{"id":26300,"date":"2016-12-31T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-12-31T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/?p=26300"},"modified":"2021-02-03T16:53:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T21:53:38","slug":"what-was-the-top-global-story-of-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/2016\/12\/31\/what-was-the-top-global-story-of-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"What Was the Top Global Story of 2016?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What was the <\/span>top global news story of 2016<\/a>?<\/span><\/p>\n

The faculty at\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University weighed in with their thoughts, and the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States and the Brexit referendum in which United Kingdom voters decided to leave<\/span>\u00a0the European Union\u00a0proved to be<\/span>\u00a0the most dominant trends.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"globalstories12-221\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All through the month of December we asked Pardee School\u00a0p<\/span>rofessors\u00a0what they thought were\u00a0the most important global news stories of 2016. We have been posting their views on our\u00a0<\/span>Twitter<\/a>\u00a0feed (with the hashtag\u00a0<\/span>#2016inReview<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

This followed our <\/span>survey of Pardee School faculty on the same question in\u00a02015<\/a>\u00a0and 2014<\/a>.\u00a0Many of the trends that faculty identified at the end of 2015 became more pronounced in 2016. However, the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States was by far the most common response\u00a0from faculty in 2016. An election that Associate Dean William Grimes<\/a>\u00a0said represents\u00a0“a <\/span>p<\/span>o<\/span>p<\/span>u<\/span>l<\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span>o<\/span>l<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>a<\/span>n<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>–<\/span>t<\/span>r<\/span>a<\/span>d<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>b<\/span>a<\/span>c<\/span>k<\/span>l<\/span>a<\/span>s<\/span>h<\/span> <\/span>a<\/span>g<\/span>a<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span> <\/span>g<\/span>l<\/span>o<\/span>b<\/span>a<\/span>l<\/span>i<\/span>z<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span> <\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span> <\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span> <\/span>g<\/span>r<\/span>o<\/span>w<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span> <\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span> <\/span>m<\/span>a<\/span>n<\/span>y<\/span> <\/span>c<\/span>o<\/span>u<\/span>n<\/span>t<\/span>r<\/span>i<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span>.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Various aspects of the election of Donald Trump and the affect of his election on international relations and global politics\u00a0were\u00a0identified by a number of our faculty as the biggest global story of 2016, including by Professors Robert Hefner<\/a>, William Keylor<\/a>, Augustus Richard Norton<\/a>, Adela Pineda<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Woldemariam<\/a>. On a related theme, Professors\u00a0Michael Corgan<\/a>\u00a0and Vesko Garcevic<\/a>\u00a0said the biggest global story of the year was th<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>e<\/span>m<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span>g<\/span>e<\/span>n<\/span>c<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>o<\/span>f<\/span> <\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>e\u00a0<\/span>p<\/span>o<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span> <\/span>t<\/span>r<\/span>u<\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span>a<\/span>\u00a0in conjunction\u00a0with the 2016 U.S. election.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Brexit referendum was highlighted by several of our faculty as the top global story of 2016, including by Professor Joseph Wippl<\/a> who said the referendum “reflected a general trend of dissatisfaction in a number of countries with the baseless hope of improvement through a ‘no’ vote.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Several of our faculty said the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum indicate a growing global trend toward nationalism and populism, including Professors Paul Hare<\/a>, Robert Loftis<\/a>, Igor Lukes<\/a>,\u00a0Vivien Schmidt<\/a>,\u00a0Henrik Selin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jessica Stern<\/a>. Dean Adil Najam<\/a>\u00a0summed this trend up, saying “P<\/span>o<\/span>p<\/span>u<\/span>l<\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>A<\/span>u<\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>o<\/span>r<\/span>i<\/span>t<\/span>a<\/span>r<\/span>i<\/span>a<\/span>n<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>A<\/span>g<\/span>g<\/span>r<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span>s<\/span>i<\/span>v<\/span>e<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>U<\/span>l<\/span>t<\/span>r<\/span>a<\/span>–<\/span>n<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span>a<\/span>l<\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>2<\/span>0<\/span>1<\/span>6<\/span> <\/span>b<\/span>e<\/span>l<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span>e<\/span>d<\/span> <\/span>t<\/span>o<\/span> <\/span>l<\/span>e<\/span>a<\/span>d<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span>s<\/span> <\/span>o<\/span>f<\/span> <\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span> <\/span>i<\/span>l<\/span>k<\/span>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Other trends that shaped 2016 and are likely to shape 2017 were also mentioned\u00a0by our faculty. Professor John Woodward<\/a>\u00a0highlighted\u00a0the increased risk of bioterrorism.\u00a0Professor Cornel Ban<\/a>\u00a0said he was struck by the reversibility of liberal democracy in 2016.\u00a0Professor Kevin Gallagher<\/a>\u00a0said the multifaceted backlash to the United States and EU brand of globalization was the top global story of the year. Professor\u00a0<\/span>Ivan Arreguin-Toft<\/a> said the backlash to global income inequality was the biggest global story of 2016. Professor Susan Eskstein<\/a>\u00a0highlighted Zika and anti-immigration movements as two of the biggest global stories of 2016. Professor Joseph Fewsmith<\/a>\u00a0said China’s challenge of the notion of the liberal international order was biggest global news story of 2016 as “th<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>f<\/span>u<\/span>r<\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span> <\/span>c<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span>s<\/span>o<\/span>l<\/span>i<\/span>d<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span> <\/span>o<\/span>f<\/span> <\/span>p<\/span>o<\/span>w<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span> <\/span>b<\/span>y<\/span> <\/span>X<\/span>i<\/span> <\/span>J<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>p<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span> <\/span>m<\/span>o<\/span>v<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span> <\/span>u<\/span>s<\/span> <\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>t<\/span>o<\/span> <\/span>a<\/span> <\/span>n<\/span>e<\/span>w<\/span> <\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span>a<\/span> <\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span> <\/span>C<\/span>h<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>p<\/span>o<\/span>l<\/span>i<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>c<\/span>s<\/span>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

There were also positive notes on our list of the biggest global stories of the year, including from Professor Julie Klinger<\/a> who highlighted that “th<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>1<\/span>1<\/span>5<\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span> <\/span>C<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span>r<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span>s<\/span> <\/span>w<\/span>i<\/span>l<\/span>l<\/span> <\/span>b<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>m<\/span>o<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span> <\/span>d<\/span>i<\/span>v<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span>s<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span> <\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>h<\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span>o<\/span>r<\/span>y<\/span> <\/span>o<\/span>f<\/span> <\/span>o<\/span>u<\/span>r<\/span> <\/span>c<\/span>o<\/span>u<\/span>n<\/span>t<\/span>r<\/span>y.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Pardee School Professors<\/a>\u00a0will be following, commenting on, writing about and researching these topics in 2017\u00a0as diligently as they did over the past year. Follow us on\u00a0Twitter\u00a0@BUPardeeSchool<\/a>\u00a0to keep up with their accomplishments.<\/p>\n

On behalf of all our faculty, we wish the world a happy, a prosperous, and peaceful new year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pardee School faculty give their thoughts on the most important international stories of 2016. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8414],"tags":[9287,9585,9545,8714,8633,9949],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26300"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26316,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26300\/revisions\/26316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}