The COVID-19 pandemic poses a once-in-a-generation threat to the world’s population. Although this is not the first disease outbreak to spread around the globe, it is the first one that governments have so fiercely combated. Mitigation efforts—including lockdowns and travel bans—have attempted to slow the rate of infections to conserve available medical resources.
To fund these and other public health measures, governments around the world have deployed economic firepower on a scale rarely seen before.
Although dubbed a “global financial crisis,” the downturn that began in 2008 was largely a banking crisis in 11 advanced economies. Supported by double-digit growth in China, high commodity prices, and lean balance sheets, emerging markets proved quite resilient to the turmoil of the last global crisis. The current economic slowdown is different. The shared nature of this shock—the novel coronavirus does not respect national borders—has put a larger proportion of the global community in recession than at any other time since the Great Depression. As a result, the recovery will not be as robust or rapid as the downturn. And ultimately, the fiscal and monetary policies used to combat the contraction will mitigate, rather than eliminate, the economic losses, leaving an extended stretch of time before the global economy claws back to where it was at the start of 2020.
Horizons Hosts James Dorsey for a Discussion on Middle East Escalation
The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) hosted an award-winning journalist and scholar Dr. James M. Dorsey for a special Horizons Discussion on June 23rd, 2025. In conversation with Horizons Managing Editor Stefan Antić, Dorsey unpacked the lightning-fast escalation between Israel and Iran, the Trump administration’s divided response, and the wider stakes for regional and great-power politics.
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Vuk Jeremić at St. Petersburg Economic Forum: “We Are Living in a Time of Grave Geopolitical Instability”
St. Petersburg, June 2025 – Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on the high-level panel “Eco-Rethinking of the Global Financial System,” Vuk Jeremić, President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD), delivered a stark warning about the risks posed by escalating global tensions to any serious attempt at international financial system reform.
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CIRSD Hosts Ugandan Presidential Advisor Odrek Rwabwogo in Latest Horizons Discussion: A Deep Dive into Africa’s Industrial Future
The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) hosted Mr. Odrek Rwabwogo, Uganda’s Presidential Advisor on Exports and Industrial Development, as the featured guest in the latest installment of its flagship Horizons Discussion series — the main dialogue platform of Horizons journal.
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CIRSD Vice President Stefan Jovanović Speaks at Regional Conference on China’s Role in the Western Balkans
Belgrade, June 5, 2025 – Stefan Jovanović, Vice President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD), participated in the regional conference “Democracy Meets Strategy: Parliament’s Place in China Policy”, held in Belgrade. The event gathered parliamentarians, policymakers, and experts from across the Western Balkans to examine the region’s evolving cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.
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