Last week, Time published a story by Laura Blue based upon the findings of Spain's DARA on the Humanitarian Response Index, a new tool for discovering efficiency in international aid. Time's headline was “U.S. ranked low in HRI” , which gets that American competitiveness going. On the other hand, it's probably more important to see what […]
As COSATU and the SACP seem on the verge of seeing their plans achieve fruition through the rise to ANC party presidency of Jacob Zuma, which many are beginning to see as inevitable, it might be worth asking a few questions, as Muzibuko Jara does in the Mail & Guardian: This is an opportune time […]
Yesterday, RFE/RL posted a great article on “Securing an Outcome” which explains a lot about how elections can be skewed and “unfree” by Western democratic standards. Most of them are reminiscent of Tammany Hall New York: the use of patronage to buy votes/ensure loyalty, stuffing ballot boxes, absentee votes, registering dead people as live voters, […]
Is the process for choosing the ANC leadership fatally flawed? There are those who believe that the nominating procedure needs to undergo a significant change, bringing the process closer to that in the United States. Malusi Gigaba, South Africa's Deputy Home Affairs Minister and a member of the NEC argues that such a change is unnecessary […]
It really does appear that Jacob Zuma not only leads the pack in the ANC succession battle, but he also appears to be consolidating his hold on what he clearly believes to be the pending nomination. Part of the perceived change in momentum is the result of the ANC Women's League's National Executive Committee to […]
Respected Africa expert Martin Meredith has been on quite a roll lately. His book The Fate of Africa: A History of 50 Years of Independence represents one of the most highly regarded and extensive treatments of the continent and its difficult recent past. He recently reissued his indictment of Robert Mugabe, Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert […]
UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon has designated 2008 as the Year of Water Sanitation, a worthy effort which dovetails into public health and climate change issues–and which Central Asian states could use to their benefit. According to the UN, investing $10 billion a year could halve the proportion of people without basic toilet facilities by 2015. This […]
Speaking at a Mexico City event to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, President Calderon addressed what he called Mexico's “culture of machismo,” acknowledging that millions of women face abuse and workplace discrimination despite the passage of laws targeting gender inequities and violence against women. Earlier this year, Mexico enacted a law […]
Before NATO, there was Afghanistan's Taliban movement (you can't call it a government, because it offered no protection and no services to its people). And the new Taliban, neo-Taliban, or whatever we call them have the same, tawdry, consistent practice of gratuitous cruelty in this regard– Here's the whole story from AFP wire, as printed by the Pakistan […]
The ANC has often faced accusations that it has meddled — or worse — in the country's media, particularly the state-owned but putatively independent South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). In turn the SABC has stood accused of acquiescing to the ANC, indeed of becoming a mouthpiece for the ruling party. Today's news that the SABC […]
Today the World Bank announced the approval of a new loan to Kazakhstan for developing better customs procedures. The total project cost is USD 62 million, with Kazakhstan committing 43.5 million and the World Bank 18.5 million to the effort. This is a fantastic step for the state, and it dovetails with many of the […]
I found the following chart (From the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project via Sunday's New York Times Magazine, and which accompanied this James Traub story) telling, though frankly I’m uncertain what it tells: The five countries with the most favorable views of American ideas about democracy are Subsaharan African nations. None of the countries with […]
It appears that Jacob Zuma now leads the race for the ANC leadership, the fruits of which almost assuredly will be the country's presidency after the country's 2009 elections. At least this is the scuttlebut from Western Cape ANC secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha (via the Cape Argus), the Mail & Guardian (via SAPA), and the BBC. […]
I’d like to apologize for the paucity of posting. The Foreign Policy Association has been upgrading its blog server and there have been some glitches, but it looks like we’re back up and running. Thanks for your patience. The Council on Foreign Relations has a feature on how some think South Africa is underachieving in […]
*This article has been posted by Rich Basas both on FPA's Migration Blog as well as the Mexico Blog this week. Illegal immigration may be one of the hot button issues for the next Presidential election and will favor neither party in the process. In the Democratic party debates televised widely among American networks this […]