By Politis A group of activists have been protesting the opening in Berlin of the European Barbie Dreamhouse, a new theme park which the protestors are calling “pink hell.” In an interview in Deutsche Welle, the leader of the “Pink Stinks” movement, Stevie Schmiedel, described their action as follows. “Basically we have a press stand […]
If you are reading these lines, you are very weird. You’re spending spare time considering arguments about politics, which most people don’t bother to do. — Ezra Klein
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 […]
Economists and others have stqated repeatedly that Greece needs to become more competitive to remain within the eurozone. We are rarely told why. Here, Stefan Garelli of IMD explains the meaning of competitiveness in this clip marking the release if the IMD’s 2013 World Competitiveness Ranking.
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An annotated collection of recommended articles about Greece and the eurozone, updated regularly by Politis’ summer staff intern, Miriam Kamil. To July 5, 2012 Ann Appelbaum of the Washington Post had this to say on June 29 about the immediate post-election climate in Greece. It is an excellent recap of the events of the week […]
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 […]
Politis attended an interesting three-day event in Thessaloniki on the future of public television, organized by Filios Stangos and friends at TV100, Thessaloniki’s municipal TV station. Two interventions caught our attention during the session dedicated to the theme “Economic crisis: the challenges on public television.” “As long as you serve the public interest, you are […]
By Kostas A. Lavdas Greeks know a thing or two about politics. But the reasons why they do – the conditions that help nurture a political culture prone to intense politicization – are diverse and, at least some of them, divergent. In fact, as I have suggested elsewhere, political development in modern Greece can be […]
By David Wisner The crisis in Greece is political. Very few of the reforms the governments of George Papandreou and Lucas Papademos pledged to undertake in exchange for loans from the Troika have materialized. The evaluation of public sector employees to have begun this week has been put off indefinitely. Very little has been done […]
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Each year, America celebrates Greek Independence Day to strengthen the bonds between the birthplace of democracy and the world’s oldest republic. We recognize the enduring contributions of Greek Americans, woven into the fabric of our national life. And we reflect on the ancient Hellenic […]
If you have a little time, this clip will explain why there should be no government. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RLHsH7XAkc
By Krysta Kalachani Very good site! It seems that it will be fully working in a few days, it is very new. Really interesting though. They are trying to bring Corinth’s citizens together, to spot problems in the area and find solutions, or find opportunities worth pursuing, among their goals is to act as mediators […]
By David Wisner The title of an article in the English version of Der Spiegel got me thinking about what appears to be a systemic problem throughout Europe and the eurozone. Spiegel claims that Europe needs new blood, not so much in terms of higher birthrates and immigration, but in terms of ideas and thinkers. […]
By Fotinie Efstratiadou A law pertaining to uninsured vehicles has recently been passed in the Greek Parliament and will enter into force on April 15, 2013. The law concerns owners of vehicles that will be found to be uninsured through database cross examinations conducted by the National Information Systems of the Greek Ministry of Economy, […]
Politis is interested in citizen activism round the world, not only in Greece. We report here about an interesting article in Deutsche Welle on a grass roots initiative aiming to monitor the upcoming election in Kenya, using a platform developed by a company called Ushahidi. Ushahidi calls itself a “non-profit tech company that changes the […]
What do politicians do when they are not politicians? Or better yet, what did they do before they became politicians? Two scholars, Mark Hallerberg and Joachim Wehner, asked more or less these questions. They were particularly interested in the circumstances when an electorate would choose technocrats to lead a government. Their findings? “Our analysis of data […]
By David Wisner Takis Michas has written about political extremism and violence in today’s Protagon. “Is there really a difference,” he asks, “between the violent tactics used or condoned by SYRIZA (riots, occupations of public buildings, harassment of university teachers, intimidation of political opponents, hate speech etc ) and those used or condoned by Golden […]