Comment: New York sues big oil for climate change damages
New York City is taking on Big Oil and positioning itself as a leader in the fight against climate change. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this month that the city has filed a lawsuit against five major oil companies, to fund the rising cost of coping with climate change. De Blasio also pledged to divest […]
Will South Korea really abolish their anti-abortion law?
In November last year, the South Korean government announced that it’s archaic 64-year old abortion law will be reviewed in 2018. The decision was spurred by the more than 235,000 South Koreans who filed a petition demanding for the legalisation of abortion as well as access to the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone. On September 30th, the […]
Evaluation for the Public Good or as a Public Good?
By Ken Fullerton and Jade Maloney Sandra Mathison, Professor of Education at the University of British Colombia, kicked-started some soul searching among Australasian evaluators when she opened the Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) International Evaluation Conference in Canberra in September 2017. She told the audience that evaluation is not delivering on its promise to support the […]
Zut alors! France is running scared – but actually, things are getting better
Almost a quarter of French live in fear. Almost half of Parisians regularly see scenes of drunkenness, drug taking, drug dealing or prostitution on their streets. Terrorism is France’s greatest fear. These are the some of the findings of a major new report issued this week, a survey of 16,000 people living in France. However, […]
Sexual harassment and the city
Dipesh stares through thick black sunglasses at a gang of young men on a crowded Mumbai train. The gang scream sexual abuse at the women on the platform and leer at girls on the train. Dipesh, however, isn’t wearing ordinary glasses – there’s a spy camera built into them and he’s live streaming the scene […]
China going green with the “world’s largest” floating solar farm
In June 2017, the world’s largest floating solar farm officially came online nearby the city of Huainan in China. According to EcoWatch, this happened “around the same time President Donald Trump announced the U.S is pulling out of the landmark Paris climate agreement.” The floating solar park has the capacity to generate 40 megawatts of […]
The invisible children living in China
While geopolitical tensions threaten to erupt over the Korean peninsula, a silent and self-contained humanitarian crisis is in full swing just north of the border. In China, a hidden generation of children are growing up stateless, on the fringe of society, with no legal status, education or access to healthcare. These children are the forgotten […]
Empty promises are stalling progress on the Global Gender Gap and leaving the online divide to grow
The gender divide has grown this year, it was announced at the World Economic Forum this month, and nowhere is this divide more problematic than online. Today, 250 million fewer women than men are online, despite international commitment to equality on the Internet. “In an increasingly connected world, women are being left behind,’ says the […]
Africa
Africa’s Telecommunications Towers Could Soon Become Solar Powered
Ambitious thinking means that many of Africa’s more than 240,000 telecommunications towers may soon become solar powered. Presently many are powered by expensive diesel generators as they are often attached to unreliable electricity networks or are in remote areas without access to power. GreenWish Partners, a Mauritius based renewable energy company, has recently announced plans […]
Landlocked Lesotho Receives Funding for First Solar PV Plant
In what is positive news for the development of renewable energy in the southern Africa region, Lesotho has recently acquired a grant of almost USD 700,000 to develop a 20-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) plant. USD 695,000 in grant funding has been awarded to NEO I SPV, a subsidiary of OnePower Lesotho, and will be used […]
SOLARKIOSK Joins UN Business Call to Action
In very recent news, German based sustainable energy firm SOLARKIOSK has joined the United Nations’ Business Call to Action (BCtA). In joining the BCtA it has pledged to establish 940 solar-powered retail businesses, known as E-HUBBS, across the east African countries of Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya by 2020. Doing this promises to provide “Sustainable energy […]
India-Nigeria Relations: A Strategic Friendship
The bilateral relations between Nigeria and India in the health sector must be revisited to drive new cooperation in order to strengthen the capacity of the decaying health systems and the boom experienced by India from Nigerians seeking medical attention in that country. The Africa – India Forum Summit is an initiative between India and […]
South Africa: What can we do today to change our tomorrow?
South Africa has recently been affected by a cabinet reshuffle which is increasingly placing negative socio-economic concerns as an indicator of a possible future for our nation. Although the President was within his rights to action this reshuffle, the decision has brought scepticism from within the governing party and externally from civil society, corporate and […]
Americas
Comment: New York sues big oil for climate change damages
New York City is taking on Big Oil and positioning itself as a leader in the fight against climate change. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this month that the city has filed a lawsuit against five major oil companies, to fund the rising cost of coping with climate change. De Blasio also pledged to divest […]
US-Saudi arms deal, peace & stability
The recent deal between US-Saudi arms agreement has buzzed around global political landscape and media. The U.S President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia on May 20th, 2017. KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) has been the traditional U.S ally since the time of Cold War. He signed for sales of arms deal net worth around $110 […]
The Trump effect on India: war against H1B visas
The American Dream was a kaleidoscope of hope, the pursuit of happiness, the backbone of the booming American economy in the 60s and 70s. This Dream could be dreamt by any race, religion, nationality; the only precursor to actualisation of which was hard work and tenacity. Trump’s administration’s reforms have been a rude awakening from […]
Another blow to Latin American democracy: Maduro 2017
Peru – April 5th, 1992. Another day to wake up among terrorist killings, economic difficulties and a divided country. The Peruvian President, Alberto Fujimori, was on national television, announcing measures to calm the existent chaos that was hitting the country. The most controversial was when he said he was taking was temporarily closing the congress, […]
Confusion over legality and clarity: Trump’s executive order on immigration
On January 27 2017, President Trump released an executive order suspending the entry of all citizens from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen into the United States for 90 days. In many informal discussions, the executive order has been termed, ‘the Muslim Ban’, due to the selection of countries provided. In addition, the […]
Asia
Will South Korea really abolish their anti-abortion law?
In November last year, the South Korean government announced that it’s archaic 64-year old abortion law will be reviewed in 2018. The decision was spurred by the more than 235,000 South Koreans who filed a petition demanding for the legalisation of abortion as well as access to the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone. On September 30th, the […]
How Taiwan is Promoting a Renewable Energy Revolution in Asia
The government of Taiwan has embarked on an ambitious plan to embrace the renewable energy revolution. As part of President Tsai Ing-wen’s plan to phase out nuclear power plants and reduce the use of fossil fuels, the government intends to invest as much as $56.6 billion, and to raise the percentage of renewable energy in […]
Rape and the city: misogyny in New Delhi
The Eyes of the city are everywhere. They follow each of her moves; eyelashes dressing down saris, burqas, pants, brushing modesty off; eyelids widening as though coercing the strength of the stare to expose, AAs or DDs, width no barrier so long as there’s a vagina somewhere. They are sons, fathers, uncles, and grandfathers. They come […]
#FreeThe5KH campaign underway in Cambodia
On 28 April 2016 five Cambodian human rights defenders were arrested and have been detained for over 300 days without being charged or released. They are Ny Chakrya, Lim Mony, Nay Vanda, Ny Sokha and Yi Soksan. Of the five being detained four are men and one is a women. Four of them (Mony, Vanda, […]
Taiwan’s solar powered prison
President Tsai Ing-wen has ambitious plans for energy production in Taiwan’s energy and by 2025 has pledged to make the island nuclear free. At present, nuclear power accounts for around 14 per cent of Taiwan’s total electricity generation while renewable sources account for less than 5 per cent. If Taiwan is to achieve its objective […]
Featured Publications
Syrian Refugees’ Right to Human Dignity in Reception Centres of Greece: An analysis of the right to an adequate standard of living
Mary Stratigou is an international human rights lawyer and researcher with long experience in refugee and migration issues. She has completed her Master studies in Human Rights, Gender and Conflict studies: social justice perspectives in the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She is the Deputy Partnerships Director in the World for Refugees organization and fluent in […]
Obamacare and Trumpcare: a comparison
A few months back, no one would have expected that US elections would take such a turn. Ever since Donald Trump became president-elect, there have been speculations that Russia, or rather Putin, conspired to make Trump the President. Whatever the speculators say the fact remains that Trump took oath on 20th January and is now […]
Colombian peace deal: how thin is the line between political party and criminal organisation?
People around the world were visibly shocked by the result of the Colombian referendum on the peace accord. At first sight it seems that the only reasonable response to attacks and atrocities, committed by the FARC rebels, would be an approval of recommended peace agreement. The pure “moral monument” to those fallen in the fight […]
US, globalisation & economic dominance: realities of 21st century geopolitics, geoeconomics & geo-technology
Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has led experts to consider whether there is a an emergence of right-wing populism across the world. During the US presidential campaign, Trump rhetoric to backlash from globalisation, creating jobs, and slashing taxes wooed America’s white, poor and non-college educated. The majority of literature today mostly focuses on: will Trump […]
Why did Colombia reject the peace deal? Do referendums work?
On Sunday 2nd October 2016, Columbians surprised opinion polls by voting against a peace agreement to end 52 years of war with the country’s largest rebel group, the FARC[1]. Though the deal had been widely expected to pass, it eventually failed. Thirteen million voters turned out to the polls, and 50.2 percent rejected the agreement[2]. […]
Take it or leave it: what went “wrong” with the referendum in Colombia?
Democracy can be exercised in different ways depending on its characteristics. Hobson (2012) presents various forms of democracy, where liberal democracy for long has been the prominent model. In a very simplified manner, the essence of a liberal democracy is characterised by citizens electing their representatives. Hence, it is a “one person – one vote” […]
Econo-nuclear impact on Trump’s America
The United States and Russia jointly own nearly 93% of the world’s nuclear warheads which are in the process of nuclear modernisation. President Trump poses as an unpredictable Head of State whose policies on nuclear weapons and energy could tip the status quo and the distribution of power in the world, not to mention affect […]
Angola and a future beyond oil
The decline in world commodity prices has taken with it African economic growth rates. Being so wholly dependent on its oil sector for economic growth, countries such as Angola have recently hit a stumbling block. Since the 50% fall in oil prices in June 2014, Angola’s GDP growth dropped to 4.5 percent from the impressive […]
UK & Europe
Refugee crisis: a game of politics?
Every year, thousands of people leave their countries because of conflicts or natural disasters. The unprecedented refugee and migrant arrivals in many European countries has drifted people who seek a safer future, including better job opportunities. Whether they are called refugees or migrants, both categories are often subject to ill-treatment, prejudice and discrimination. Is it […]
LSE all set to host Africa Summit 2017
The London School of Economics (LSE) is all set to host its Africa Summit conference on 31 March and 1 April 2017. Held on an annual basis for the past four years, the theme of the 2017 Africa Summit, is “Built for Africa: African Solutions to African Issues.” Previous editions of the Summit have been […]
Swansea University revolutionary solar cell research
On 26 September 2016, a small satellite developed by the UK Space Agency and Algerian Space Agency, was launched into space from southern India. It has an estimated year-long life and is currently traveling at a height of 724 kilometres (450 miles) and at a speed of 27,359 kilometres per hour (17,000 miles per hour), […]
Migration and the rise of racial populism in international politics
Brexit and the election of Donald J. Trump in the United States have energized some extreme European parties that are seeking to overturn the established political order.[1] Carl Bildt wrote in a Washington Post article that Trump’s victory could mark “the end of the West as we know it.”[2] Was he talking about the end […]
Politics
Comment: New York sues big oil for climate change damages
New York City is taking on Big Oil and positioning itself as a leader in the fight against climate change. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this month that the city has filed a lawsuit against five major oil companies, to fund the rising cost of coping with climate change. De Blasio also pledged to divest […]
Global Economic Citizenship: The Time is Now
Over the past year and a half we have witnessed the disassembling of historically strong democracies, illustrating a burgeoning populist sentiment across the world. Countries are breaking apart from greater trade or political unions with the belief that their newfound solitude will encourage greater economic and social prosperity. However, the solution to the many […]
Comment: How the Auditor General can combat corruption in Pakistan
Third world countries lag behind the developed world because institutions of the former are plagued with corruption and inefficiency. After the Panama Papers, reactions of the rulers and the ruled in both the developing and the developed world reflect this stark difference. In Pakistan, politics after the Panama Papers revolved around corruption and accountability. The […]
Why Pakistan Needs Inclusive Institutions
The progress and prosperity of a nation hinges on strong and inclusive political and economic institutions. Other factors, namely geography or culture, may contribute in one way or another but without strengthening key institutions, development remains but a pipe-dream. By creating a level playing field, inclusive institutions bring the best people to the forefront of […]
Economics
Bondi Beach Solar Bins Prove a Financial Success
The ‘BigBelly’ solar powered rubbish bins installed in different locations across Sydney’s Waverly Council, including at Bondi Beach, have already proved a financial success. The project recently won the Government category of the Australian IoT Awards 2017. The bins make use of solar energy to power the compaction of rubbish as well as to communicate […]
India’s slumping debt: an economic boost
India’s external debt figures are divided under two broad categories; long-term and short-term. Long-term debt is classified into multilateral, bilateral, IMF, export credit, commercial borrowing, rupee debt and NRI deposits. Short-term debt comprises NRI deposits and trade-related credits. The further disaggregation of long-term and short-term debt is based on creditor source and the status of […]
World Bank predicts the effects of water scarcity
The World Bank has recently published the report “High and Dry: climate change, water and the economy”, where an overview of the future development of the water supply sector is provided. Unsurprisingly, the report declares that our actual economic development rate is incompatible with a sustainable allocation of natural resources, water supply above all. Growing […]
Book Review: Settlements at the Edge in Developed Nations
Settlements at the Edge seeks to assess changes that impact people (often indigenous) living in sparsely populated and remote settlements within countries that are regarded as developed. Many of these changes are related to declining population, an aging population, gender imbalance, climate change, globalisation, natural resource extraction, or company closings in mono-industry towns. What does […]
King's College cleaners strike against working conditionsPosted by International Development Journal on Thursday, 26 January 2017