Country specialists too often fail to connect the dots between national and global structures. Former diplomat Hans Kuijper charts a new course for country studies which breaks down intellectual walls and uses technology to understand how countries behave.

Geopolitics and security pressures will increasingly determine the future of resources allocated to education, research and development, and technology. With China and others challenging America’s lead, Western universities could start rejecting foreign students in security-sensitive areas.

Market exclusivity makes it all but impossible for many SMEs to get financing, while investors interested in social impact struggle to find projects that relate to their values. Digital platforms, backed by blockchain, can vastly improve the choices available.

Sustainable development funds are not reaching the smaller enterprises that need them most and are crucial for building a low-carbon economy. New digital platforms can help match green start-ups with suitable investors, but traditional markets must also lower barriers that keep SMEs out.

While Russia engages in physical war, the United States and its allies are engaging in a proxy war through sanctions and aid to Ukraine. Money is at the root of all success in warfare – you fight for money, and you need money to fight.

The fragile agreement on climate action hammered out at COP26 is in danger of being swept aside by the distraction of war. De-escalation is urgent – without focused action on global warming, everybody’s survival is at risk.

For too long, Western media has painted the shift in global power dynamics as a battle between ‘good’ democracy and ‘bad’ autocracy. The further we retreat into this ideological ‘metaverse’, the more blind we become to the real-world advance of war and its immense costs.

The American foreign policy community has long lamented that, despite opening up economically, China has not converted politically to the liberal democratic model. Thus, the next step is to contain such ‘revisionist’ powers.

On all counts, the costs of armed conflict far outweigh any benefits, especially with the US still reeling from its shambolic Afghanistan withdrawal. But war is irrational, and miscalculations and any attempt by a smaller power to ‘free ride’ on the US security umbrella could lead to accidents.

The rules-based order that Western foreign policy insists on raises a fundamental question – who sets the standards? In a study of US foreign policy, mostly white experts across the political spectrum were agreed on US global leadership. But who elected Americans as global leaders?

Politicians in democracies are aware of the need for painful structural reforms but hesitate to undertake them for fear of losing the next election.

The least we can do is have a democratic, transparent and constructive dialogue on how those who can afford to, and who emit more carbon, should pay higher taxes to foster a more sustainable and inclusive world.

It is encouraging to see authorities taking a market-oriented, rules-based approach towards managing events such as the Evergrande default. Even in a volatile global environment, China is sticking to a steady policy mix aimed at providing stability.

The US and China seem to be playing different games even as they try to navigate the increasingly complex great power contest. The real test of national and global leadership will not be how they manage the international order but how they avoid further disorder.

COP26 has generated many climate agreements but no one seems to have found the right narrative to unite us in confronting a frightening future of climate catastrophe.

Non-interventionism is no longer a fit credo for Hong Kong as it competes with mainland cities that follow a state-market partnership model. The real social issue facing Hong Kong is a conflicted identity, which has sowed division. To promote healing, policymakers must address social inequality.

The wealthy West – and the US in particular – must be able to admit there are equals in power that want to reset the rules. We need many conversations involving everyone, from the strongest to the weakest, before deciding on a new global order.

Greta Thunberg says the young are sick of blah blah blah and she’s right. The technology and know-how to tackle climate change already exist. But change cannot come without political will and public support, a crucial mindset barrier.

Australia’s pact has raised Asean concerns of a nuclear arms race, hurt its trade ties with China and alienated Europe. It also shows Australia would rather sink or swim with its Anglosphere counterparts than address climate concerns in its vulnerable Pacific island neighbourhood.

The business community makes almost all the products the world consumes and can limit environmental impact at the design stage. Governments and politicians have repeatedly failed to get their act together.

Low rates encourage asset bubbles, discourage long-term investments, widen the wealth gap and promote excess consumption, hastening climate change. They ultimately exact a moral cost – on the poor and the planet.

The climate crisis is a moral crisis in which religion has played a significant, if seldom discussed, role. Historically, the church gave its blessing to colonisation and slavery. In a world shaped by such forces of globalisation, we no longer know how to live with nature.

We need a balance sheet for the whole of Earth, taking into account what every country, company or individual is doing to change our planet. Four imbalances must be immediately fixed to avert self-destruction: excessive military spending, yawning wealth gaps, and inequities in Covid-19 vaccine access and global warming impact.

Regulators are struggling to keep up with fintech’s rapid growth and the impact of big data, even as intense geopolitical rivalries mean accidents could easily escalate into crises.

In the early 20th century, the Chinese understood that the rebuilding of China after the collapse of the old order would be a monumental task. Marx provided historical and political perspectives on how capitalism would evolve.

Germany’s first woman chancellor is expected to step down this year after 16 years at the helm. She will be remembered for projecting humility, balance, stability and simple common sense at a time when the West seemed adrift.

If the technical solutions are there and finance seems available, why is progress still slow? The race to the top on climate action between the US and China is the best thing that can happen for the planet.

Israel’s devotion to science and military strength has given it an advantage both in the fight against the coronavirus and in the latest conflict with Palestinians.

Democracy depends on the quality of institutions. It alone does not ensure that the government will be any better in delivering outcomes than any other arrangement, such as autocracy.

The strategy behind the US president’s global climate summit is clearly to regain the moral high ground Donald Trump ceded. However, the US’ climate funding commitment to the rest of the world is minimal, on many levels.