Word: browne
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...doesn't have to test these findings in parliamentary elections anytime soon. But there's talk in Westminster of a plot to oust Brown, and there's a swell of open hostility toward him in the British media. Last fall, he flirted with calling a snap poll to win a new mandate in his own right - a gambit that proved disastrous when he balked at holding elections in the face of an upswing in support for the Conservative opposition. Another well-polished asset, Brown's reputation for sound economic stewardship, has become ever more tarnished as Britain's economy takes...
That hasn't deterred Brown from pressing on. The impact of the global credit crunch has sharpened his thinking on multilateralism. Brown believes there are four issues in the world today that can only be addressed collectively, cooperatively and through international institutions. "We have global financial flows, but we do not have any form of early-warning system for the world economy," he says. "We have environmental catastrophe, but we have no capacity to plan, finance and act globally. We have failed states and terrorism but we've got no organizational ability to deal with reconstruction, stability, peacekeeping and humanitarian...
There's not one thing wrong with that analysis, but it doesn't exactly lend itself to snappy slogans. "That sounds a bit academic, doesn't it?," said Brown after a long explanation of how voters in Kirkcaldy or New Jersey might be convinced of the importance of reforming international institutions. And those voters who do grasp the issues might well ask why Brown places trust in the ability of large numbers of nations to reach agreement on contentious matters. For all his faith in the power of multilateralism, Brown dislikes the protracted meetings that are at the heart...
Poverty and Piety Long periods at the negotiating table dampened Brown's early enthusiasm for the E.U., just as his growing feel for globalization shifted his focus further afield. But he adheres to one core priority that predates not only his time in government but his years as a brilliant academic - Brown entered university when he was just 16 and took a first-class degree - and as a rising Labour star...
...child, Brown internalized the values of his father, who used his pulpit to combat poverty among his parishioners and support missionary work overseas. Brown has consistently advocated a bigger aid budget, fairer trading regimes for developing countries, and a commitment to the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Long involved with Africa, he is particularly exercised about the crisis in Zimbabwe, where his father, who died in 1998, had friends who opposed white minority rule. Though plainly outraged by the delay in announcing the result of the presidential vote in Zimbabwe, Brown seems keen to avoid any accusations of colonial-style...