A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2015
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The ancients were smarter…
Posted February 23, 2013 by Politis
According to sources cited today in Greek Reporter, the ancient Greeks were smarter on average than their counterparts today. Gerald Crabtree, Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine, is reported to have made this claim on the basis of research tending to show that humans become less intelligent with the […]
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Civic engagement and the practices of democracy
Posted April 8, 2016 by Politis
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The new conventional wisdom on Cyprus?
Posted March 26, 2013 by Politis
The papers were full of analysis on the heels of the EU-Cyprus agreement Monday. Not surprisingly, after some of the hyperbole, there came reflection. The deal, it appears to some, was not as bad as it might have been, and not as bad as it has been made to appear. Hugo Dixon writes in Reuters, […]
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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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Whither the bourgeoisie?
Posted January 2, 2013 by DW
I read a tongue-in-cheek article by the wags at Reform Watch Greece some weeks ago which got me thinking about one of my favorite Balzac stories, Cesar Birotteau. The middle class has been decimated, so the argument goes, the principal victim of the sovereign debt crisis. Depending on one’s reading, the Greek bourgeoisie has been […]
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Tribalism and postpartisanship: competing visions of the state of nature?
Posted March 15, 2013 by DW
By David Wisner These are interesting times for the analysis of European politics, from a hung Parliament in the UK, to the rise and fall of the Pirate Party in Germany, to the triumph of M5S in Italy, to the surge of Golden Dawn in Greece. What does it mean? Perhaps there will be a […]
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Human Rights Watch on Greece’s other crisis
Posted January 20, 2013 by KK
Excerpts from a post yesterday on the Human Rights Watch site. “Partly hidden within [the] turmoil [of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis] is another crisis threatening to spin out of control – xenophobic violence against migrants and asylum seekers in Athens and elsewhere. Violence against people from Afghanistan and North and sub-Saharan Africa is alarmingly commonplace, […]
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Democracy: reinvented
Posted December 13, 2012 by DW
By David Wisner I’ve been looking for an adjective with which to describe this recent op ed article by Bill Keller in the New York Times. Curious, perhaps. It’s not quite a celebration of a certain place where democracy has flourished. Hardly, in fact. On the other hand, as a test case, South Africa, does […]
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Citizen walkers, walking citizens
Posted March 13, 2014 by DW
By David Wisner This past Sunday I finally had an opportunity to experience a car-free waterfront. I went down to Leoforos Nikis and sat with some students — young people who were born and raised in Thessaloniki — to enjoy the hush and feel the energy of citadins taking their morning promenade. We got to […]
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Civic Work, Civic Lessons
Posted October 25, 2013 by Politis
Civic Work, Civic Lessons explains how and why people of all ages, and particularly young people, should engage in public service as a vocation or avocation. Its authors are 57 years apart, but united in their passion for public service, which they term “civic work.” The book provides unique intergenerational perspectives. Thomas Ehrlich spent much […]
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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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Paraphrase of the day: 6/6/13
Posted June 5, 2013 by Politis
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
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Twitter and analysis
Posted February 1, 2013 by Politis
The folks at First Read had this to say on the ultimate effect of quick fire tweets by new age pundits, with respect to Chuck Hagel’s Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. “We’ll make one more point about Hagel’s hearing yesterday: Twitter and all the instant analysis made a bad performance look even worse — just like […]
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Freedom requires virtue and courage
Posted November 11, 2013 by M P
By Maria Patsarika “Θέλει αρετή και τόλμη η ελευθερία” – Andreas Kalvos “It is inevitable that the Greek people will go through hardships to get through the crisis… Inevitably some businesses will have to close down,” Giannis Vroutsis, Minister of Employment, has observed. This is the mantra of our times: a fashionable stoicism that makes […]
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Freedom here and now
Posted November 18, 2013 by pdcadmin
By Diego Salas Freedom as natural right is what gives every person the capacity to live life the way they want to. This capacity is subject to numerous restrictions, of course. It has moral restrictions, legal restrictions, and, depending on where we’re located, many others. “Our rights end where the rights of others start,” is […]
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Saying of the day: 6/2/13
Posted June 2, 2013 by Politis
“At least he [Erdogan] is leaving us some crumbs. The previous bastards never gave us everything.” — Turkish supporter of the AKP
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Public service: commitment and payback
Posted June 20, 2014 by Politis
By Brian Newby I’m blessed to be in a job that truly feels like it matches against my skills. There are many facets to overseeing elections, from public relations to candidate relations, from high-tech to situations that require a human touch, from logistics to statistics, and everything in between. I have a hard time considering […]
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There are demonstrations and then there are demonstrations
Posted May 26, 2013 by DW
By David Wisner I have been watching the anti-gay marriage demonstrations in France for some time now (live blog here). Were one perfectly objective, one would appreciate the degree to which a grass roots mobilization of civil society was seeking to make its point. Granted, there are extremes to this movement, as there are in […]
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Crisis, what crisis?
Posted October 23, 2013 by DW
By David Wisner Some years ago, when I first settled permanently in Thessaloniki, I met another ex-patriot who had been here for decades already. How long? I asked her. “Long enough to think the Greek way of doing things is the normal way,” she replied. Won’t happen to me, I thought, naively. And continued to […]
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Truckloads of gold
Posted March 27, 2013 by Politis
Euros arriving by truck to Cyprus from Brussels.