Navigating the Vortex

In this emergency episode of the "Navigating the Vortex," podcast Lucy P. Marcus and Stefan Wolff provide a detailed analysis of Prigozhin’s fast march to Moscow, the role of key players, and the potential consequences, and opportunities, for the region and the world. Lucy and Stefan delve into the many facets of the aftermath: the implications for the war in Ukraine, the changing power dynamics i...

Two reports out this week — the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects and the OECD’s Global Economic Outlook — paint a picture of slow growth and incremental recovery threatened by persisting economic, political, and environmental risks. Both reports emphasise the importance of sound macro-economic policy, including addressing inflation, responsible debt management, and structural policy reforms...

Last week saw another three summits in quick succession: the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries met in Cape Town, South Africa; the European Political Community met at Mimi Castle in Bulboaca, Moldova, and the Heads of State of Central Asia and the President of the European Council came together in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan. None of the meetings produced much in terms of concrete outcomes, but...

Join hosts Lucy Marcus and Stefan Wolff for a deep dive into some of the most pressing issues of today and tomorrow. In this episode of Navigating the Vortex , Lucy and Stefan talk through the continuing impact of the potential US default; the regional and global summits that tell us about China's growing influence in Central Asia, Ukraine's diplomatic efforts, G7 concerns regarding China; and how...

Four weeks ago, on 26 April 2023, Presidents Xi and Zelensky spoke on the phone for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year. This was an important first step in the direction of at least some cooperation between China and the West to work together on ending the war in Ukraine. But progress in this direction has been slow, and fighting in Ukraine has further intensif...

The McKinsey report Survival through purpose: How Ukrainian businesses endured amid extreme uncertainty offers fascinating insights on how Ukrainian companies were affected by Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and how they responded to the extreme challenges that this created. While specific to Ukraine, some of the observations in the report led us to consider the broader implications of war, and...

Join hosts Lucy Marcus and Stefan Wolff for a deep dive into some of the most pressing issues of today and tomorrow. In this episode of Navigating the Vortex , Lucy and Stefan discuss Italy, corporate governance, the energy sector, multinational companies, politics, the debt ceiling, the OSCE, NATO, Sudan, Ukraine, Russia, and, of course, Eurovision. Italy's Enel AGM and the Shakespearean drama of...

Join hosts Lucy Marcus and Stefan Wolff for a deep dive into some of the most pressing issues of today and tomorrow. In this episode of "Navigating the Vortex," Lucy and Stefan discuss the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland, the escalating conflict in Sudan, and the role that business and investment can play in promoting political stability. They also touch on...

One of the stories that we have followed for some time is the circumstances in Afghanistan. The situation of the UN mission, UNAMA , has become ever more precarious and its ability to improve the humanitarian and economic situation of ordinary Afghans has been seriously impeded. Within that context, it was intriguing to see China’s foreign ministry release a position paper on Afghanistan. What’s i...

In this first episode of the Navigating the Vortex podcast, hosts Lucy Marcus and Stefan Wolff introduce themselves and the premise of their podcast, which is to have insightful and thought-provoking conversations with guests about current events and big ideas. They discuss their backgrounds and expertise and how discussions around their kitchen table led them to create this podcast. The hosts als...

Two reports released by the International Monetary Fund — on global financial stability and the world economic outlook — echo findings from an earlier report from the World Bank about the weak prospects for sustainable economic growth. Like the World Bank report (which we covered here , asking “Is Global Growth Doomed?”), the IMF points to geopolitical risks as a major driver of suppressed growth...

One of the stories we have been following in the past couple of days is the trip by French president, Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to Beijing. Not much seems to have changed in the relationship or in either side’s attitude, but this is by no means a bad thing at a time when communication is often the first victim of intensifying geopolitical and geoecon...

One of the stories we have been following is a new report by the World Bank, published at the end of March, which paints a gloomy picture of the prospects of sustained global growth. What it's about: World Bank researchers investigated the drivers of global growth and found that almost all of them have weakened and are unlikely to recover before the end of the decade; and even then only if nationa...