Robert Biel is the Director of MSc Development Administration and Planning, University College London. He specializes in international political economy and globalisation. Has lectured at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and currently lecturing at Birkbeck College, as well as at the DPU. He has been affiliated with the Institute for African Alternatives, the China Policy Study Group, and co-founded the Centre for Research into Economic and Social Trends (CREST), a study group on social policy issues at present preparing research projects on issues related to the impact of globalisation upon local communities, with particular reference to employment.
Robert is the author of The New Imperialism - Crisis and Contradictions in North-South Relations, London (Zed Books), 2000 — a study, highly recommended by Insurgent American, of the development of the international political economy through “long cycles,” and the impact of this upon the global South. It examines the forces which the present-day economic structure will struggle to contain, and discusses the possible directions of change in the coming period (written prior to 9-11).