Posted By Daniel W. Drezner Share

As the end of the year approaches, it's time to look back and master the fine art of holiday letters think about "best of 2009" lists.   And, to be sure, this past year was an eventful one for the global political economy.  Trying to make sense of the past twelve months is a tricky business, even in a world of real-time instanalysis.  When intelligent zombies Salma Hayek-worshippers future historians try to make sense of what happened and why, what can we say are the five things that are worth reading? 

If David Brooks has his Sidney Awards, let's call these the Albies, after this guy

Unlike Brooks, I'm not limiting myself to magazine articles.  I'm talking about any book, journal article, magazine piece, op-ed, or blog post published in the 2009 calendar year that made you rethink how the world works in such a way that you will never be able "unthink" the argument. 

The Albies will be announced at the end of this week, and I already have a pretty good idea of some of the winners.  At present, not all choices are fixed or frozen, however.  So consider this post an opportunity, and provide your suggestions (with links) in the comments. 

 
Facebook|Twitter|Reddit

BRETT

2:37 AM ET

December 22, 2009

T.R. Reid's The Healing of

T.R. Reid's The Healing of America. While not a deep examination of any particular health care system, it was excellent as both an overview and personal story touching upon multiple health care systems (including some that almost never get talked about in the US health care debates, like Japan's). It definitely made me re-think a couple of things about health care delivery systems.

 

WKW

5:59 AM ET

December 22, 2009

Top 5

Up at IPE@UNC. Two (maybe three) are kinda cop-outs, but I'm not actually convinced we learned all that much this year. Looking forward to see your list.

http://ipeatunc.blogspot.com/2009/12/years-best-in-global-political-economy.html

 

Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Read More