Featured Insights
The progressives strike back: Biden nominates FTC Commissioner as CFBP Director
Financial Services
This week US President Joe Biden nominated Rohit Chopra, currently a Democratic commissioner with the Federal Trade Commission, as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the lead US consumer-finance regulator, heralding a more activist period for the CFPB following the more business-friendly approach of the Trump era. Kathleen Kraninger, the Trump…
Reconciliation alone won’t revive the GCC’s economic project
General Policy
Saudi Arabia and Qatar agreed to settle their dispute at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in al-Ula earlier this month. Despite uncertainty until the last minute, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE followed the Saudi lead and grudgingly restored land, sea and air transport links with Qatar. Riyadh’s willingness – and in the end eagerness – to end the crisis was prompted…
Europe’s post-2008 political fragmentation is being tested
General Politics
The emergence of fragmented political landscapes has been an increasingly shared phenomena in European capitals in the past decade. The financial crisis was a profound shock for many European traditional centre-left and centre-right parties, which were dropped by the electorates both for their handling of the crisis and its aftermath. In their wake, smaller, often less…
Is the UK about to go its own way on gene editing?
General Policy
Earlier this month, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) launched a consultation on the regulation of genetic technologies, prompting speculation that gene editing (GE) in agriculture may, in the coming years, be permitted in the UK. As the UK settles into its newly acquired independence from EU regulation, there is an opportunity for it to…
Budget reconciliation puts Biden agenda in play despite tight Congress
General Policy
The Democrats’ historic win in the Georgia Senate races on January 5th was largely overshadowed by the violent storming of the US Capitol the next day. While the implications of that attack will continue to reverberate throughout American politics, it is worth zeroing in on how Georgia Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock’s and Jon Ossoff’s wins impact President-elect…
The strategic logic behind the EU’s investment deal with China
General Policy
In late December, the EU concluded a comprehensive agreement on investment (CAI) with China. The deal is controversial, not so much because of its economic content, but because of what it says about the EU’s priorities and because of its potential geopolitical implications. Are these concerns valid?
