Avoiding a Breakdown

• Financial Times
• December 31, 1997

The international financial system is suffering a systemic breakdown, but we are unwilling to acknowledge it. The abandonment of fixed exchange rate regimes in south-east Asia touched off an unraveling process that has exceeded everyone’s worst fears, including my own. So far the large bail-out programmes implemented by the International Monetary Fund have not worked.

Toward a Global Open Society

• Project Syndicate
• December 2, 1997

NEW YORK: Start with the obvious: we live in a global economy. Let us be clear about what that means. A global economy includes not only the free movement of goods and services but, more importantly, the free movement of ideas and capital (everything from direct investments to financial transactions).

My Vision of an Open Europe

• London Times
• November 5, 1997

As an idea, European unity used to appeal to the hearts and minds of Europeans. But the reality is far less inspiring. What is the cause of this malaise? Can the European vision of the past 50 years be revitalized? Europe’s failures are often blamed on the fact that the union is an association of states, all tending to put their own interests ahead of the common weal.

Revitalizing the European Idea

• Project Syndicate
• October 9, 1997

THE HAGUE: The idea of European unity used to appeal to the hearts and minds of Europeans. But its reality, the way the Union actually works, is far less inspiring. What is the cause of this malaise and is there an idea that can mobilize future generations and revitalize the European vision of the past fifty years?

My Investments in Russia

• Moscow News
• August 21, 1997

Until Boris Nemtsov, the former governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, was made first vice premier in March this year, I wasn’t planning to invest money in Russia. I perceived his appointment as an attempt to move away from robber capitalism to a law-abiding capitalism where shareholders’ rights are protected.

Imagine It’s 2007 and an Enlarged Europe Basks in Prosperity

• The New York Times
• February 4, 1997

The Europe of 2007 is larger, more united and more prosperous than could have been expected at the beginning of 1997. Its territory extends not only to Central Europe but also to the Baltic states. Not only does it have a common currency but also a common fiscal policy which serves two objectives: to counter cyclical variations and to even out divergences among individual states.

The Drug War Cannot Be Won

• The Washington Post
• February 2, 1997

Like many people, I was delighted this past November when voters in California and Arizona approved, by substantial margins, two ballot initiatives that represent a change in direction in our drug policies. The California initiative legalized the cultivation and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The Capitalist Threat

• The Atlantic
• February 1, 1997

In The Philosophy of History, Hegel discerned a disturbing historical pattern — the crack and fall of civilizations owing to a morbid intensification of their own first principles. Although I have made a fortune in the financial markets, I now fear that the untrammeled intensification of laissez-faire capitalism and the spread of market values into all areas of life is endangering our open and democratic society.

Immigrant’s Burden

• The New York Times
• October 2, 1996

In the last seven years, I have devoted considerable energy to support the creation of open societies in the former Soviet bloc. In those countries, the meaning of open society was easy to explain: It was the opposite of Communism. Open society was the United States, a country characterized by a reliance on the rule of law, a democratically elected government, a diverse culture and respect for people who are different.

Relighting a Lamp Outside America’s Darkening Door

• The Los Angeles Times
• October 2, 1996

Up until now, most of my philanthropy has been directed to helping build open societies in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. But recently I have come to feel that the values of open society are in disrepair in the United States, so I have embarked upon a broader program of giving here.