding political and economic reforms in developing countries from Congo to Colombia, the author argues, and the resulting downward spiral could threaten U.S. national security.
Old Political Machines, Hi-Tech Riders
January 17, 2001
It has been a month since we finally learned that George W. Bush will be the next president of the United States. Pundits have issued their solemn assessments of the presidential-selection process and moved on to comment on the next wave of momentous events in our adrenaline-charged political universe. But in their rush, they’ve missed a key lesson behind the fracas in Florida.
A World That Turns Too Fast
January 2, 2001
In the last century, our population on this planet has quadrupled, and most of us now live in cities. At the same time, new technologies – from antibiotics to jet planes to the internet – have vastly extended our power as individuals, groups, and societies.
Leadership Captive
November 24, 2000
We might not have much respect for them, but we should have some sympathy for the leaders of the new world we’ve created.
How to Deal with a Major League Ice Hole
August 29, 2000
When a Russian icebreaker arrived at the North Pole a few weeks ago carrying a load of tourists, it found a mile-wide patch of ice-free water. It seemed like an astonishing development: indeed, reporter John Noble Wilford wrote in a front page story in the New York Times that “the last time scientists can be certain the pole was awash in water was more than 50 million years ago.” Here, it appeared, was bold evidence that global warming is finally upon us.
The Environment and Violent Conflict: A Response to Gleditsch’s Critique and Suggestions for Future Research
June 21, 2000
Daniel Schwartz, Tom Deligiannis, and Thomas Homer-Dixon
with Daniel Schwartz and Tom Deligiannis | The environment, population, and conflict thesis remains central to current environment and security debates. During the 1990s, an explosion of scholarship and policy attention was devoted to unraveling the linkages among the three variables.
On the Razor’s Edge: Today’s Graduates Are Entering a Winner-Take-All World, And Most Are Painfully Aware They’ve Already Lost the Game
June 17, 2000
My heart sank. “Not again!” I said to myself. The student, sitting across the desk from me in my university office, couldn’t raise her eyes to meet mine.
Resource Scarcity and Innovation: Can Poor Countries Attain Endogenous Growth?
March 1, 1999
Edward Barbier and Thomas Homer-Dixon
Edward Barbier and Thomas Homer-Dixon | Endogenous growth models have revived the debate over the role of technological innovation in economic growth and development. The consensus view is that institutional and policy failures prevent poor countries from generating or using new technological ideas to reap greater economic opportunities. However, this view omits the important contribution of natural-resource degradation and depletion to institutional instability
The End of Pop-economics
September 2, 1998
Thomas Homer-Dixon and Robin Bienenstock
with Robin Bienenstock | The current crisis in international markets highlights inadequacies in the way economists and other analysts think about the global economy.