Writing
Essays
Arguments, questions and reflections on development, institutions, knowledge and power.
Development
When a Decade Is “Lost”: A Reflection on the World Bank’s 2026 Outlook
This week, I was conducting research for a paper when I pulled up the World Bank’s June 2026 Global Economic Prospects report. I was flabbergasted, to say the least, by the breathtaking candour of the…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
31 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Knowledge, Method and Power
In the Age of AI Self Authorship Requires Refusal
My PhD focused on how people construct understandings and knowledges for themselves, and how these understandings shape policy. My central aim was to deconstruct an approach in international relations…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
15 Sept 2026 · 6 min read
Knowledge, Method and Power
The Right to Be Devastatingly Disappointing: A Reflection on Professor Jason Arday
Over the past few months, the story of Professor Jason Arday has captured our attention, culminating in the tragedy of his untimely death at 41. The response from various sectors of the Black communit…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
26 Aug 2026 · 6 min read
Development
The Cost of Recovery: How Climate Change Is Consuming the Caribbean’s Future
The aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica in October 2025. What is the cost of climate change to the Caribbean? There is the economic and physical damage, but what of the lives taken, the …
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
10 Aug 2026 · 4 min read
Knowledge, Method and Power
The Audacity Comes From Here: On emancipation, scaffolding and the work of self-authorship
What gives you the audacity? The audacity to enter unfamiliar spaces, convene conversations and develop ideas that exceed the boundaries others have drawn around your expertise. The audacity to believ…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
1 Aug 2026 · 5 min read
Global Governance
No New Historical Injustices? AI Governance, the Global South and the Caribbean’s Place in the Emerging Technological Order
On Friday afternoon as I was milling about with Bloomberg in the background, I caught a sound bite of Xi Jinping’s speech on AI. As I listened, I got the feeling that a race was beginning or had perha…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
17 Jul 2026 · 5 min read
Global Governance
The WTO Does Not Have Arthritis. It has Politics
I read a recent article “The WTO Is Not in Crisis, It Has Arthritis” that was the initial spark for this essay. The article argues that the World Trade Organization is not collapsing but rather strugg…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
15 Jul 2026 · 3 min read
Colonial Quiet
What Naomi Osaka Made Visible
On neutrality and the invisible cultural standards that shape sport. This photograph is now familiar. When tennis star Naomi Osaka walked onto Centre Court at Wimbledon, it quickly made waves across t…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
13 Jul 2026 · 3 min read
Regional Integration
On Caribbean Math and the Limits of CARICOM Unity
Disagreement within CARICOM is not new. From a political economy perspective, conflict is not evidence that regional integration is failing. It is evidence that states are pursuing and negotiating int…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
10 Jul 2026 · 4 min read
Development
The One Where the Development Movie Plays on Repeat
In 2022, Jason Hickel and his co authors published findings that should have unsettled the foundations of contemporary development thinking. They estimated that, between 1990 and 2015, the Global Nort…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
8 Apr 2026 · 5 min read
Regional Integration
When Money Is “Left on the Table”: A Critical Political Economy Reflection on Access to Development Aid
This week, I found myself reflecting on a discussion prompted by an international development agency’s claim that Caribbean countries had failed to access available funding and had therefore “left mon…
Dr Dinah Hippolyte
20 Mar 2026 · 2 min read