Etikett: Theconversation.com

Lubumbashi is a city in the mineral-rich Katanga region in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Many people might not have heard of it, but Lubumbashi and its surrounding region have been at the centre of global geopolitics since the start of the 20th century. The area provided immense sources of copper, a metal that helped electrify the planet in the 1900s. It was also the source of all the uranium for the atom bombs used in the second world war.

The global demand for these minerals came at a great price. Lubumbashi grew as a divided city where housing and labour were spatially and racially segregated. Congolese workers were exploited, abused and taxed as urban and mining strategies were used to reshape society.

History is repeating itself. Neocolonialism now shapes the extraction of DRC resources.

Read more:
DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt – how control by local elites can shape the global battery industry

Today, the southern DRC produces over 70% of the world’s cobalt. Cobalt is a mineral essential to decarbonisation – a strategy to reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions. Cobalt is present in batteries in electric vehicles, mobile phones, laptop computers and renewable energy storage systems.

Like copper and uranium before it, cobalt mining has been linked to widescale exploitation and child labour. Corruption and elite capture remain defining features of mining in the DRC.

We are academics who research urbanisation, mining and sustainability as well as urban planning and environmental management. Our recent paper addresses the fact that African cities like Lubumbashi are at the heart of events that have shaped the modern world, yet they are woefully neglected in global urban theory (thinking about how cities form and develop) and urban geography.

Focusing on the global north and neglecting the south leads to major data gaps and contributes to mismatched and outdated urban policy.

Rock containing cobalt.
© Brandon Marc Finn

We also argue that the human rights abuses and perils of today’s cobalt mining are new forms of old colonial practices. They strip the land and people of resources without proper pay. They offer green minerals to the global north at the cost of lives in the global south.

Sustainable cities and global decarbonisation are essential if we are to reduce cities’ carbon footprints and decarbonise economies in the face of the climate crisis.

Lubumbashi’s history, therefore, can offer a fuller understanding of the human and historical costs of minerals that shape cities – and the world.

A brief history of Lubumbashi

Lubumbashi was originally called Elisabethville. It was established by colonial Belgium in 1910 precisely to extract copper for global markets. This was done through a company named Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK).

Concessionary companies made enormous profits in the Congo Free State between 1885 and 1908. The entire country stood under the private ownership of King Leopold II of Belgium. These companies were given the right to extract minerals and rubber through taxes imposed on local people.

A road being built in the Belgian Free State in 1890.
PHAS/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

The Belgian Compagnie du Katanga (which later founded UMHK) had the task of establishing the physical and economic infrastructure of the region. In exchange for laying the groundwork for the extractive industries, soon to be headquartered in Elisabethville, the company was given a third of all unoccupied land in Katanga. The Belgians established a copper smelter and constructed roads. Temporary headquarters were established to supervise Elisabethville’s expansion.

One initial method of controlling the local rural people was a “hut tax” that had to be paid to live in Lubumbashi. Later, a “head tax” was introduced to raise funds for colonial management. It forced people into labour as the only means to pay off their newly acquired debt to the colonial state.

Elisabethville served as the device to assert effective occupation. It also staved off the possibility of British occupation of the territory. The Belgians planned Elisabethville by reproducing the urban forms and racial segregation of Bulawayo’s grid in Southern Rhodesia (part of today’s Zimbabwe) and Johannesburg in South Africa.

Elisabethville’s early plan.
F Grevisse/Institut Royal Colonial Belge

UMHK dominated the colonial economy as demand for copper increased worldwide. UMHK also stipulated which seeds would be planted where for agriculture. It dissolved local markets and whipped labourers.

Copper was in such high demand because it is a non-corrosive material that conducts electricity well. It lined telegraph and electrical transmission cables across the globe.

Copper mining acted as a springboard from which UMHK could spread its influence. It developed railways, cities, labour camps and mining sites throughout Katanga.

Spatial segregation in Elisabethville.
P Vandenbak

This allowed UMHK access to the extraction of another resource that would shape the global geopolitical landscape: uranium – extracted from the Shinkolobwe mine in Katanga.

It was the Belgian colonial presence that allowed the US to have access to uranium deposits as they sought to beat Germany in the race to build atomic weapons. All the uranium used in the two nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki came from Katanga.

This highlights the global significance of, but a neglected focus on, the impacts of mineral supply chains in the global south. Control over Lubumbashi’s minerals cannot be underplayed in this global historical event.

Katanga seceded from the Congo for three years, 11 days after the country gained independence from Belgium in 1960. The fight to gain control over Katanga’s resources led to the US and Belgian-backed assassination of the first independence leader, Patrice Lumumba. He was intent on reunifying Congo.

Mobutu Sese Seko became president of Zaire (today’s DRC) after a coup in 1965. He nationalised UMHK a year later. Mobutu served as president for almost 32 years, and his regime was characterised by autocratic corruption and economic exploitation.

Cobalt and global decarbonisation

The growth of modern technology relies, at least in part, on the extraction of cobalt in the DRC before it is shipped, mainly to China.

Cobalt is extracted as a byproduct of copper mining. Artisanal and small-scale mining and child labour remain a salient feature of cobalt extraction in the DRC. These miners receive little to no support and reflect the historical structural marginalisation created in the region.

Europeans settled in the city centre and locals in camps and informal areas.
Junior Kannah/AFP/Getty Images

Lubumbashi serves as the mining headquarters of the southern DRC, and other cities, like Kolwezi, have grown rapidly in response to the surge in cobalt demand. Spatial and labour-related inequalities from the past are being replicated and expanded on in the present.

The DRC’s impoverishment continues apace as South African, Kazakh, Swiss and, with increasing influence, Chinese mining companies maintain their practice of exclusionary extraction, social displacement and political corruption.

Why this matters

Our research shows the importance of understanding the history of extraction and urban settlement in the region to shed light on new forms of old practices associated with decarbonisation. We see this as a continuing form of colonial power – as neocolonialism.

Contemporary debates around global inequalities associated with decarbonisation highlight how African populations must endure poor living conditions while the global north transitions to low-carbon technologies. We must find ways to move away from carbon-based economies that do not reproduce colonial inequalities.

Read more:
Patrice Lumumba’s tooth represents plunder, resilience and reparation

Lubumbashi demonstrates the importance of African cities and resources in understanding critical global developmental and geopolitical issues.

For decarbonisation to be socially and environmentally just, it must contend with the people, places, and environments on which the future of low-carbon technology is based. Lubumbashi’s history shows how challenging this task will be. Läs mer…

In contemporary digital society, remembering is automated. Social media platforms and smartphones often offer features like iPhone’s and Facebook’s “Memories” that resurface users’ past posts and photographs.

For many people, these reminders of the past are a source of joyful reminiscence. For others — like survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) — they can be harmful.

These nostalgia-driven Memories features enact what I call “platform violence:” unintended but harmful consequences, caused by automated features, designed to profit tech companies without adequately considering users’ well-being.

Algorithmic recall

Algorithms select and retrieve images from users’ digital archives, with the supposed goal of reminding users of happy moments. Introduced in 2018, Memories was promoted by Facebook’s product manager, Oren Hod, as a tool for improving mood and connection with others.

Yet these algorithms can get it wrong by bringing up painful, or even traumatic, memories instead. Writing about the feature in Forbes Magazine, Amit Chowdhry acknowledges that “memories … are not all positive.”

While Facebook’s algorithm attempts to filter out negative memories using keywords and feedback from users’ reactions, these safeguards are often inadequate. As my research has found, resurfaced photos of abusers can trigger emotional, psychological and even physiological distress for survivors of GBV.

When iPhone Memories draws images from a user’s Photos cache to create slideshows, smartphone users can be similarly triggered. The fact that these slideshows are set to cheerful music is something survivors find particularly “creepy,” as images of abusive exes scroll by.

Unexpectedly being presented with photographs from a phone archive can re-traumatize survivors.
(Shutterstock)

Familiar faces

GBV encompasses a spectrum of abusive behaviours, ranging from catcalling and rape jokes to sexual assault and femicide. In Canada, a woman dies every other day due to GBV, with intimate partner violence claiming a life every sixth day. One in four women reports GBV in their lifetime, although the actual number is higher due to fears of not being believed or stigmatization.

Particularly relevant to my research, in at least 80 per cent of cases, the perpetrator is someone the survivor knows, such as a partner, friend or family member. This makes it likely that survivors once shared social media connections or posted images with their abuser, increasing the risk these photos will resurface as a memory.

For survivors, encountering a photo of their abuser can be as traumatic as seeing them in person. In interviews with 15 survivors, all reported intense emotional reactions including panic, upset and physical symptoms like nausea and a racing heart. Those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were particularly vulnerable to being triggered.

For instance, one participant, Nyla (names have been changed), described experiencing “full panic mode” and emotional shutdown for days after seeing a photo of her abusive ex-partner. Kelly, another participant, felt her “heart race” and avoided her smartphone and social media altogether. Other participants’ responses included feelings of social disconnection, fearfulness when out in public and mistrust of their own judgment of others. This presented barriers to forming new, healthy relationships.

Nancy, a survivor of an abusive relationship, recalled photos from the period when she was planning her escape.

“I look into my eyes in those photos and know I was secretly planning on leaving my partner,” she said. The resurfaced images were a “surreal” reminder of the facade she maintained during the final years of her marriage.

Mobile phones and social media are essential to daily life, and limiting their use can have a negative impact.
(Angelo Moleele/Unsplash), CC BY

Inclusive, safe design

Survivors often lack the familiarity with platforms’ settings to pre-emptively block or delete potentially triggering content. Even when settings exist, they are often buried in menus, hard to navigate or require survivors to manually confront and delete painful memories or photographs.

Once the survivor has been triggered, they often no longer have the emotional capacity to take the steps needed to delete or remove the upsetting memory at the time.

Recommendations like telling survivors to leave their device at home or deactivate their social media accounts place responsibility for addressing abuse on survivors, rather than perpetrators. Mobile phones and social media are essential to daily life, including for work, social interaction and access to safety-related services. Advising survivors to simply log off or avoid their devices shifts responsibility onto survivors and distracts from the underlying issues: society’s high rates of GBV and the need for safer, more inclusive design.

And inclusive design is needed: nostalgia-producing algorithms, as they currently function, disproportionately harm communities exposed to higher rates of violence, including women and LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals.

Opt-in rather than out

Interview subjects suggested that platforms require users to opt in if they wish to have their past resurfaced, rather than being forced to opt out, often after being triggered.

Tech developers, often from privileged backgrounds, fail to account for marginalized users’ experiences when designing features.

Platforms must prioritize user safety by making it easier to control and customize the memories that resurface. Settings for managing features like Memories should be accessible, easy to use and sensitive to the needs of those who have experienced trauma.

By recognizing the unintended consequences of algorithmically driven nostalgia, tech companies can take steps toward creating platforms that empower all users. Läs mer…

Nature-based solutions use nature to solve environmental problems caused by humans, such as global climate change. But not every ecological project counts as a nature-based solution. Some projects only bring about a slight improvement to the environment, while others even cover up environmental damage. Cornelius Okello and Timothy A. Downing research climate change adaptation and development. They discussed their latest research into nature-based solutions with The Conversation Africa.

What are nature-based solutions?

Nature-based solutions are inspired by nature or use nature to address problems in society. These problems include food and water shortages, poor health, and environmental degradation. Nature-based solutions bring about benefits to biodiversity (the wellbeing of the environment) and human wellbeing.

Their intention is to acknowledge nature’s role in the economy and society, and include nature as a participant in finding ways to repair environmental damage.

They’ve been embraced by international policymakers and funders as the model approach for addressing biodiversity loss.

Read more:
Urban greening in Africa will help to build climate resilience — planners and governments need to work with nature

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has created a global standard that projects must meet in order to qualify.

A nature-based solution must show that it has led to an increase in the number of plant or animal species in an area. This enhances the natural balance among organisms and their environment. It also has to show that it is based on local conditions (rather than a one size fits all blueprint). Nature-based solutions must involve local communities, include Indigenous knowledge and make sure that the most disadvantaged people in the area benefit from the solution.

Read more:
Planting trees can help the climate, but only if we also stop burning fossil fuels

Where benefits to the environment may lead to unintended harms to people, a nature-based solution must monitor and address these harms as soon as they occur and include safeguards to protect local communities.

It must also promote adaptive management based on rigorous science. This means that scientists and environmentalists must continually learn from mistakes and use these lessons to improve the nature-based solution.

Why are they considered to be a solution?

Nature-based solutions use the power of ecosystems to solve problems that are intertwined with nature. For example, food security, water security, human health, economic and social development, environmental degradation, climate change, and natural disasters are problems which cannot be solved without involving nature.

This re-framing of how problems should be solved is empowering. The nature-based solutions concept suggests that environmental problems caused by humans can be solved – and that the solutions exist in nature.

Nature-based approaches are also often more cost-effective because they use locally available materials. They’re less likely to create additional environmental problems. For example, urban greening projects are not expensive to implement. They bring tangible benefits to cities without negative repercussions.

What are their shortcomings?

Few projects meet the global standard set by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. For example, our research looked into projects in savanna ecosystems in Africa that addressed land degradation, food and water security, and resource scarcity. But we found that there is not yet enough evidence to show that these projects comprehensively restore the continent’s savanna grasslands.

In another research project, we investigated whether nature-based solutions could help conserve water supplies for the 200 million people who live in Africa’s arid and semi-arid lands. These water scarce areas cover 66% of the continent.

Agroforestry, Rwanda.
Pool/Getty Images

In these areas, initiatives have been set up to improve soil quality, harvest water, and start agroforestry (where food crops are planted with trees, saving water needed for irrigation). Our research found that these kinds of interventions are successful, or not, largely depending on their design and how they are implemented.

We think a clear understanding of nature-based solutions is important. Otherwise, policymakers and project funders may support any project that claims to be a nature-based solution.

Nature-based solutions may even become oversimplified approaches to complex issues.

For example, a small tree-planting project that a corporation may implement to improve its image. This opens the door for potential “greenwashing” – when a wide variety of projects can claim to be solving environmental problems with natural solutions, even when this is not true.

Where have nature-based solutions worked?

Innovative activities have been implemented in Africa with some success. For example, sustainable biofuel projects and attempts to make agriculture resilient to changing climate. Paying communities incentives to conserve natural land is another example.

These projects have been successful on a small scale throughout Africa but do not meet all the criteria of a nature-based solution.

Zaï pits in the Sahel.
Alina Bossuet/Flickr

For example, zaï pits are meant to be a nature-based solution that restores damaged grassland and improves soil for farming. They conserve water and create habitats for termites. The termites improve the soil by breaking down plant matter and digging holes that allow rainwater to seep into the ground.

Zaï pits have a basis in nature and they use Indigenous knowledge and locally available material. However, researchers do not yet know if they will be able to support grassland restoration over the long term, or if they might negatively affect other species. They are labour-intensive to set up, and therefore it is unlikely that they’ll be established on a large enough scale to reduce global climate change.

This raises the question: can a nature-based solution be small enough to suit the local context but large enough to address global problems sustainably?

We concluded that perhaps nature-based solutions are a contradiction in terms. However, they force a discussion that would otherwise be lacking about who benefits from environmental “solutions” projects and who loses, at what social and ecological cost, and with what implications for the future.

The authors would like to thank Yvonne Wambui Githiora, who co-wrote this article and the original research, and Professors Daniel Olago and Margaret Owuor for their reviews. Läs mer…

When apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa underwent significant social and political transformation. A key aspect of this shift was the push for greater inclusion and representation of Black South Africans across all sectors – including psychology.

Dr Liezille Jacobs was part of a pioneering generation of Black psychologists who started their training in 1995. Now she has written a book, Rocklands: On becoming the first generation of Black psychologists in post-apartheid South Africa. In it she explores the barriers she and her colleagues faced and unpacks misconceptions around what psychology is and does. She also argues that critical (and African) psychology can both “address the legacies of apartheid and heal the relational traumas caused by systemic oppression”. The Conversation Africa asked her about the book and her work.

What is the book about?

I wrote Rocklands to address the widespread misconceptions that both first-year psychology students and the general public often hold about what it truly means to be a psychologist. It’s common for people to oversimplify the profession. They view it merely as talking to people or offering quick-fix solutions to problems. The reality is far more complex.

I wanted to challenge these superficial ideas and provide a more layered and accurate representation of the field. The process of becoming a psychologist is not just about acquiring theoretical knowledge. It’s also about developing emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and a strong ethical foundation. Psychologists must balance empathy with objectivity, personal insight with professional boundaries, all while navigating the vast complexities of human emotions, relationships, and societal influences.

The goal of the book is to make psychological knowledge and expertise more accessible to the public.

Rocklands is also an account of resilience and personal growth in the face of adversity. The first chapter reflects on my early experiences growing up in Rocklands, Mitchell’s Plain. Rocklands was established during apartheid as part of a government plan to segregate communities. Non-white South Africans were moved to areas like Mitchell’s Plain under the Group Areas Act. Over time, Rocklands grew into a working-class neighborhood, shaped by its apartheid-era history.

The ensuing chapters provide a detailed account of my unique and often difficult journey. I’ve traversed a path less travelled but it’s ultimately led to personal and professional fulfilment.

Why did you decide to study psychology?

I initially dreamed of becoming a journalist. However, my parents encouraged me to explore other career options. The results of a career assessment suggested I should consider social work, occupational therapy or psychology.

Psychology truly caught my attention. As someone with an introverted personality I was drawn to the idea of understanding human behaviour and thought processes on a deeper level. At the time, I envisioned myself working as a clinical psychologist, helping individuals one-on-one.

Everything shifted when I began my formal studies in 1995. I quickly realised that the field of psychology in South Africa – especially in the context of its history – had much more work to do. I saw the gaps in the system and became acutely aware of how psychology had, in many ways, been complicit in perpetuating social injustices. In 1995, as a first year psychology student, I was made aware of the field’s struggle with its apartheid legacy and psychology’s unfinished business.

Hendrik Verwoerd was the architect of the racist policies and segregation system that became known worldwide as “grand apartheid”. He was also a psychologist by training.

Psychology in South Africa has made efforts to adapt to a diverse society. But there are still challenges. These include a disconnect between academic training and professional practice, and the lingering effects of apartheid-era inequalities.

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South Africa desperately needed (and still does today) Critical Psychologists. Critical psychology challenges traditional psychological theories by examining the social, political, and historical contexts that shape psychological issues. It critiques mainstream psychology for overlooking power structures. And it aims to use psychology as a tool for social change and addressing inequalities.

Critical psychologists challenge the dominant narratives of the past, address the legacies of apartheid, and have access to the tools to heal the relational traumas caused by systemic oppression. I knew I wanted to contribute to the transformation of the profession – to make it more inclusive, socially responsible, and oriented towards healing the wounds left by historical injustices. This shift in perspective has shaped my entire career. It’s guided my studies, research and teaching practice.

Have South Africa’s universities changed how they teach psychology?

The academic transformation project continues and universities are striving to adapt to a more diverse student body. But the pace and extent of this change can vary between institutions.

There has been a growing recognition globally that psychology, as a discipline, needs to move beyond its traditional western-centric, individualistic frameworks. It must engage more deeply with local contexts and diverse ways of knowing and experiencing the world.

I was the head of the Psychology Department at Rhodes University in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province from 2022 to 2024. The department has incorporated indigenous knowledge systems such as African philosophical perspectives and non-western psychological practices into our teaching.

For example, community-based service-learning strategies are emphasised in the undergraduate courses I teach. Community-based service-learning combines community service with academic learning. This gives students the opportunity to engage in real-world problems and contribute to the community while applying psychological theories, concepts and methods. Students learn how to become engaged citizens.

We also use a variety of teaching materials – case studies, texts by African scholars, multimedia – that resonate with students’ lived experiences.

Read more:
Decolonising psychology creates possibilities for social change

In a society as culturally and racially diverse as South Africa it is crucial for people to see themselves reflected in the professionals they turn to for help. This can play a role in lowering barriers to mental health services.

South Africa has a legacy of collective struggle and community resilience. Psychology stands to gain from a greater understanding of collective identities, community dynamics and social justice. Psychologists from diverse backgrounds can offer more nuanced, holistic interventions that address systemic issues rather than focusing solely on individual pathology. Läs mer…

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to slap tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products in a month’s time. This will lead to retaliatory tariffs by Canada against the U.S.

In an economic context where trade relations are interdependent and highly integrated, this tariff war will likely trigger a complex series of cascading effects, affecting governments, businesses and citizens alike.

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order on deregulation in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 31, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

As a doctor in the psychology of decision-making, I strive to understand why we find it so difficult to manage the major complex challenges of our time like this looming trade war, whether it’s climate change and its ensuing hazards, pandemics and health crises, social inequalities, economic crises or the unpredictable behaviour of financial markets.

My aim is to uncover possible solutions to help decision-makers — particularly elected politicians — make choices that will improve the situation rather than aggravate it or create new problems.

Politics is a good example of a complex environment, marked by many interacting factors. Unforeseen events and trajectories further accentuate this complexity, especially as the desired objectives can sometimes conflict.

On the other hand, access to information relevant to decision-making is often restricted. The quality of content varies considerably due to misinformation shared by various sources actively disseminating misinformation influenced by partisan motivations and ideological perspectives, alongside disinformation, which is deliberately biased — two phenomena that have proliferated in recent years.

The limits of cognition

Faced with the complexity of the real world, human beings — politicians and ordinary citizens alike — are limited in terms of decision-making, and the solutions they propose are often influenced by bias.

This includes the propensity to filter information and retain only what corresponds to our personal ideology, and to judge a problem in terms of reference values. This is common in politics.

An example is the $7 million subsidy granted by the Québec government last year to finance two pre-season games for the Los Angeles Kings.

Despite a barrage of criticism, the government defended the expense, arguing it was within the usual order of magnitude of the budget dollars allocated to these kinds of sporting event. Its defence was basically: “That’s what we’ve always done.”

Such flawed thinking leads to an excessive focus on immediate symptoms rather than causes, while encouraging the implementation of superficial solutions. This type of behaviour is essentially aimed at reducing complexity to an intelligible level. Indeed, research shows that beyond four or five related variables, human cognition has enormous difficulty predicting how a situation will evolve.

System thinking

There are no ready-made answers to complexity. However, certain avenues are emerging, one of which has been attracting the attention of researchers for a number of years: it’s called system thinking.

The scientific community is continuing its empirical assessments of whether system thinking is a genuine cognitive skill and how to develop it in a sustainable way — for example, through training (a bit like working out at the gym, but in a lab). But it could potentially enable us to better manage complex socio-political problems.

System thinking is essentially about looking at problems holistically; thinking about the consequences of consequences. In this case, it’s about anticipating the cascading effects that a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian products exported to the U.S. could have on Canada’s economy.

Economists say the direct consequence of these tariffs will be an immediate drop in sales and revenues for Canadian companies, primarily those dependent on exports to the United States.

Read more:
U.S. tariff threat: How it will impact different products and industries

Companies will make bold attempts to enter new markets, but this will entail additional development and logistics costs, at least in the short term.

Some may have to lay off employees and reduce work shifts, which will boost unemployment and compensation claims, because retraining workers takes time. This will put pressure on public finances.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the media following the imposition of a raft of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump against Canada, Mexico and China.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

The impact on suppliers

For other companies, it will mean adjusting production downwards, which will affect suppliers. Reduced order books — whether for raw materials, components or services — will amplify the impact of the tariffs on all stakeholders in the supply chain.

In turn, these companies could be forced to reduce their workforces, leading to a further rise in unemployment.

This will put further pressure on public finances.

Once the government has reached its threshold of tolerance to criticism — the point at which the political costs become too high electorally — it may choose to intervene by supporting certain sectors having difficulties, for example through subsidies or loans designed to temporarily maintain competitiveness and preserve jobs in sectors deemed strategic.

This will put considerable pressure on public finances.

Higher taxes ahead?

In any case, a tariff hike will damage trade relations, leading to an escalation of tensions and a new round of barriers, both tariff and non-tariff. A form of trade war, if you will.

You guessed it: this will put increased pressure on public finances.

Although simplistic in the face of the complexity of the real world, this brief thought exercise is useful, as it allows to practice anticipation: what will happen if the government is forced to increase spending? By using system thinking, you’ll be able to guess that taxes are about to rise.

Perhaps Trump would have made different choices if he had used system thinking and looked at the consequences of his actions. Considering the potential for inflationary pressures that threaten the American economy if he proceeds with tariffs against Canada in a month, any reasonable person would hesitate to impose them. Läs mer…

I sit on an ethics review committee at the Albany Med Health System in New York state, where doctors and nurses frequently bring us fraught questions.

Consider a typical case: A 6-month-old child has suffered a severe brain injury following cardiac arrest. A tracheostomy, ventilator and feeding tube are the only treatments keeping him alive. These intensive treatments might prolong the child’s life, but he is unlikely to survive. However, the mother – citing her faith in a miracle – wants to keep the child on life support. The clinical team is distressed – they feel they’re only prolonging the child’s dying process.

Often the question the medical team struggles with is this: Are we obligated to continue life-supporting treatments?

Bioethics, a modern academic field that helps resolve such fraught dilemmas, evolved in its early decades through debates over several landmark cases in the 1970s to the 1990s. The early cases helped establish the right of patients and their families to refuse treatments.

But some of the most ethically challenging cases, in both pediatric and adult medicine, now present the opposite dilemma: Doctors want to stop aggressive treatments, but families insist on continuing them. This situation can often lead to moral distress for doctors – especially at a time when trust in providers is falling.

Consequences of lack of trust

For the family, withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatments from a dying loved one, even if doctors advise that the treatment is unlikely to succeed or benefit the patient, can be overwhelming and painful. Studies show that their stress can be at the same level as people who have just survived house fires or similar catastrophes.

While making such high-stakes decisions, families need to be able to trust their doctor’s information; they need to be able to believe that their recommendations come from genuine empathy to serve only the patient’s interests. This is why prominent bioethicists have long emphasized trustworthiness as a central virtue of good clinicians.

Trust in the medical profession has been on a decline, especially among minorities.
FatCamera/ E+ via Getty images

However, the public’s trust in medical leaders has been on a precipitous decline in recent decades. Historical polling data and surveys show that trust in physicians is lower in the U.S. than in most industrialized countries. A recent survey from Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company, found that mistrust of the medical system is even worse among low-income and minority Americans, who experience discrimination and persistent barriers to care. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the public’s lack of trust.

In the clinic, mistrust can create an untenable situation. Families can feel isolated, lacking support or expertise they can trust. For clinicians, the situation can lead to burnout, affecting quality and access to care as well as health care costs. According to the National Academy of Medicine, “The opportunity to attend to and ease suffering is the reason why many clinicians enter the healing professions.” When doctors see their patients suffer for avoidable reasons, such as mistrust, they often suffer as well.

At a time of low trust, families can be especially reluctant to take advice to end aggressive treatment, which makes the situation worse for everyone.

Ethics of the dilemma

Physicians are not ethically obligated to provide treatments that are of no benefit to the patient, or may even be harmful, even if the family requests them. But it can often be very difficult to say definitively what treatments are beneficial or harmful, as each of those can be characterized differently based on the goals of treatment. In other words, many critical decisions depend on judgment calls.

Consider again the typical case of the 6-month-old child mentioned above who had suffered severe brain injury and was not expected to survive. The clinicians told the ethics review committee that even if the child were to miraculously survive, he would never be able to communicate or reach any “normal” milestones. The child’s mother, however, insisted on keeping him alive. So, the committee had to recommend continuing life support to respect the parent’s right to decide.

Physicians inform, recommend and engage in shared decision-making with families to help clarify their values and preferences. But if there’s mistrust, the process can quickly break down, resulting in misunderstandings and conflicts about the patient’s best interests and making a difficult situation more distressing.

Moral distress in health care.

Moral distress

When clinicians feel unable to provide what they believe to be the best care for patients, it can result in what bioethicists call “moral distress.” The term was coined in 1984 in nursing ethics to describe the experience of nurses who were forced to provide treatments that they felt were inappropriate. It is now widely invoked in health care.

Numerous studies have shown that levels of moral distress among clinicians are high, with 58% of pediatric and neonatal intensive care clinicians in a study experiencing significant moral distress. While these studies have identified various sources of moral distress, having to provide aggressive life support despite feeling that it’s not in the patient’s interest is consistently among the most frequent and intense.

Watching a patient suffer feels like a dereliction of duty to many health care workers. But as long as they are appropriately respecting the patient’s right to decide – or a parent’s, in the case of a minor – they are not violating their professional duty, as my colleagues and I argued in a recent paper. Doctors sometimes express their distress as a feeling of guilt, of “having blood on their hands,” but, we argue, they are not guilty of any wrongdoing. In most cases, the distress shows that they’re not indifferent to what the decision may mean for the patient.

Clinicians, however, need more support. Persistent moral distresses that go unaddressed can lead to burnout, which may cause clinicians to leave their practice. In a large American Medical Association survey, 35.7% of physicians in 2022-23 expressed an intent to leave their practice within two years.

But with the right support, we also argued, feelings of moral distress can be an opportunity to reflect on what they can control in the circumstance. It can also be a time to find ways to improve the care doctors provide, including communication and building trust. Institutions can help by strengthening ethics consultation services and providing training and support for managing complex cases.

Difficult and distressing decisions, such as the case of the 6-month-old child, are ubiquitous in health care. Patients, their families and clinicians need to be able to trust each other to sustain high-quality care. Läs mer…

Imagine: You’re in charge of marketing for a major automaker, and your biggest competitor just recalled thousands of vehicles. Now customers are worried about the safety of cars like yours. Do you seize the moment and ramp up advertising to steal market share? Or do you pull back on ads, fearing that customers will connect your brand with the bad press?

For what marketing professors like me call “substitute brands,” this sort of dilemma pops up all the time. Whether it’s a product recall, a customer data breach or a scandal, bad news for one brand can shake customers’ confidence in an entire product category.

The big question: Should competitors respond by increasing or decreasing their advertising? And will these adjustments help or hurt sales?

At first glance, the answer might seem obvious. More ad spending should mean bigger market share, right? But the reality is more complex. In a recent study looking at how 62 car brands responded to a 2014 recall, my colleagues and I found that, on average, when a rival brand issues a recall, its competitors cut their ad spending in half. In other words, most brands treat a rival’s crisis as a threat rather than an opportunity.

And when we looked at the ads’ content, we saw something even more interesting. When a rival brand stumbled, we found substitutes boosted their price-focused advertising by 25% on average, likely in an attempt to attract deal seekers. At the same time, they cut quality-focused advertising by 71%, possibly to avoid drawing unwanted comparisons.

And here’s the kicker: This strategy works.

We found, on average, a rival’s recall raises a substitute’s monthly sales by 35.3% – and the more a brand pulls back on ad spending, the greater the effect. So, when a competitor falters, the best response isn’t necessarily to shout louder. Instead, the data suggests a smarter play: Spend strategically, focus on price messaging, and avoid drawing attention to quality comparisons.

How we did our work

To understand how brands respond when a competitor faces a crisis, we focused on a real-world case: Volkswagen’s recall of nearly half a million cars branded under the Sagitar model in October 2014. This provided the perfect opportunity to study how rival brands adjusted their advertising strategies.

The Volkswagen Sagitar is a version of the Jetta sold in China.
Volkswagen AG

We identified Sagitar’s substitute models – 62 other sedans in the A-class category, sold by more than 30 manufacturers – and collected data on sales and ad spending across 308 media markets in the months before and after the recall. We then did a statistical analysis, controlling for several other variables that could influence ad spending.

Why it matters

Prior research offers mixed guidance on how a substitute brand should adjust its ad spending after a rival’s marketing crisis. Anecdotal evidence from the automotive and consumer goods industries is also mixed. For example, after Samsung recalled its Galaxy Note 7 in 2016 due to faulty batteries, competing phonemakers aggressively ramped up their advertising in an attempt to increase their market share.

Similarly, in 2010, after a Toyota recall, General Motors offered incentives for Toyota owners to switch to a GM car. GM’s chief marketing officer positioned these incentives as GM’s way to meet car buyers’ desire for peace of mind, and reports suggest that GM’s and other rival carmakers’ sales increased following Toyota’s recall.

But my team’s research suggests that this sort of strategy might not be the best one. Sometimes, saying less actually says more.

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work. Läs mer…

In a major escalation in the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), rebels from the March 23 Movement – or M23 – have seized Goma, the capital city of North Kivu province. At least 773 people have been killed there since the M23 claimed to have won control on January 27, while rebels have also seized several other towns in North Kivu including Sake and Minova.

The rebels are now reportedly advancing towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province. And Corneille Nangaa, who leads a rebel alliance of which M23 is the largest member, has vowed to march on the DRC’s capital in Kinshasa. Located 1,000 miles west of Goma, the capture of Kinshasa is unlikely. But the conflict still looks set to spread deeper into the DRC.

The speed of the M23 advance has taken many by surprise. The rebels captured Goma, a city of 2 million people, within just three days. But the conflict between the DRC and the M23, which takes its name from the 2009 date on which a deal was reached to end a revolt by members of the ethnic Tutsi group, has been grinding on intermittently for years.

Beginning in April 2012, when the M23 was formally created, the conflict has its roots in the same deep ethnic divisions that led to the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Following the genocide, where radical ethnic Hutus killed roughly 800,000 minority Tutsis, many Hutu extremists fled over the border into the DRC and settled in areas including North Kivu.

The M23 seeks to act as a self-defence force for Congolese Tutsis against discrimination both by the DRC and non-state actors. This includes targeting by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Hutu-dominated rebel group that seeks to overthrow the Rwandan government. The group has in the past committed egregious acts of violence against civilians in North Kivu, including mass killings and sexual violence.

The M23 rebel group seized the city of Goma on January 27.
The Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute

The seizure of Goma is crucial for several reasons. First, it means that a sizeable and strategically important border province of the DRC is now in rebel hands. North Kivu is an active volcanic region that is rich in various minerals such as coltan, which is used in electronic equipment and the aerospace industry.

In May 2024 the M23 seized Rubaya, a key mining town that produces 15% of the world’s coltan. Since then, the group has generated considerable income from controlling mineral production and trade. Indeed, the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime labels the agendas of armed groups in the eastern DRC as “profit-driven”.

Second, the capture of Goma has exacerbated inter-state tension between the DRC and Rwanda, raising the prospect of another inter-state war. News of the prized seizure came hours after the DRC’s foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, accused Rwandan troops of invading Congolese territory.

A UN report from 2013 found that Rwanda not only supports the M23 group, but actively commands its troops. UN experts now estimate that there are up to 4,000 Rwandan troops fighting alongside the M23 in the DRC. Rwanda has denied backing the M23 despite ample evidence to the contrary.

The Congolese government says Rwanda’s involvement is part of a ploy to exploit North Kivu’s vast mineral resources. In a report from December 2024, a panel of UN experts wrote that “fraudulent [mineral] extraction, trade and export to Rwanda” benefited both the M23 “and the Rwandan economy”. According to the Rwandan government’s own figures, the country exports far more gold than it mines.

And third, the escalating conflict will deepen an already grave humanitarian crisis in the region. In March 2024, the UN reported that the number of internally displaced people in the DRC had reached 7.2 million – one of the largest such crises in the world. It is estimated that over 6 million civilians in the east of the DRC are now facing high levels of food insecurity.

What next

The DRC and Rwandan governments have already gone to war on two previous occasions, once in 1996 and then again in 1998 in what turned into a more protracted five-year conflict. The first war was triggered by Rwanda’s invasion of the DRC to target anti-Rwandan rebel groups seeking refuge there. The war soon drew in other states and became known as Africa’s first world war. Since 1996, conflict in the eastern DRC has killed approximately 6 million people.

Yet despite this increased tension, there are hopes that a diplomatic solution can be reached. In the past, warring factions in the eastern DRC have agreed to temporary ceasefires following intensive mediation by international institutions such as the East African Community and the African Union, as well as neighbouring countries like Angola.

However, previous ceasefires have also been violated by both sides. And the stakes are arguably higher this time, with the DRC losing further territory and control over strategic cities to the rebels.

The Congolese government may be reluctant to accept peace conditions until it regains control over lost portions of territory. Indeed, the Congolese president, Félix Tshisekedi, has already snubbed prospective peace talks to establish a ceasefire.

Protesters attacked the embassies of Rwanda, France, Belgium and the US in Kinshasa, criticising the lack of international response to the rebel advance.
Chris Milosi / EPA

Western powers hold key leverage, and may be able to subdue the M23 insurgency. France has given its backing to the DRC government and has warned of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences should the situation deteriorate further.

The US and other major powers like the UK have also withdrawn state funding for Rwanda in the past over its support for the M23 insurgency. In 2013, for example, cuts to foreign aid forced Rwanda to scale back its support for the rebels, both through reduced military training and supply runs. The UK government has threatened to withdraw funding to Rwanda again following the M23’s capture of Goma.

Belgium, on the other hand, is leading calls for the EU to suspend a controversial minerals deal with Rwanda that boosts the bloc’s access to several elements in exchange for funding to help Kigali develop its mineral extraction infrastructure. When the deal was signed in 2024, Tshisekedi described it as “a provocation in very bad taste”.

In any case, a ceasefire between the DRC and the M23 is not enough. What is needed is a long-term, durable solution that addresses the root causes and fears that are driving the armed conflict. Läs mer…

Chinese people around the world have just celebrated lunar new year, which this year has run from January 28 to February 4. It is the biggest festival of the year in China, signalling the start of spring, and this is the year of the wood snake. According to Chinese astrology, the characteristics of the snake – renewal, potential, opportunity and wisdom – will affect the year ahead.

As we start the new lunar year, it feels like a good time to look ahead to look at the prospects for the Chinese economy through the prism of these characteristics.

Renewal of traditional economic drivers

China dominates global manufacturing – its manufacturing production is as large as the next seven largest competitors combined. This has earned China the title of the world’s manufacturing superpower – but it has come at a cost. The latest data shows that China is among the top 20 most polluted countries across the world.

Therefore, it’s likely that over the next 12 months, there will be a continued drive towards the renewal, or upgrading, of traditional industrial sectors that have historically driven growth in China but are also heavy polluters.

This is part of a broader push by China to improve its climate footprint and reduce emissions. These are goals outlined in the national climate action plan, referred to by the Paris climate agreement as the nationally determined contributions.

Potential for a surge into AI

China has identified the potential for adopting AI, robotics and 3D printing in transforming its manufacturing base. Meanwhile, the country’s next generation AI development plan sets out clear objectives to make AI the main driver of Chinese economic change and industrial development. Expect to see more progress towards this goal in 2025.

China’s machine-learning sector has experienced considerable growth, and is predicted to grow by an average of 34.8% a year over the next five years. While the US is the major competitor and commands the largest market size, the recent release of the R1 chatbot by DeepSeek has created a stir.

New year, new opportunities.
EPA-EFE/Jessica Lee

DeepSeek claims to have developed its latest R1 model at a cost of around US$6 million (£4.8 million), which is considerably less than its US competitors such as Open AI’s ChatGPT-4, which is reported to have cost more than US$100 million. It’s an indication of the strength of innovation which underlines the potential growth of China’s AI sector, and is likely to help narrow the gap with the US.

Opportunities for foreign investment

In addition to upgrading traditional industries, we can expect to see opportunities around new areas of growth in advanced technology sectors such as fintech and green tech. China will continue shifting its focus to industries in which its firms can add lots of value, such as in technology-related manufacturing.

Major investment is needed to fund these industries and two major changes have occurred in recent months, recognising that this cannot come only from domestic sources.

First, the changes to China’s A-share market, which went into effect in December 2024, will make it easier for a wider range of overseas investors to enter. For example, smaller amounts of capital are required, and foreign capital can now come from unlisted companies.

Second, in November 2024, China opened up its manufacturing sector to foreign capital by removing all access restrictions.

Over the next year, we can expect to see these changes increase the amount of foreign capital in China, and help realise these new areas of growth.

The wisdom of opening up

China continues to see the wisdom of opening its economy in terms of investment – and therefore that it is critically important to remain well-connected to the rest of the world.

The geopolitical tensions with the US are a challenge: the US president, Donald Trump, has said he will impose tariffs of 10% on imports from China. But on a more positive note, breaking protocol last month, Chinese vice-president Han Zheng was invited to, and attended, Trump’s inauguration ceremony.

It’s an indication of the current US administration’s view of the importance of America’s relationship with China.

China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, sits behind media tycoon Rupert Murdoch at Donald Trump’s inauguration, January 2025.
EPA-EFE/Chip Somodevilla/pool

The year ahead is also likely to bring opportunities for the UK to continue its efforts to reset its relationship with China. During the recent visit to Beijing by the chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, there was a discussion of a “stable and balanced UK-China relationship”.

Few expect, or desire, a return to the “golden era” rhetoric of the likes of former UK chancellor George Osborne, who in a speech at the Shanghai Stock Exchange in September 2015 called for Britain and China to work together to ensure mutual prosperity: “Let’s stick together to make Britain China’s best partner in the west. Let’s stick together and create a golden decade for both of our countries.”

However, greater dialogue with China may be possible, while at the same time carefully managing the UK’s relationship with the new US administration.

China watchers will be keeping their eyes peeled for other economic developments over the year ahead – for example, the progress of Chinese fiscal reforms and their impact on local and regional finances and income distribution. Also, there is the matter of the real estate market. After significant falls in housing sales and investment during 2024, house prices are showing signs of stabilising.

China’s economy will face challenges in the year ahead. But there are also some clear opportunities for this manufacturing giant, particularly in the tech sector as it starts to narrow the gap with the US. Läs mer…

The theatre has long staged and debated society’s most pressing concerns. But when protest moves beyond the script and into the theatre itself, the reaction can shift from applause to confusion, and even outrage.

Such was the case last week, when a Just Stop Oil demonstration interrupted a performance of The Tempest at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Actor Sigourney Weaver sat aghast as protesters walked on stage and fired a confetti cannon, holding placards and announcing politely: “We’ll have to stop the show, ladies and gentlemen, sorry.”

Audience-members can be heard both booing and cheering in footage of the moment. But despite the shock of the crowd and actors, protest at the theatre has a long history.

The moment Just Stop Oil protestors invaded the stage during a performance of The Tempest.

Rather than interlopers like Just Stop Oil, these protests have often come from theatregoers themselves. In 1809, for example, riots erupted when the new theatre at Covent Garden in London raised its ticket prices, making theatre less accessible to working-class patrons.

For over two months, theatregoers disrupted performances with whistles, horns and placards, ultimately forcing a reversal of the price hikes. The message was clear: the theatre belonged to the people, not just the elite.

In more recent history, the feminist play The Vagina Monologues, has been the subject of protest and the vehicle for it in almost equal measure. Various groups have stood against its empowerment of women, and others have used it to fight for the very same thing.

And in 2004, the play Behzti (Dishonour) was shut down after just two days of performances at Birmingham Rep, following violent protests by members of the Sikh community.

The play, which depicted sexual abuse and murder inside a Sikh place of worship, sparked fierce opposition, with critics arguing it was deeply offensive to their faith. While the theatre was intended as a space for difficult conversations, protesters saw it as a site that needed to be defended from perceived harm.

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Political theatre

Protest is not only something that happens at the theatre but an integral part of the art-form itself. Performance holds a mirror to society and asks us to look at ourselves.

As a result, political theatre has long shaped public discourse in England. Agitprop, for example, a highly politicised theatre movement that originated in 1920s Europe and aimed to educate and mobilise audiences.

More recently in 2018, participatory London theatre company Coney staged an intervention with their youth arm, Young Coneys at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) annual dinner, blurring the line between activism and performance.

In a production called Codename Violet, young performers took on the role of activist agitators, posing as “very junior doctors”, informing guests of the health impact of diesel emission air pollution. “Is your event more important than a man’s life?” asked an actor calling out the industry’s role in the climate crisis.

Like the Just Stop Oil’s action at The Tempest, this protest captured attention. Yet, while political theatre is often praised for its boldness, real-world disruptions are usually met with hostility.

Perhaps the key difference is control. Audiences willingly engage with radical ideas when framed within a performance, but an uninvited protest strips them of choice. This is likely where the bewilderment arises over Just Stop Oil’s recent intervention. While theatre remains a space for political engagement, many still see it as a controlled environment, where the audience decides when and how to confront difficult and complicated truths.

The tension between theatre as protest and protest at the theatre reveals an ongoing struggle over who gets to dictate the terms of political discourse.

As long as theatre remains a mirror to society, the stage – and the spaces around it – will continue to be contested. Whether we see protest at the theatre as an intrusion or an extension of its radical tradition may depend on how willing we are to let performance spill into real life. Läs mer…