Celebrating the IPE Zone's Five-Year Anniversary

Five Years of Fearless Blogging

Unbeknownst to me, the IPE Zone just turned five in February.. Belatedly, then, it's time to celebrate! I once had a nearly octogenarian boss who morbidly observed that her peers were all retired and many dead besides. With blogging the very model of a throwaway medium, the cycle of existence is much, much shorter than that. I too observe that most of the peer blogs I started out with are by now inactive or have since moved on to the Great IP Address in the Sky. There also have been a lot of changes in where I draw readers from. I have been through all the fads and fashions cycling in and out: blog aggregators, syndication, Facebook, Twitter and now iPhones. I am sure there will be more to come.

Originally meant to house surplus class material way back when I was still a postgrad, I remain amazed at the longevity of this blog. I certainly didn't anticipate that I would still be maintaining it five years on. Reasonably good mainstream media coverage as well as it being the world's most visible dedicated IPE blog--Google "international political economy" to see for yourselves--have made it viable for me to continue.

All the while, I believe that the IPE Zone's diversity in terms of geographical and political-economic issue coverage appeal to a broader swathe of readers. It is encouraging that many visitors come from outside of Western nations as evidenced by our blog followers' profiles, for instance. I do appreciate that, IPE having been founded largely by American and British scholars, this blog may be a harbinger of better representation by neglected third world voices. Not that I can say the same for the World Bank and IMF, but I would certainly like to see moves away from much of the whitebread sameness that permeates much of the political-economic blogosphere. The world has changed. Obviously, people with similar backgrounds tend to view the world in the same way. It is thus remarkable that an outsider has persisted in making IPE more accessible to more folks online.

So here's looking forward to more years of pull-no-punches commentary. Whether it's questioning Western hypocrisy over leadership at international organizations or the self-serving rhetoric over the value of university education, there really ought to be other voices offering....attitudes of elegant despair on subprime globalization as the subtitle says. Here at least there's truth in advertising even if you may not entirely agree with the perspectives taken here.

It goes without saying that I too have persevered due to the continuing loyalty of IPE Zone readers despite times when I simply felt tired with the whole shebang. Like Comrade Bob Mugabe, this blog is still standing--albeit under what I hope are more positive reasons