Jacqueline Best

Professor of Political Studies, University of Ottawa & SPERI International Advisory Board member

We are entering another state of exception – but this time it’s economic too

Jacqueline Best - 17 April 2020

It appears that the protection of the economy is often a factor in the types of exceptionalist policies designed to ensure the public’s security throughout the COVID19 pandemic.

Read more

Security, economy, and our addiction to neoliberalism

Jacqueline Best - 3 February 2020

Critical security studies can help to make sense of the complex ways through which states have used claims of ‘exceptionalisation’ to respond to economic crises.

Read more

The return of economic exceptionalism

Jacqueline Best - 9 December 2019

A new animated video by Jacqueline Best examines the role of economic exceptionalism – and asks what it means for political life today.

Read more

Economic exceptionalism past and present: or whatever happened to normal?

Jacqueline Best -  25 June 2019

Exceptionalist policies can play a critical role in changing norms and perceptions of what constitutes the status quo. What role does exceptionalism play within our society today?

Read more

‘Net Zero’ and the innovation-policy nexus

Jacqueline Best - 14 June 2019

Ignorance is not the antithesis to knowledge, but it is part of it. Wishful thinking, muddling through and other forms of ignorance play a crucial role in shaping economic policy and its effects on society.

Read more

Neoliberalism’s ‘unfailures’

Jacqueline Best - 05 June 2019

Economic policies enacted under neoliberalism have often failed to meet their objectives, but have remained unchallenged. Why do certain policy failures have so little impact?

Read more

Why we need to stop letting economic crises go to waste

Jacqueline Best -  08 May 2018

There’s a popular adage that we should never let a good crisis go to waste. Yet, arguably, that’s what we’ve been doing for decades now.

Read more

Don’t Panic! (At least not about inflation)

Jacqueline Best - 22 March 2018

Concerns about high inflation – a key narrative underpinning recent financial volatility – are highly suspect

Read more

Fat Cats in paradise: Why private wealth is a political issue

Jacqueline Best  - 15 January 2018

The future of liberal democracy is threatened unless growing inequality and the culture of wealthy entitlement it creates are effectively tackled

Read more

Why we need better central bank accountability

Jacqueline Best -  07 July 2016

New reforms, underpinned by three basic principles, are needed to make central banks fully accountable

Read more

The Coming Crisis: the monetary policy credibility trap

Jacqueline Best - 20 April 2016

In the latest blog in SPERI’s series on ‘The Coming Crisis’ Jacqueline Best asks: what do central banks and governments do when exceptions to the monetary policy rules keep piling up?

Read more