“US foreign policy has nothing to do with ideology, as it only cares about the kind of democracy it wants. The US wants to impose a “designed and tamed democracy” in the Arab region, so as to protect its own interests.” This is an article from an online service called the “Gulf News” which is basically […]
As you all know (I hope) the UBC AMS elections were held last week, but apparently turnout was appallingly low. This once baffled me but I have since come up with a reason why. I’ll run you though my thought process. First I was incredulous, going through the possibilities, but then things started to make […]
Emotional Chinese premier says democracy cannot be held back as he admits country is in urgent need of reform – ‘Due to my incompetent abilities and institutional and other factors, there is still much room for improvement in my work. I should assume responsibility for the problems that have occurred in China’s economy and society during my […]
This weekend I watched a documentary which really made me sick. I am one of those people who firmly believe that the election of George W. Bush was the worst thing to happen to the United States since the depression. This documentary I watched made me realize just how close the election was, and the sinister forces […]
Democracy, at its purest form means a system of governance which allows the people to decide their own fate. This is done through choice of representatives but this method can run into issues such as the principal agent problem or corruption. The opposite stance is direct democracy where literally everyone participates in deciding every issue. This one, […]
“When Zack Taylor of the University of Toronto Cities Centre did a little number crunching recently, his worst suspicions were confirmed: It seems some parts of the city are a whole lot more democratic than others” – thestar.com http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1140794–fixing-toronto-s-democratic-deficit This news article calls into question democracy as it is practiced in Toronto, and then by […]
To do this assignment, I poked around mostly Canadian political blogs, but the thing that struck me the most was the amount of American politics which permeated them. For most, the ratio between Canadian and American issues was nearly 50/50! Why is this? Is it because American politics are more important, or simply because they are more […]
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 […]