Articles

Laurence Brahm’s experience in advising the governments of China, Laos, and Vietnam helps demonstrate how he developed the Himalayan Consensus, detailed in his latest book, The Anti-Globalization Breakfast Club: Manifesto for a Peaceful Revolution. With regards to the current economic situation, Brahm outlines measures to adjust the capitalist system so that it is more sustainable. Furthermore, Brahm encourages businesses to look ahead and adapt to the changing consumer values.

Brahm shares with The Straits Times how he advocates compassionate capitalism in his new book, The Anti-Globalization Breakfast Club.

Gone are the days when global financial markets were driven by rules laid down in Washington and New York, declares political activist Laurence Brahm. Brahm wants to see an overhaul of the global financial system that will take into account the interests of all trading nations.

Sonia Jarrett looks at how Laurence morphed from a successful lawyer and investment adviser, into an activist for cultural sustainable development in the Himalayas.

As the world seeks a new economic model in response to the global economic crisis, here comes a book that challenges us to re-evaluate our values and motivations as the basis to rebuild our economies for a sustainable future.

Since Wall Street's crash in Sept 2008, igniting a global depression, Washington Consensus models of economic development are discredited. The Himalayan Consensus is a response to the current global crisis. Finding acceptance from Dhaka to Islamabad, from Kathmandu to Lhasa, it is now being discussed in Beijing.

Since the global financial crisis began, “Washington Consensus” models of development have been discredited. Developing nations seek alternatives to the Washington Consensus. Nowhere is this feeling stronger than Asia. Enter the Himalayan Consensus. Finding acceptance from Dhaka to Islamabad, from Kathmandu to Lhasa, it is now being discussed in Beijing. Nepal's Prime Minister Prachanda says, "This Himalayan Consensus is special given the unique physical and spiritual dimension of this region, and the political and economic institutions developing here should encompass these ideas."

The Himalayan region is a tinderbox. The Obama administration will increase the U.S. presence in Afghanistan by committing an additional 17,000 troops which will escalate the conflict there. China’s police-military lockdown on Tibet and Xinjiang continues into a second year. Kashmir lacks a mutually acceptable solution between India and Pakistan. The Maoist government recently elected to power in Nepal after a decade of civil war offers hopes for stability. Both sides of the Himalayan range should be viewed as a string of interconnected political electrons that could be sparked at any time. Regions of Tibet and Xinjiang are ethnically, culturally, and spiritually connected with the other side of the mountains. The Himalayas traditionally served more as bridge than a barrier. We should try to think this way in our own policy, particularly as we learn that terrorism needs to be addressed at its root cause, rather than end effect.