Governance blogs
IIED is playing an important role in getting government representatives and environmentalists together at our
Nearly a week has passed since a group of mid-level officers led by Captain Sanogo carried out a coup d'etat in Mali's capital, Bamako.
The UN draft agenda revealing the vision for Rio +20 sustainable development goals and what might be decided at the conference in June 2012 has been made public and reported on in the media.
"No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline." - Kofi Annan
Citizenship is a topical issue in the UK: it’s a compulsory school curriculum subject and immigrants are required to sit a Citizenship exam to show their knowledge of their adoptive country. But what does `being a citizen’ really mean?
The difficulty I experienced getting past the media security cordon and into the London Conference on Cyberspace today served to highlight one of the conference’s key themes: how do you manage the security of cyberspace while protecting freedom of expression? Prime Minister David Cameron likened it to “the balance…between freedom and a free-for-all” in his speech.
After recent announcements of winners for the Nobel prize, the World Food prize and the African leadership prize for good governance this blog asks, do prizes work?
As Libyan rebels prepare for the final act in the downfall of Gaddafi’s regime — defenders of the pro-Gaddafi stronghold, Sirte, have until Saturday (3 September) to surrender — questions are already being raised about the country’s future. In particular, asking how the country can successfully move from Gaddafi’s autocratic and corrupt rule to a democratic constitutional order and an economy that brings prosperity for all.
For the past two weeks, UK newspapers have charted the decline and fall of the Murdoch media empire, News Corp. It’s a story of a hugely powerful company, led by a dynasty, that exerted great influence over governments across the world. For many years, Rupert Murdoch has had easy access to 10 Downing Street, with politicians great and small seeking his approval, hoping that his media group will come out in favour of their particular party. With two police investigations underway and the abandonment of plans to acquire a yet larger share of the UK media, it looks as though Murdoch’s powerful grip on UK politics has finally been broken.
The informal sector has so much innovation that often goes unnoticed by academics, government and mainstream businesses alike. My month in Chile working with a grassroots movement of wastepickers reminded me of this — as well as the potential to harness some of the power of this informality in more organised models that benefit the poorest.