As of March 2026, this website is no longer being updated. I now work mainly on climate issues, especially in Brighton and Hove, and new work can be found on the website of Climate:Change, our independent think-tank on socially inclusive action in the City: www.climatechangebh.org.uk.
Meanwhile, however, this website has over 850 entries, mostly representing my work on international development from 2010-2025. Among much else, there are over 50 book reviews, more than 20 papers and training cases on bridging research and policy and on managing think-tanks, nearly 100 articles on climate change, and many papers on other topics, including aid, food security and nutrition, and the future of international development. See ‘Topics and Themes’ for more details. I can be reached at sm@simonmaxwell.net.
Inside the palace of glass
Inside the palace of glass, Open Democracy, June 2001
The international conferences of the new world order are regularly seen through the eyes of media, protestors, and spin-doctors. But what is it like to be a participant? The director of the Overseas Development Institute was in Amsterdam to discuss poverty with the World Bank. This is his witty, compelling account.
Not long ago, international summits were surrounded by the silence of the lambs. The loudest noise was the ripple of camera shots at the group photo. But that was before Seattle. And Prague. And Sao Paulo. And Nice. And Goteborg. In a stunningly short time, the tranquil festivities of globalisation’s government – IMF, World Bank, EU, WTO, G8Group of Eight - have been transformed into sites of epic, mediatised confrontation with a refreshingly eclectic liberationist caravanserai................. (see link in title for full article)