Democracy

Hamid Karzai is yet again the President of Afghanistan, and he didn’t even need to rig the election to do it this time. After two and a half months of confusion and negotiation, Presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the run-off election slated for next weekend. Believing that he would not win,...
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Summer is nearly officially over (and the weather here in New York shows it). This means the Perspectives on Global Issues blog is back from its sun-drenched hibernation. Our editors have already been churning out their thoughts and analyses on the latest breaking news in the world of international affairs — but just...
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Recent elections in Iran and Afghanistan have one very important thing in common: very strong evidence of fraud. This should not be very surprising, but it should give pause in that some areas of both countries saw turnout greater than the actual number of voters. While Iran does not put up too much...
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The J Curve: a New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall by Ian Bremmer Most people have probably never heard of this book, but I find it very insightful when looking at the idea of stability. Ian Bremmer (president of the Eurasia Group) explains his theory that stability can only come...
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Often international pressure is placed on countries to move toward a more democratic state and possess the associated qualities like freedom and liberty. Two weeks ago, Bangladesh celebrated a new milestone, the return to democratic rule. After election preparations in 2006 were shut down and emergency rule imposed, many on-lookers cast doubt...
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Note: This entry is about PGI Editor Tamar Kherlopian’s experience interviewing John Wilson for the Fall issue of Perspectives in Global Issues. Click here to read the interview. In a country that is experiencing a resurgence of political interest amongst its youth likened to the pre-Kennedy era, twenty-five year old John Wilson’s campaign for State...
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Note: This entry is about PGI Editor Dan Logue’s experience interviewing Rabin Subedi for the Fall issue of Perspectives in Global Issues. Click here to read the interview. Since interviewing Rabin, I’ve had some time to really think about the actual events in Nepal last spring.  It’s really a remarkable event that was...
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(photo courtesy of the Huffington Post) Last Tuesday was undeniably a historic night for the United States in the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the USA. Heralding Obama’s entrance to the White House as an end to the policies of the deeply unpopular Bush administration, millions of American citizens as well...
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