What Was the Top Global Story of 2016?
What was the top global news story of 2016?
The faculty at the 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 the European Union proved to be the most dominant trends.
All through the month of December we asked Pardee School professors what they thought were the most important global news stories of 2016. We have been posting their views on our Twitter feed (with the hashtag #2016inReview).
This followed our survey of Pardee School faculty on the same question in 2015 and 2014. Many 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 from faculty in 2016. An election that Associate Dean William Grimes said represents “a populist, isolationist, anti–trade backlash against globalization that is growing in many countries.”
Various aspects of the election of Donald Trump and the affect of his election on international relations and global politics were identified by a number of our faculty as the biggest global story of 2016, including by Professors Robert Hefner, William Keylor, Augustus Richard Norton, Adela Pineda and Michael Woldemariam. On a related theme, Professors Michael Corgan and Vesko Garcevic said the biggest global story of the year was the emergence of the post truth era in conjunction with the 2016 U.S. election.
The Brexit referendum was highlighted by several of our faculty as the top global story of 2016, including by Professor Joseph Wippl 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.”
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, Robert Loftis, Igor Lukes, Vivien Schmidt, Henrik Selin and Jessica Stern. Dean Adil Najam summed this trend up, saying “Populist. Authoritarian. Aggressive. Ultra–nationalist. 2016 belonged to leaders of this ilk.”
Other trends that shaped 2016 and are likely to shape 2017 were also mentioned by our faculty. Professor John Woodward highlighted the increased risk of bioterrorism. Professor Cornel Ban said he was struck by the reversibility of liberal democracy in 2016. Professor Kevin Gallagher said the multifaceted backlash to the United States and EU brand of globalization was the top global story of the year. Professor Ivan Arreguin-Toft said the backlash to global income inequality was the biggest global story of 2016. Professor Susan Eskstein highlighted Zika and anti-immigration movements as two of the biggest global stories of 2016. Professor Joseph Fewsmith said China’s challenge of the notion of the liberal international order was biggest global news story of 2016 as “the further consolidation of power by Xi Jinping moves us into a new era in Chinese politics.”
There were also positive notes on our list of the biggest global stories of the year, including from Professor Julie Klinger who highlighted that “the 115th Congress will be the most diverse in the history of our country.”
Pardee School Professors will be following, commenting on, writing about and researching these topics in 2017 as diligently as they did over the past year. Follow us on Twitter @BUPardeeSchool to keep up with their accomplishments.
On behalf of all our faculty, we wish the world a happy, a prosperous, and peaceful new year.