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Harold James

Harold James

Writing for PS since 2001
228 commentaries
2 videos & podcasts

Harold James is Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University. A specialist on German economic history and on globalization, he is a co-author of The Euro and The Battle of Ideas, and the author of The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization Cycle, Krupp: A History of the Legendary German Firm, Making the European Monetary Union, The War of Words, and, most recently, Seven Crashes: The Economic Crises That Shaped Globalization (Yale University Press, 2023).

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  1. Shock Therapy for Multilateralism
    james225_AnadoluGettyImages_un_security_countil_meeting Anadolu/Getty Images

    Shock Therapy for Multilateralism

    Jan 2, 2025 Harold James considers what another Donald Trump presidency will, and will not, mean for global cooperation.

  2. Is America the Next Soviet Union?
    james224_Francis LochonGettyImages_ussr_dolls Francis Lochon/Getty Images

    Is America the Next Soviet Union?

    Nov 28, 2024 Harold James sees parallels between the United States’ political dysfunction and that of its twentieth-century adversary.

  3. Fascism in Our Time
    james223_Win McNameeGetty Images_fascism Win McNamee/Getty Images

    Fascism in Our Time

    Oct 28, 2024 Harold James emphasizes the similarity of US business leaders’ behavior to that of their counterparts in 1930s Germany.

  4. Trump’s Tariffs Are an Opportunity for Harris
    james222_Win McNameeGetty Images)_debate Win McNamee/Getty Images)

    Trump’s Tariffs Are an Opportunity for Harris

    Oct 7, 2024 Harold James urges the Democratic presidential candidate to reject the new consensus against free trade.

  5. The Future of Conservatism
    ps3q2024 predictions GettyImages-1958540720-fade_AW Getty Images

    The Future of Conservatism

    Sep 9, 2024 Elizabeth Corey, et al. consider whether the populist “new right” in America, Europe, and elsewhere is here to stay.

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  1. galbraith39_rudall30Getty Images_businessmanforest rudall30/Getty Images
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    Economists’ Way Out of the Wilderness

    James K. Galbraith argues that the continued dominance of nineteenth-century thinking has resulted in a catalogue of failure.
  2. benami221_Justin SullivanGetty Images_trump Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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    Trump the Revolutionary Isolationist

    Shlomo Ben-Ami

    America's president subscribes to a brand of isolationism that has waxed and waned throughout US history, but has its roots in the two-century-old Monroe Doctrine. This is bad news for nearly everyone, because it implies acceptance of a world order based on spheres of influence, as envisioned by China and Russia.

     hears echoes of the Monroe Doctrine in the US president's threats to acquire Greenland.
  3. hubbard4_Chen MengtongChina News ServiceVCG via Getty Images_scottbessent Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
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    How the Trump Administration Can Hit Its Growth Target

    Glenn Hubbard urges policymakers to focus on the three pillars of increased productivity.
  4. oneill129_Saul LoebGettyImages_us_treasury Saul Loeb/Getty Images
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    Trump’s First Test Will Be the Bond Market

    Jim O'Neill

    Financial markets and official economic indicators over the past few weeks give policymakers around the world plenty to contemplate. Was the recent spike in bond yields a sufficient warning to Donald Trump and his team, or will they still follow through with inflationary stimulus, tariff, and immigration policies?

     wonders if recent market signals will keep the new administration’s radicalism in check.
  5. ahzhang19_Jaap ArriensNurPhoto via Getty Images_tiktok Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
    3

    The TikTok Boomerang

    Angela Huyue Zhang thinks the US government's ban on the app has left it in an untenable position.
  6. delaney1_Jose JimenezGettyImages_bahamas_dorian Jose Jimenez/Getty Images
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    Turning the Financial Tide for Small Island States

    Maya Delaney & Aminath Shauna tout the potential of green and blue bonds to protect critical ecosystems and build economic resilience.
  7. brown116_Timur MatahariGettyImages_indonesia_free_school_meals Timur Matahari/Getty Images
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    School Meals Provide Food for Thought – and Fuel for Development

    Gordon Brown & Kevin Watkins tout universal nutrition programs in lower-income countries to mitigate a lost decade for poor children.
  8. karl3_Apu GomesGetty Images_LAfires Apu Gomes/Getty Images
    1

    A House Gutted by Fire

    Terry Lynn Karl blames the inferno now consuming Los Angeles County squarely on greenhouse-gas emissions.
  9. op_janeway17_Natalya KosarevichGetty Images_moneyhandslightbulb Natalya Kosarevich/Getty Images
    2

    False Economies

    William H. Janeway highlights the high cost of the single-minded focus on efficiency that has come to dominate the discipline.

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