Speeches
Sir Brian Urquhart Award acceptance speech
I would like to thank UNA -UK for the honour they have given to me in awarding to me their Sir Brian Urquhart award for services to the UN. Sir Brian was a great public servant of whom the UK...
Evictions and the global development architecture
Development is the best means of securing the Sustainable Development Goals however the management of urbanisation by governments across the world is creating a cyclical situation whereby the urban poor are repeatedly forced out of sites of invested development and...
The Sermon on the Mount: the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the state of Britain and the world
Acts of kindness and charity are not an alternative to a quest for a more just society but are stepping stones towards that more just society. Such work helps inform those who do it of the changes that are needed,...
Power, conflict and cooperation.
Clare distinguishes two contrasting approaches to political decision making, advocating open discussion and the frank exchange of opposing viewpoints which were the hallmark of John Smith's style of power when leading the Labour Party. She highlights the work of Slum...
Dorothy Macardle: Irish, British, European and internationalist.
Macardle is an unsung heroine of progressive politics and literature. Through the course of her eventful life as a writer and political advocate she campaigned for causes related to national self-determination, anti-fascism, Irish nationalism and advocated closer political union between...
Trust and transparency in the oil, gas, and mining industries.
Whilst recent efforts to encourage transparency in the extractive industries constitute progress there is still much work to be done to break the link between extractive industries, corruption and poor development outcomes.
Britain’s role in the world: the need for a fundamental rethink.
Britain's foreign policy is exacerbating the grave dangers threatening the global order. As a middle-ranking power it should be working to courage internationalism and collaboration. Instead it hankers after renewed global reach and influence at the highest levels of global...
Beyond extractive sector transparency.
There is a paradox at the heart of international development: those who live in countries rich in valuable extractive resources fair worse than individuals in countries with fewer natural resources. In order to address this, we must look beyond simple...
A humanitarian surge and its demise 1997-2003.
I wish to describe the important window of political opportunity that arose between the end of the Cold War and the declaration of the War on Terror in order to argue in favour of a systematic and integrated approach to...
Aid: moral duty or national self-interest?
The ethics of international development can be ambiguous. Most would agree that it is the duty of developed nations to assist the third world in escaping systemic poverty and political corruption but the actions of Western governments suggest otherwise.
The EITI ten years on: achievements and challenges.
It is only very recently that OECD countries have made efforts to address corruption in their dealings with resource-rich developing nations. Much work is required to root-out corruption and address the West's role in bolstering corrupt regimes and practices. The...
Transparency in practice: lessons from development and the EITI.
It is only recently that corruption has been targeted and transparency advocated by Western governments and NGOs. A great deal of work and political initiative is required to achieve a truly equitable solution to extractive industry corruption.