Stories about Governance from December, 2007
Central & Eastern Europe: Populism?
Dr. Sean's Blog reviews texts on populism in Central and Eastern Europe that have appeared in the special issue of Journal of Democracy: “The irony is that this comes just as the ‘populist backlash’ seems to be waning.”
Ukraine: Yanukovych Privatizes State Residence
Ukrainiana translates a video in which Victor Yanukovych is threatening to sue a journalist for questions on murky privatization deal.
China: Scrap the death penalty?
Was it New Jersey's undoing of the 1976 reinstatement of capital punishment earlier this month, or the United Nations General Assembly's call for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty a few days later that launched prominent Chinese bloggers into their own debate on the subject? NetEase has gotten nearly...
Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko and Coal Miners
Yulia Tymoshenko returned as Ukraine's prime minister on Dec. 18. Five days later, she was in Donetsk region, visiting the site of Ukraine's worst coal mining accident, the troubled Zasyadko mine. While there, she declared: "We'll be working on it and will make it so that in our country both young people and children would want to become coal miners." Below is a discussion of Tymoshenko's promise that took place at Korrespondent.net, a Ukrainian news site.
Estonia: Mart Laar's “The Estonian Way”
Itching for Eestimaa writes about an Estonian politician's book on Estonian history.
Hungary: Firecrackers
Pestiside.hu reports on the Hungarian firecrackers and fireworks laws.
Hungary: Parking
Pestcentric and Pestiside.hu write on the parking customs and habits in Budapest.
Czech Republic: Penal Code
The Czech Daily Word reports on the changes in the Czech penal code.
Czech Republic: Schengen Expansion
The Czech Daily Word writes about a few subtle changes that the Schengen expansion is likely to bring about.
Barbados: Electoral System
Barbados Underground discusses the island's electoral system.
Iran:Music sites, new victims of filtering
Alireza Shirazi says[Fa] that recently several music sites were filtered in Iran.The blogger adds it shows that filtering goes beyond political or “porn” sites.He asks what will be the next step of filtering?
Iran:”28th December a Protest day”
In Azadi Barbari blog, we read that leftist students call all the international organisations and campaigns to join them on 28th December to protest against the Islamic Republic and raise their voice to free the students in Iran.
Japan: Economics of the “Illegal” Download
Following on recent moves by the government to regulate the Internet, plans for regulation in other areas of online communication have been moving ahead apace in Japan. Among these is the plan to revise article 30 of Japan's Copyright Law to make it illegal for individuals to download copyrighted material for personal use, something which up until now had been considered legal. Blogger and economist Ikeda Nobuo delves into the economics of the "illegal download", strongly criticizing the proposed revision.
Russia: Christmas Tree Decorations
Here is a holiday season story that's got very little of the traditional holiday spirit in it. Posted by LJ user souffrante and accompanied by Valeriy Leushev's photos, it's as much about Russian bloggers' childhood memories as it is about globalization, consumer nationalism, bad management, labor rights and the power of blogging.
Russia: Kozlovsky's Forced Conscription
Robert Amsterdam's blog follows the story of a Russian youth movement leader's forced conscription to army – here, here and here.
Russia: “Espionage Obsessed State”
James of Robert Amsterdam's blog posts a translation of a Russian article on “the social reality of an espionage obsessed state.” The article's last line is: “Having lost vigilance, Russia may not only not notice the beginning of a new cold war, but may even fail to notice its transition...
Russia: More on Putin the Person of the Year
Further discussion of Time Magazine's Person of the Year pick – at Sean's Russia Blog (27 comments) and Scraps of Moscow (22 comments).
Russia: Robert Amsterdam's Alternative Person of the Year
Robert Amsterdam insists that “TIME’s choice is a great thing for Russia and her people, as we can all take a much closer look now at what is going on (and what’s going wrong) in this great nation.” He also picks his blog's own Person of the Year: The Russian...
Russia: Time Magazine's “Successful Ploy”
Perspectives on the New Russia writes that Time Magazine's decision to name Vladimir Putin its Person of the Year is “a successful ploy serving the interests of both political and media elites on both side of the Russia-US divide. Whether it serves the interests of the Russian people or the...
Ukraine, Russia: On Tymoshenko, Yanukovych and Putin
Foreign Notes writes about Yulia Tymoshenko's TV address and Viktor Yanukovych's “shadow opposition government” – as well as Vladimir Putin's misrepresentation of Ukraine's Russophone population in his Time Magazine interview and a subsequent reaction of the head of Donetsk region, who “emphasized that the Russian-speaking population of his oblast, which...
