A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2015
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Greeks seek austerity trial at The Hague
Posted April 25, 2012 by PR
By Mark Lowen, BBC News, Athens It is rare for citizens to try to take their government to court, and even more so for a Western European government to be taken to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. But that is what one group based near the Greek capital is now attempting. And […]
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Desmond Lachman on the eurozone crisis
Posted March 25, 2013 by Politis
Ezra Klein spoke with Desmond Lachman of the American Enterprise Institute about the crisis of the eurozone, and recorded their conversation in his Washington Post Wonkblog. When asked about the political dimension of the crisis in southern Europe, Lachman replied: “My view is that what you’re seeing already is the politics coming unstuck in a […]
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Ready to govern?
Posted February 27, 2013 by DW
By David Wisner I read Guy Dinmore’s characterization in today’s Financial Times of the members of the M5S party of Beppo Grillo elected to one or the other of the houses in the Italian Parliament with a sense of wonderment. “How coherent a unit his parliamentarians will prove to be remains an open question, notes Tommaso […]
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German Pension Info For Greeks
Posted March 7, 2013 by Politis
A public service announcement from our friends at Greek Reporter. “Insured workers who have worked in Germany will be able to contact the Goethe-Institut of Thessaloniki from April 16 to 19 to find answers to questions concerning them about their pensions. The information will be be given by the Deutsche Rentenversicherung, the German Pension Insurance […]
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Extreme citizen action
Posted August 1, 2013 by Politis
Below the text of a petition to save the public toilets of the British city of Bath. One woman has pledged to occupy one of the toilets all day as a means of protest. Nearly 100 people have signed. …/… Dear Councillor Dixon, Please do not close our public toilets in Bath. Many people rely […]
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Digital Politics in 2012: coming to Europe soon?
Posted March 2, 2013 by Politis
Findings from a recently published report by the Pew Research Center on digital politics in the 2012 US general election. Should we look for signs that this is the future face of European electoral politics too? 1. Digital Politics:Pew Research findings on technology and campaign 2012 Aaron Smith Research Associate Pew Research Center @pewinternet, #SMWdigitalpolitics […]
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Users trust social media as news source
Posted January 17, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Byron Tau Voter trust in political information from Facebook, Twitter and other social media services is now on par with that in traditional news sources, according to a new survey shared with POLITICO. Recent years have seen candidates increasingly devoting time and resources to developing their social media presences, with President Barack Obama’s reelection […]
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Up a creek…
Posted June 17, 2013 by DW
What is the expression again, “up a creek without a paddle?”
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How frequently do we use opengov services?
Posted April 3, 2013 by Politis
A nice chart below on the top online tasks carried out by frequent users in the UK. Note the lag in opengov service use relative to such tasks as reading the news, making purchases online, or engaging in some form of entertainment.
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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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Coming to grips with children trying to earn money on the streets
Posted July 11, 2013 by Politis
By Alyssa Olivo Even though I’m used to seeing homeless people begging on the streets of New York City, I’ve been surprised at the amount of children trying to earn money on the streets in Greece. I can count on both hands the amount of times I’ve had a child come up to me, play […]
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The downward spiral of Turkish democracy
Posted June 1, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Livy Merchant When I was a curious teen-aged kid, I subscribed to a series of Time Life books on history and civilization. One was a beautiful book entitled Islam, the Religion of Peace. It was the early fifties and this was the only source of my knowledge of Islam at the time. It was illustrated with […]
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Virtual book launch at the Dukakis Center
Posted March 6, 2014 by Politis
The Dukakis Center will host a virtual launch of “Still at Aulis: Essays on Crisis and Revolution in Greece and the Eurozone,” a Kindle e-book by David Wisner, Executive Director of the Center, on Thursday, March 6, 2014, from 12 noon throughout the afternoon. Interested parties can follow the event on the “Still at Aulis” […]
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Public sector reform, US style
Posted March 21, 2013 by Politis
Throughout Europe there has been an emphasis on public sector reform as the counterpart to austerity economics. In most cases, including Greece, little has been achieved. Paul Light of the Wagner School, NYU, makes a compelling case that the time is ripe in the US federal government for reform, now that sequester-imposed austerity has set […]
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The power of habit
Posted April 15, 2013 by M P
By Maria Patsarika Scenario 1 A couple of weeks ago I read that Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary in the UK, claimed that he could live on £53 per week, after a benefits claimant told the BBC that he makes ends meet with the same amount, excluding housing costs. Ιn light of […]
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You can lie, but you cannot hide: the Freedom of Information Act Machine
Posted July 22, 2013 by Politis
Politis likes this: a machine, “open and free to anyone,” which uncovers the most deviously hidden government secrets. More from Billy Gallagher at TechCrunch: “The Freedom of Information Act Machine, an open online platform that automates Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, launched on Kickstarter two days ago and has already surpassed its funding goal. At […]
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Saying of the day: 3/27/13
Posted March 27, 2013 by Politis
“Cyprus should leave the euro. Now.” — Paul Krugman
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In praise of public servants
Posted January 9, 2013 by Politis
The Dukakis Center hosted the inaugural Business & Politics Forum in Thessaloniki last month. One of the speakers, Efi Stefopoulou of the General Secretariat of the Government, gave a standing room audience at the Elektra Palace Hotel a brilliant taste of what a truly competent public servant can do. Thankfully, she told her audience that […]
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The rally that did not happen
Posted May 15, 2012 by KK
By Krysta Kalachani Athens, May 13, 2012. Nothing about Athens and the rally. No news in the hashtags and no photos, and I thought that when I went there it was late, but I guess people were very few really. Yup! I can imagine, I myself was on the track again with the motorbike… Believe […]
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Join in to unf_ck the world
Posted May 31, 2013 by Politis
June 8 is “Unfuck the World Day.” Seriously. According to the team at UFTW, “Unfuck The World Day is dedicated to all the people who are awakening, who get up, go out and make this world a better place, every day.” You can organize your own party to mark the date. Here is how. “On […]