· December, 2012

Stories about Governance from December, 2012

Most Corrupt Country Award Goes to Afghanistan

  14 December 2012

Afghanistan ranks as the world's most corrupt country in the latest survey by a global corruption watchdog. The release of the survey triggered a wave of anti-corruption rallies across the war-torn country. In Bamyan, civil society activists awarded an effigy of Afghan president with the 'Most Corrupt Country Cup'.

Measuring Corruption in East Timor

  14 December 2012

Great news: Timor-Leste reduced corruption more than every other country in the world! But is it true? We have a rapidly growing state budget, a minister facing prison, reports about corruption in the media every day and falling scores from other rating agencies. La'o Hamutuk reviews the corruption indicators given...

Thailand: Why Pitak Siam Protest Failed

  14 December 2012

The anti-government group Pitak Siam (Protect Thailand) vowed to mobilize one million people in the streets of Bangkok last November 24 but managed to gather only 20,000. Bloggers, journalists and academics have written about the failure of Pitak Siam and the political impact of the protest.

China's ‘Luxury Disease’ Extends to Lavish Government Buildings

  13 December 2012

Lavish government buildings is nothing new in China, however, nothing can be compared to the new government building in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province. According to media reports , the "Long Ao building", cost 4 billion RMB (US$640 million), and is the second largest individual structure in the world, second only to the Pentagon in size.

Trinidad & Tobago: Hunger Strike was Never a Lost Cause

  12 December 2012

Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh's hunger strike against the construction of a section of highway in Trinidad ended a week ago - and became much greater than that singular issue. Regional bloggers discuss what the legacy of Dr. Kublalsingh's action will be and the impact it will have on citizens' rights to transparency and good governance.

University in Benin Changes its Name after Equatoguinean Dictator

  12 December 2012

You can now call him Doctor Teodoro Obiang  Nguema Mbasogo. MyGab.Tv reports that [fr] the Univesité internationale du Bénin UPIB is now called Teodoro Obiang  Nguema Mbasogo University after the Equatoguinean dictator. Teodoro Obiang  Nguema Mbasogo has been the benefactor of many schools in Benin [fr] and has received a doctorate degree Honoris...

Corruption Perceptions around the World

  12 December 2012

Two-thirds of the 176 countries assessed in the 2012 Index received a score of less than 50, on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (almost no corruption). This shows that public institutions should be more transparent and senior officials more accountable. On December 5, Transparency International released the...

Venezuela and the WCIT-12

  12 December 2012

Who will govern the Internet and how? What is Venezuela's position in this debate? These are two questions that Luis Carlos Díaz tries to tackle in a post for Prodavinci [es] where he looks at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) and Venezuela's position regarding these issues.

India: The Menace Of Eve-Teasing

  11 December 2012

Main Toki at The Broken Scooter highlights the challenges to tackle Eve-teasing, sexual harassment of women in public places. In India the law exists but it does not define eve-teasing in proper terms and the fines are negligible.

Croatia's EU Negotiation Model: A View From Turkey

  11 December 2012

At BlogActiv.com, Kader Sevinç shares highlights [en] from her interview [hr] with the Croatian daily Slobodna Dalmacija, in which she talked about Turkey’s accession to the EU and the Croatian model for the EU negotiations – “a multi-party model overcoming deep political fractures over the EU membership target.”

Land Grabbing for BioFuel in Madagascar

  11 December 2012

The Association for the Protection of Malagasy Lands and its representative Mamy Rakotondrainibe bemoans [fr] the manner in which the Tozzi Green group is approaching the development of jatropha exploitation over 100 000 ha of lands in Southern Madagascar. Local farmers are quoted as saying [fr] : We, small farmers, are forced to leave...

When a Coup is not a Coup in Mali

  11 December 2012

This is not a coup. The president is still in place but the prime minister was no longer working in the interests of the country Bakary Mariko, spokesperson for the former military junta, explains why [fr]the army has arrested the former prime minister of Mali Cheikh Modibo Diarra who resigned...

Human Rights Issues in Singapore

  11 December 2012

We call on the government to recognize, respect and fulfil social and cultural rights of all Singaporeans and to review its developmental mindset that overvalues economic growth to the detriment of our society's identity and disappearing heritage. Think Centre identifies several human rights issues in Singapore.