A while ago, The Economist posted a Daily Chart (see below) about the frequency of coups, posing the question why are there less now then there were. I suspect they answer their own question while highlighting the limitations of too many political scientists and analysts. That is, The Economist (as well as the others I [...]
Tagged coups, political science, regime change, The EconomistFrom a USIP Special Report titled Securing the Future:
At a minimum, the security sector includes actors directly involved in protecting civilians and the state from violent harm (e.g., police and military forces and internal intelligence agencies), institutions that govern these actors (e.g., ministries of interior, defense, and justice; and national security councils), and oversight [...]
During the past several weeks, I have come across articles about serious treatments of funny during dictatorships. The first one is about jokes under communism, with the expert that is interviewed being a former colleague of mine at University of Pittsburgh. The second one is about jokes under Hitler. Both include LOL bits (gotta keep [...]
Tagged Der Spiegel, humor, ProspectIn the activist, policy, and academic worlds, there’s a significant amount of attention paid to the demise of the welfare state or even welfare protections. This is usually tied into neoliberal policies and capitalist/free market economics. The general fear, or analysis, is summed up in the familiar “race to the bottom” phrase-cum-cliche.
The above-mentioned worlds often [...]
I have more than a passive interest in North Korea, although my interest is hardly dedicated or a research one. In any event, I have read and watched a few interesting North Korea-related items lately.
Tagged Bloomberg Markets, Bradley K Martin, Channel 4 (UK), economics, finance, Four Seasons of Pyongyang, North Korea, Social Science, Undercover in the Secret StateFirst, let’s note my word creativity in the title. While nothing is original, I don’t recall seeing this before. Google tells us this is a relatively unused word (thankfully?).
Second, the reason I post is a now-old entry on Engadget. The post is short, so I’ll quote it in its entirety:
Instead of standing around using the [...]
I started this post when the article was originally published. Now, however, I have forgotten what additional points I wanted to make. The article, despite it’s confusing writing, is interesting and worth reading, especially for fans of contentious politics and/or architecture, which is why I am posting the article and my intro to it.
In the [...]