Creating value from amazon rainforests and malaysian investment in ethiopia[1]

CREATING VALUE FROM AMAZON RAINFORESTS AND MALAYSIAN INVESTMENT IN ETHIOPIA: DEFINING THE NEW GLOBAL ARENA Opportunities for the Munk School of Global Affairs September 28, 2011 Jim de Wilde www.jimdewilde.net www.twitter.com/jimdewilde Let’s start with a thought experiment: imagine how a class in Santiago would look at the dispute over Kashmir. How would it differ from a class in Montreal or London? How would a group of technology entrepreneurs in Helsinki view the establishment of rule of law in Niger differently than their colleagues in Shanghai? How is the global economic realignment viewed in an investment bank in Nairobi differently than one in Frankfurt? If even as a quick thought experiment, you see that as a unique approach to the politics of the 2010s and the global decision-making required for entrepreneurial and political success in the next fifty years, you have created a brand. You have already read my introductory lecture to the ROTMAN course on Global Capital markets looking at the underlying global trends, illustrated through case studies like the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah’s restructuring of Asian health care investments and Daewoo’s attempts to purchase arable land in Madagascar. For international institutional investors, the new value propositions underlying the global economy will determine the relative success of their investment strategies. The skill of being able to link an understanding of geopolitics with an understanding of capital market strategies will determine the future leadership of this 21st Century global economy. Today, I want to speak about the unique opportunities confronting the Munk School of Global Affairs in dealing Canadian perspectives into the major decisions about how the global economic realignment will be managed. Let’s look behind some headlines: ,[object Object]

KOREAN CORPORATE PURCHASE OF ARABLE LAND IN MADAGASCAR TRIGGERS POLITICAL CHANGE: Daewoo’s investment in Madagascar.

MALAYSIAN FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN EAST AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR DICTATES A NEW ROLE: PETRONAS investment in Ethiopia.

ECUDORIAN OIL MINISTER CALLS FOR AN EMBARGO ON OIL PRODUCTION IN AMAZON RAINFOREST: Acosta on valorizing Ecuadorian rain forest.

MANDATE OF EBRD MAY EXPAND TO NORTH AFRICA: EBRD as a player in North Africa.

MALAYSIAN SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND INCREASES INVESTMENT IN TURKEY: Khazanah expands in healthcare investment.The world is being redefined by political activists and analysts on a global scale. There are innovative ideas in Ankara, Quito and Kuala Lumpur. How we understand them is the challenge for those who want to be leaders in this new global economy. At one level, the development of a new perspective on global public affairs, whether by Parag Khanna with his unique and strategic discussion of SECOND WORLD, or Kishore Mahbubani on THE NEW ASIAN HEMISPHERE or even Nicholas Taleb’s reformulation of capital market strategies in BLACK SWAN is simply the replacement of what north Europeans call the “Anglo-Saxon” view of economic liberalism and the era where U.S. centred thinking dominated foreign policy discussions with a “Nordic model”. At another level, these new trends reflect sociology of knowledge (to use the too-infrequently used expression from German philosophy in the 19th century) or a new paradigm (to use a more familiar phrase). We choose case studies to look at to reveal the characteristics of the new global economy. The lessons of the Cold War look different in Angola than in Helsinki. The lessons of the post 9/11 world look different in Casablanca and Sofia. How do we get a handle on these new realities? The opportunity for defining a perspective on global affairs that derives from the thousands of global dialogues going on in the new arena is tangible and new. Five years ago, it would have been wildly improbable for an international politics course in a university or an international business course in a B-School to talk about Turkey’s role in the Arab world, Malaysian investment strategies and new forms of value being designed to preserve Ecuadorian Amazon rainforests as core ingredients of the new global politics. No one is suggesting that traditional questions do not endure: it is still essential to understand the organizational structure of NATO to understand the Libyan story; the IMF has never been more important than when Christine Lagarde assumed her much welcomed and appreciated global leadership role. But the opportunity for innovators in the study of global affairs is to ask the new questions, so that five years from now, they are the ones who understand the next PAX TURKANA or KHAZANAH INVESTMENT STRATEGY. That gets us back to “sociology of knowledge” and the learning experience which can take place at the Munk School. As game theorists have told us for decades, setting the menu is more important and reveals more power than allowing someone to order a meal. The menu is potentially infinite. With that in mind, let’s return to the case studies I set out at the beginning and ask: ,[object Object]

Where are the theoretical assessments of how a North African equivalent of the EBRD and the strategic plans for a North African Bank of Reconstruction and Development? Who is teaching the business strategies of the EBRD and their implications for global political economy?

Creating value from amazon rainforests and malaysian investment in ethiopia[1]

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Creating value from amazon rainforests and malaysian investment in ethiopia[1]