Bill Emmott

Bill Emmott

Bill Emmott (born 6 August 1956) is an English journalist, author and consultant best known for his time spent as Editor-in-Chief of The Economist (1993–2006).^[1] He has written 12 books and worked on two documentary feature films, on Italy and the European Union. Emmott has also co-founded an educational charity, The Wake Up Foundation. The charity is dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers facing Western societies and their values utilising film, debates and school courses, and launched a Wake Up Europe! initiative in October 2015.

Life and work

Emmott was educated at Latymer Upper School in London and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he attained a First Class Degree in PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics). After graduation, he worked for The Economist newspaper in Brussels, Tokyo and London, becoming the 15th editor of the publication in March 1993 and resigning on 20 February 2006.^[1] During his tenure, The Economist editorialised in favour of the Iraq War, of legalising gay marriage, and of abolishing the British monarchy, as well as in opposition to Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister of Italy.

Emmott served as chairman of the London Library from 2009–15, and trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies from 2009–15, and as group economic adviser for Fleming Family & Partners from 2011–15.^[1] He is currently a Visiting Professor at Shujitsu University in Okayama, Japan,^[1] a Visiting Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford, and a member of Tokyo University's President's Council. He is also an adviser to Swiss Re and has served as Chairman of Content Board and Director at Ofcom.^[1]

Bill Emmott wrote the best-selling book The Sun Also Sets: The Limits to Japan's Economic Power (1989), as well as 20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the Twenty-First Century (2003), Japanophobia: The Myth of the Invincible Japanese (1993) and Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between China, India and Japan Will Shape our Next Decade (2008).^[1]

Emmott's book about Italy was first published in Italian translation in 2010 under the title Forza, Italia: Come Ripartire dopo Berlusconi; Emmott then updated, revised and expanded it for the English version, Good Italy, Bad Italy, which was published by Yale University Press in 2012.

In April 2016 the Government of Japan awarded him the "Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon".^[2]

Emmott writes columns on current affairs for The Financial Times in London, for La Stampa in Italy, for Nikkei Business in Japan and for Project Syndicate worldwide. His latest book, "The Fate of the West", was published in April 2017 by Profile Books in the UK, in May 2017 by Public Affairs in the US, and in June 2017 by Nikkei Publishing in Japan.

Film work

The Wake Up foundation

Emmott (as chairman) and Piras (as director) set up the Wake Up Foundation to use film, text and data for public education and school courses about the decline of Western countries and what could be done to restore the strengths of liberal democracy in the face of pressures such as demography, technological innovation, globalisation, climate change and the long aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008–10. The first projects of the foundation were a "Wake Up Europe!" initiative in October 2015 using Piras's documentary, The Great European Disaster Movie, and a new statistical indicator of the long-term health of western societies, to be called "the Wake Up 2050 Index".

Published works

• Pennant-Rea, Rupert; Emmott, Bill, eds. (1983). The Pocket Economist. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-26070-1.
• — (1989). The Sun Also Sets: Why Japan Will Not Be Number One. London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-69696-3.
• — (1991). Japan's Global Reach: The Influences, Strategies, and Weaknesses of Japan's Multinational Companies. London: Century. ISBN 0-7126-4928-X.
• — (1993). Japanophobia: The Myth of the Invincible Japanese. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-8129-1907-6.
• — (1996). Kanryo no Taizai [The Deadly Sins of Government] (in Japanese). Translated by Chikara Suzuki. Tokyo: Soshisha. ISBN 4-7942-0702-6.
• Emmott, Bill; Watanabe, Koji; Wolfowitz, Paul (1997). Managing the International System over the Next Ten Years: Three Essays. New York: Trilateral Commission. ISBN 0-930503-76-7.
• — (2003). 20:21 Vision: The Lessons of the 20th Century for the 21st. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9519-X.
• — (2005). Changing Times: Leading Perspectives on the Civil Service in the 21st Century and Its Enduring Values. London: Office of the Civil Service Commissioners. ISBN 978-0-7115-0469-1.
• — (2006). Shin Ogon Jidai no Nihon [Japan's New Golden Age—of the coming 10 years] (in Japanese). Masahiro Ugaya (trans.). Tokyo: PHP Institute. ISBN 4-569-65639-0.
• — (2006). Hiwa Mata Noboru [The Sun Also Rises] (in Japanese). Soshisha. ISBN 978-4-7942-1473-7.
• — (2007). Nihon no sentaku [Japan's Choices] (in Japanese). Kodansha International.
• — (2008). Sekai Choryu no Yomikata [Reading the World's Currents] (in Japanese). PHP Institute.
• — (2008). Rivals: How the power struggle between China, India and Japan will shape our next decade. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-1-84614-009-9.
• — (2010). Kawaru Sekai, Tachiokureru Nihon [Changing World, Lagging Japan] (in Japanese). PHP Institute. ISBN 4-569-77728-7.
• — (2010). Forza, Italia. Rizzoli. ISBN 9788817044929.
• — (2012). Good Italy, Bad Italy: Why Italy Must Conquer its Demons to Face the Future. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300186307.
• — (2017). The Fate of the West: The Battle to Save the World's Most Successful Political Idea. Economist Books. ISBN 9781610397803.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bill Emmott.

• Interview with Emmott, ABC News (Australia)
• Interview with Emmott, Forbes
• Interview with Emmott, UK Evening Standard
• The Promise and Problems of American Power – A Conversation With Bill Emmott
• billemmott.com
• Why the Economist is so successful?
• Washington Post, PostGlobal Panelist
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• girlfriendinacoma.eu