A New Energy Model

Moisés Naím / World Energy & Oil

The plan to upgrade China’s energy mix announced by President Xi Jinping during the 19th National Congress of the CCP, which is expected to contribute to reducing CO2 emissions, faces five political and economic challenges that could hinder its implementation.

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Honest Politicians Won't Fix Corruption

Moisés Naím / The Atlantic

The good news is that much of the world is fed up with corruption. The bad news is that the way many are fighting corruption is ineffective. Too often, the remedy centers on finding and empowering an honest leader who promises to stamp out the problem. Worldwide, candidates for elected offices are running on highly personalized anti-corruption platforms, offering themselves as the solution. What countries really need, though, are smart laws that reduce the incentives and opportunities for corruption. They also need strong institutions that enforce those laws and deprive corrupt officials, and their private-sector accomplices, of impunity in their efforts to get rich at the public’s expense.

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An energy giant chained by politics

Moisés Naím / World Energy & Oil

Latin America is an energy giant hobbled by its politics. Its energy reality falls far short of its immense possibilities. This gap has many reasons—punitive regulations, lack of innovation, inadequate infrastructure, weak property rights, corruption and more. Latin America’s geology is great for energy production but its prevailing ideology is far less conducive to the adoption of successful energy policies. Indeed, politics underlies many of the obstacles that limit Latin America’s energy performance. From longstanding resource nationalism to the populism common throughout the region, politics has always shaped the way the Latin American nations explore, produce, consume and, in some cases, export energy.

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