Egyptian pro-democracy workers wait in a holding cell before the hearing. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/02/27/egypt.html This article shows pretty starkly how democracy assistance can be viewed by its recipient nations. Despite the fact that Egypt has undergone a liberation from the tyranny of Mubarak, it is still resentful of those who “stirred unrest” in the regime. These […]
As most news followers know, Greece is in a democratic pickle. The Greek government views austerity as being the way to tackle the nation’s economic woes, but the people overwhelmingly reject this strategy. How does the government proceed democratically? How does the government proceed intelligently? I guess this boils down to a debate between the […]
This is where my academic time and leisure time collide. I have recently started watching the HBO show ‘Rome’ which chronicles Gaius Julius Caesar and his rise to power via the overthrow of the Roman Republic. Unlike alot of the HBO offerings, this one focuses on more than just gore and nudity (although much is […]
“Our western standards must be tempered by the cultural and social experiences […] We ought to lower our expectations” – Lt. Gen. Bouchard, Commander of Canadian Operations in Libya http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/13/libya-canada-nato-commander.html It seems that we, as the West, have learned from out democratization efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead of toppling an autocratic regime […]
This is a link to the .docx file. The full text is a bit too long to become the face of this blog, but here is the first figure showing how some of the categorical variables are not able to fully capture political rights. Measures of Democracy – Post Soviet Europe
This post will compare the rating systems used to evaluate individual online sellers. These are often of critical importance to buyers in order to avoid scammers online. Usually, the higher the number of ratings of a seller, and the higher those ratings, the more likely they will be legitimate. It sucks to buy an Xbox […]
As a citizen of a democratic country, I own my sovereign self, and have the right to have this sovereignty expressed through democratic institutions. The actions of government, wars, economic policies, and ultimately laws, should all have a basis in the democratic process. We elect our representatives and they accomplish these things on our behalf, and […]
Mohamed Nasheed, the highly acclaimed president of the Maldives ‘resigned’ from office recently amid protests surrounding his rule. He was well known for his environmental policies and his international fight against climate change. He was also well known to be a highly moral man, and apt politician. Before his political career, he was held […]
For my empirical analysis of democratic regimes, I chose to focus on Post Soviet Europe. Post-Soviet Europe Belarus Bulgaria Moldova Romania Russia Ukraine I find these measures of democracy very interesting from a foreign policy perspective. I hope to find relationships between increasing levels of democracy and the existence of historical external pressure to democratize. […]
Well auntie Gertrude I am glad you asked that question. This is a question which a good portion of the course I am taking focuses on. The fact of the matter is that throughout history and across countries and disciplines there are thousands of definitions and conceptions of what democracy actually is. This is even […]