Wolfgang Depner

Wolfgang Depner is a doctoral candidate
at the University of British Columbia –
Okanagan and the co-editor of Readings
in Political Idealogies since the Rise of Modern
Science, published by Oxford University
Press.

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Wolfgang Depner's Latest Posts

When church and state clash

| October 16, 2021 | 0 Comments
When church and state clash

The sword and the word: These terms respectively describe the power of the state to make and enforce laws and the power of religion to shape millions of believers. What separates the West from the rest of the world is the (theoretically) strict separation between state and religion. It’s a spirit that also infuses other […]

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Food trade: Who’s buying, who’s selling

| April 25, 2021 | 0 Comments
Food trade:  Who’s buying,  who’s selling

As COVID further impacts the problems of malnutrition and hunger worldwide, Diplomat takes a look at what countries export the most agricultural products and what countries import the biggest number. Mid 18th-Century France witnessed the emergence of an eclectic group of economists. They sought to challenge the prevailing mercantilism, favouring high tariffs, subsidies and physical […]

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This millennium’s major innovations

| January 20, 2021 | 0 Comments
This millennium’s major innovations

Looking past 2020’s annus horribilis, Wolfgang Depner presents the 21st Century’s Top-10 major innovations and technologies. When 2020 dawned, various media organizations whetted the appetites of their readers with lists of things to come, ranging from major sporting events and the release of new movies and musicals to pending breakthroughs in medicine and transportation. As […]

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Scarce resources: Wolfgang Depner investigates the world’s Top-10 scarcest resources and why they matter to humanity.

| April 3, 2020 | 0 Comments
Scarce resources: Wolfgang Depner investigates the world’s Top-10 scarcest resources and why they matter to humanity.

Concerns about the causes and consequences of scarce natural resources have a long and rich history that stretches through classical Greek thought, with Plato and Aristotle; medieval Christian theology, with St. Thomas of Aquinas; all the way to the European Enlightenment, with Adam Smith. The debate has since broadly ranged between two large opposing intellectual camps: […]

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Disputed territories

| September 29, 2019 | 0 Comments
Disputed  territories

Wolfgang Depner surveyed the planet’s Top-10 most dangerous dispute zones and came up with this list. Problems of territoriality lie at the heart of global politics, especially among those who subscribe to realist theories of international relations. If we accept their argument that the international community consists of independent states that exist in an environment […]

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The world’s best national debt managers

| April 1, 2019 | 0 Comments
The world’s best national debt managers

Debt is a powerful force, with total global government debt exceeding US$65 trillion, up from $37 trillion a decade earlier. Wolfgang Depner examines global debt and gives shout-outs to the world’s best financial bosses. It was a small but symbolic occasion. For the first time in 20 years, Germany’s debt counter reversed direction in January […]

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The inequality conundrum

| December 29, 2018 | 0 Comments
The inequality conundrum

Humans have discussed the origin and outcomes of income inequality for millenniums. The sacred texts of all major monotheistic religions generally denounce it, but contemporary interpretations of the same faiths often disagree about the best way to remedy it, or if a remedy is even necessary. Aristotle considered it corrosive for political communities; European medieval […]

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Drivers and deficits in the Caribbean

| October 7, 2018 | 0 Comments
Drivers and deficits in the Caribbean

This often-ignored region of the world has a lot to offer and a lot at stake. In this 10-part list, Wolfgang Depner looks at the good and the bad — and why the world should pay more attention to the region. These are, to say the least, interesting times for the Caribbean. The recent discovery […]

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Sun, sand, surf, city life and so much more

| July 2, 2018 | 0 Comments
Sun, sand,  surf, city life and so much more

It may seem audacious to choose 15 vacation spots that check off all the items on a traveller’s list, but we see it as a something-for-everyone approach. Or put another way, you can spare one person from inevitable sunburn and beach boredom and another from tedious shopping and historical sites, while another escapes long hot […]

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Mapping migrant patterns

| April 3, 2018 | 0 Comments
Mapping  migrant  patterns

It’s a dramatic number — 258 million. It comes from the United Nations’ International Migration Report 2017 and represents the estimated number of “international migrants,” which the organization defines as individuals who live in a state other than their state of birth or citizenship. They account for what the report calls a “relatively small share […]

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