A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2015
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Saying of the day: 6/28/13
Posted June 28, 2013 by DW
“If history tells us anything, the fight against NSA secrecy is a winnable.” — Gregory Ferenstein, TechCrunch
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Anything new here?
Posted November 12, 2015 by KK
By Krysta I am reading two new sites. First, Liberal.gr. My first impression is not positive. In one recent post the author wants to reply to his readers who he is (he used to write for www.capital.gr). But eventually after sharing two irrelevent stories he doesn’t say. Judging from his writing, I have difficulty taking […]
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Who wants to …?
Posted January 25, 2015 by DW
Election day is nigh upon us. With this in mind, there are three dimensions to the question I have been thinking of asking: Who wants to run, who wants to vote, and who wants to govern. In May 2014 the Dukakis Center examined an apparent inflation in the number of candidates running for local and […]
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What can be done in Greece: young people speak
Posted November 22, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Franesca Kareivis I recently attended a debate in the Thessaloniki Municipal Council chamber organized by the British Embassy in Athens. It was an interesting debate, demonstrating that young people have power and should be active members of society. After the four featured speakers debated, the mayor of Thessaloniki spoke a bit about some problems […]
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Citizen conductors
Posted October 11, 2013 by DW
By David Wisner The latest initiative from the group Improv Everywhere in New York: citizen conductors! What a great idea! Here is the description from their website: “For our latest mission, we put a Carnegie Hall orchestra in the middle of New York City and placed an empty podium in front of the musicians with […]
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Around the town: 5/24/13
Posted May 24, 2013 by laura
This weekly feature offers a glimpse of what is happening in and around Thessaloniki. Compiled by Laura Strieth. Thu 23rd May- Ondatropica- Colombian musician:Mario Galeano, and an English producer: Quantic, have joined forces to create the Ondatropica project. This project endeavors to explore and expand the tropical sound of Colombia in its rawest form and […]
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The future of democracy in Greece
Posted February 24, 2012 by DW
By David Wisner Wolfgang Munchau is right, but for reasons he does not suspect. In his column in this past Monday’s Financial Times, Munchau laments the implications of this most recent round of Eurozone negotiations with Greece. In short, he concludes, if Germany wins, Greek democracy loses. The article generated considerable reaction. Munchau, who famously […]
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“Do you mean what you say?” Mark Mazower on political extremism
Posted February 11, 2013 by Politis
Mark Mazower, the author of “Salonica, City of Ghosts,” was interviewed in Kathimerini this past weekend. Here is what he had to say about political extremism in Greece today: “The new and highly disturbing feature of the scene in Greece is obviously the rise of the far right. Its emergence forces us to confront the […]
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Environmental activism
Posted May 12, 2014 by Politis
The Greek office of the World Wildlife Fund is circulating the following open letter with regard to pending legislation regarding potential private development along Greece’s Aegean seacoast. …/… Αγαπητοί φίλοι, Με κομμένη την ανάσα παρακολουθούμε τις τελευταίες εξελίξεις που αφορούν το νέο σχέδιο νόμου του Υπουργείου Οικονομικών για τον αιγιαλό. Ίσως έχετε ακούσει το θέμα […]
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Catalan Way Toward Independence
Posted September 5, 2013 by Politis
A recent press release on the Catalan New Agency describes an interesting form of citizen activism. “This coming 11th of September – which is Catalonia’s National Day – pro-independence supporters have organised the so-called ‘Catalan Way Towards Independence’ that calls for the independence from Spain. The gigantic human chain will cross Catalonia from North to […]
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Why is the Greek crisis over?
Posted April 10, 2014 by DW
By David Wisner The international news is awash with stories of Greece’s return to the bond market. It is fashionable again for Greece to be in the headlines. The “success story” line is ubiquitous. As Hugo Dixon writes in Reuters, the Greek rebound is “astonishing.” Why? First, it is important to acknowledge that the discerning […]
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Ageing, but with grace?
Posted January 20, 2013 by DW
The editors of Kathimerini write in today’s online English edition that “The prime minister knows better than anyone else how difficult the job ahead is, and how many problems he has to deal with… he is making a gigantic effort to hold the country together even though he is dealing with a shattered public administration and […]
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In defense of quiet activism
Posted April 4, 2012 by M P
By Maria Patsarika Last week I went to an interesting talk about the role of social sciences in these days of financial, political and social crisis and insecurity for Greece. Throughout the talk a critical question was lingering in the air, like the elephant in the room: “Why do most social scientists and intellectuals typically […]
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Live coverage of the US General Election, November 6, 2012
Posted November 6, 2012 by DW
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Gaming the election?
Posted March 29, 2013 by DW
By David Wisner Researchers Robert Epstein and Ronald E. Robertson have prepared a paper in which they argue that an Internet search engine, not Google necessarily but “a future Google,” might be able to manipulate search results in such a way as to impact the outcome of an election. “In a controlled experiment,” they write, […]
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Administrative reform and the Greek parties
Posted June 4, 2012 by pdcadmin
By Konstantinos Bouas The ongoing administrative reform effort is one of the most critical issues of concern for administrative science in Greece. Considering the longstanding structural weaknesses of the public administration, as well as the explicit commitments of the Greek State deriving from the Memorandum, it is easy to realize the urgency of immediate and effective […]
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Digital actions for vigilante justice
Posted May 11, 2013 by Politis
Bit and pieces below from an essay by Nicco Mele in Salon on Anonymous and the threats of hacking to contemporary security. “Anonymous, untraceable private networks—the kind that can be built by technology like FabFi or Tor—are called ‘darknets,’ literally networks that exist in the shadows of the Internet. They are increasingly easy to build, […]
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Aristotle scholars head for Thessaloniki
Posted February 7, 2013 by Politis
Aristotle was, arguably, one of the fathers of the idea of public service. With this in mind Politis brings the following announcement to the attention of its gentle readers. “The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) on Feb. 13 will host an International Colloquium on Aristotle, featuring a series of lectures presented by researchers specialized in […]
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What is the public value framework?
Posted April 2, 2013 by Politis
“[T]ransparency, participation, and collaboration are best viewed as instrumental to the accomplishment of democracy in that they enable citizens to enact their various roles as citizens. That is, transparency is not an end citizens pursue for its own sake. Citizens may desire their government to be transparent, but that is largely because something else is […]
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Afghanistan on the Aegean?
Posted June 25, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Alexis Papahelas It won’t be long before the relationship between Greece and the troika starts resembling that of the United States with Afghanistan. The efficient Americans entered that historical and complex country and tried to set up a modern state, an open economy etc. Not long after they started to realize that they were […]