360 Articles
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360° Analysis / brazil / Middle Class / Social Welfare / Finance & Economics / BRIC / Global Change / AmericasBrazil, while quickly becoming an emerging economic power, is still struggling to improve the socioeconomic problems brought on from the legacy of its autocratic past. This is the final part. Read part one here. Policy Options For Brazil’s Future For Brazil to completely emerge from the quagmire of poverty, corruption and inequality, the people and government must engage in a public debate, as well as a frank and open discussion about how to construct viable poverty alleviation models. This discussion must pertain to Brazil’s structural conditions, and her policy weaknesses. Still, it must not ignore her world renowned strengths and her lesser known attributes. Even...
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360° Analysis / Charter97 / CPJ / KGB / Lukashenko / Politics / Radina / Europe / Arts & CultureIn her interview with Anna Pivovarchuk, award-winning journalist Natalia Radina talks about the assault against the free press in Aleksander Lukashenko’s Belarus. Anna Pivovarchuk: In 2011 you received the CPJ International Press Freedom Award for you coverage of the protests that followed Aleksander Lukashenko’s ‘victory’. Could you tell us about the events of December 2010? Natalia Radina: Of course there was no ‘victory’, but just another case of rigged elections. Practically all elections held in Belarus under Lukashenko - almost 20 years – were not recognised by the international community as either free or just. Aside from that, Belarus...
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360° Analysis / Dynasty / India / Indira Gandhi / Kashmir elections / Nehru / Politics / Sepoy Mutiny / BRIC / AsiaBy Atul SinghFair Observer’s Editor-in-Chief, Atul Singh, argues that India can only progress if it buries the ghosts of Nehru and Indira. Democracy is more than elections. It requires institutions. It requires rule of law. It has been 63 years since India declared itself a republic. Yet the country is in many ways a de facto monarchy. At the national level, one family has largely remained in power since 1947. This has led to tragic consequences for the country. During the Indian independence struggle, the Indian National Congress (INC) was a movement. Elections were held regularly and even Mahatma Gandhi was outvoted on occasion. Subhas Bose was elected as President of the INC against Gandhi...
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360° Analysis / Politics / BRIC / AsiaBy Mayank SinghThe promotion of Nehru’s great grandson, Rahul Gandhi, as future prime minister despite his party’s poor governance, his lack of administrative experience or ideology, and close association with corrupt characters, is extremely damaging both to the Congress Party and to India. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s frontal assault on the Congress party, accusing it of sacrificing national interest at the altar of “the family”, has unnerved the Grand Old Party. The cacophony of sycophancy which greeted the ascension of Rahul Gandhi as vice president of the Congress seems to be withering before Modi’s charismatic personality. Congress spokespersons who have...
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To bolster the US government's foreign policy, Washington would be well-advised to attempt to plant and cultivate a relationship with the PJAK, the armed-Kurdish resistance group at odds with Iran. The hills and mountains of the Kurdistan province of western Iran serve as the battleground and shelter for the most potent armed resistance group in the Islamic Republic. For almost a decade, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) has fought an extremely robust insurgency against Iranian security forces. In spite of PJAK's campaign against the Iranian government, the group has not received a fraction of the attention from US strategists that other anti-Islamic Republic militant...
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By Jonah Joffe While Africa's economic growth leads many to praise the rise of the continet, questions remain if a "western" style of capitalism would serve it well. Africa is still a continent beset with problems. Famine, poverty and lack of infrastructure remain major issues, as do drought, state fragility and employment. Rotten governments are still endemic and most citizens still survive on less than $2 a day. It is despite all of this that for the second time in just a few months a major international publication has run a cover on the rise of Africa: TIME magazine’s headline “Africa Rising” following The Economist’s correction of its famous...
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360° Analysis / brazil / Middle Class / Social Welfare / Finance & Economics / BRIC / Global Change / AmericasBrazil, while quickly becoming an emerging economic power, is still struggling to improve the socioeconomic problems brought on from the legacy of its autocratic past. This is the third of four parts. Read part one here. Is the Nordic System the Answer? Finland and the Scandinavian nations — Sweden, Norway and Denmark — take a markedly different approach to advancing their national social and economic well-being. While basking in the Brazilian tradition that prides itself on the ouster of the Portuguese colonizers, I was surprised to see that nationals of Finland and the Scandinavia report a high degree of trust in their peers and government. Unlike South America’s...
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360° Analysis / Democracy / military / Okara / Pakistan / Politics / Sharecrops / AsiaAn examination of the Okara movement challenges hegemonic discourses of religious extremism and militancy in Pakistan. This is the second of a three part series. Read part one here. An examination of the Okara movement, which served as a serious challenge to the oppressive power of the state, contributes to a more nuanced understanding of ordinary Pakistanis in their struggle for self-determination, emancipation and economic well-being. In so doing, it moves beyond clichéd understandings of one of the most populous countries in the world and challenges hegemonic representations of the Pakistani polity. The Okara Movement The Okara Military Farms are part of the canal colonies in...
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In the long wake of the Oslo Accords, adherence to the status quo is eroding the chances for a just and feasible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The year 2013 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Oslo Accords – two decades of a frozen peace process mired in transitional limbo. Long gone are the heady days of the 1990s, when peace seemed possible and a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians was within grasp. However, the Oslo Accords, which were set up as an incremental step towards a sovereign and secure Israel and Palestine, have instead acted as a perpetuator of an all-too-convenient status quo. In my conversation with Yossi Beilin (former Knesset...