A Word from the Editor

The mainstream media has spun a compelling yarn about the folly of the human condition. It goes a little something like this: our blind faith in free markets has laid waste to the economic superstructure. Africa’s failed states have become ground zero for despotism, electoral fraud, and famine. Climate change looms overhead like a Sword of Damocles, yet the prospect of an uninhabitable planet seems much too far-off to shake us out of our collective complacency. No matter: nuclear winter may come a touch sooner.

Admittedly, it would be dangerous to sugarcoat these formidable problems. The economic, humanitarian, security, and environmental crises of our day carry with them a sense of urgency and immediacy that compels us to act sooner rather than later. Yet ‘crisis mode’ often precludes the kind of reflection and sober analysis necessary to avert disaster. Sound bites and sensationalism simply do not translate into sensible policy.

To eschew both panic and apathy, we must temper our concern with cool-headedness.

To eschew both panic and apathy, we must temper our concern with cool-headedness. In this edition of The Sydney Globalist, our contributors have done precisely that. Without trivialising our plight, they challenge our assumptions about crisis situations and encourage us to think about global problems in a constructive and forward-looking manner.

In our lead article, ‘The Global Financial Crisis: Challenges, Lessons and Opportunities’, Ben Lodewijks finds a silver lining in our current economic predicament. The crisis serves to remind us that prudent financial regulation is not so much an impediment to economic prosperity as a long-term investment in it. Other contributors rethink nuclear proliferation, climate change, governance in developing nations, the journalistic rigour of crisis reportage, and even the concept of crisis itself.

With the publication of this edition, it brings me great pleasure to welcome two esteemed individuals to our honorary Board of Advisers: The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, former Justice of the High Court of Australia, and Dr. Milton Osborne, Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University and Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. The Sydney Globalist would not be possible without the support of our Board and the generosity of our sponsors.

Yours in global affairs,

Christopher Beshara
Editor-in-Chief (2009)