Colombia’s Elections: Under the Gun
It looked peaceful on the surface. But as Laura Carlsen reports, the Colombia elections were anything but.
Book Review:’The Rise and Fall of Fast Track Trade Authority’
A new book on U.S. trade policy demonstrates that fast track is the wrong track.
Iraq: Nightmare or New Democracy?
While Iraq could easily become Obama’s nightmare with a policy that emphasizes sectarian divisions, a national unity framework will help Iraq become a new democracy in the Middle East.
Book Event: Globalization on the GroundWhat Bolivia Teaches Us
As the U.S. enters a new political era, what can we learn from one nation´s battle to define its own way forward in a globalizing world? Jim Shultz and Melissa Crane Draper of the Democracy Center in Cochabamba, Bolivia will share lessons from the book Dignity and Defiance: Stories from Bolivia’s Challenge to Globalization. The event, co-hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies, along with Food and Water Watch and the Quixote Center, will also feature music, a slideshow, and refreshments.
Dignity and Defiance, edited by Jim Shultz and Melissa Crane Draper, is a powerful, well-crafted, eyewitness account, of Bolivia’s rebellion from below. Readers will find compelling first person accounts of Bolivia’s historic water revolt; of a massive Shell-Enron oil spill and its aftermath; of a nation’s battle to control its oil and gas; and of one people’s dramatic and successful challenge to the policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Here too is the story of those seeking out globalization’s opportunities, from indigenous weaving communities to emigrants, transplanted to three continents.
Bolivia’s story is emblematic of the major political and social transformation underway throughout Latin America today. This book brings readers into that story at a human level, through the eye of skilled writers who blend together deep research and compelling narrative to bring a nation’s story to life.
About the Democracy Center: The Democracy Center works globally to advance social justice through a combination of investigation and reporting, training citizens in the art of public advocacy, and organizing international citizen campaigns.
IPS is working with The Democracy Center to challenge the international investment rules that undermine human rights and democracy by giving foreign investors the right to bypass domestic courts and sue governments directly in international tribunals.
Burma’s New Charter: Radical Change or Fig Leaf?
Burma’s new constitution meets with skepticism as the country attempts to move beyond its notoriously rocky past.
A Problem of Riches
Why concentrated wealth and the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us are not only bad for our economy but threaten democracy itself.
Demystifying the U.S. Electoral Process
African Dictatorships and Double Standards
Washington has rightly condemned human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. So why not Equatorial Guinea?
Sharp Attack Unwarranted
The campaign against Gene Sharp and the Albert Einstein Institution is beyond bizarre.
Presidential Disrespect
A skeptical and adoring citizenry faces its Presidents
An Appeal to My Generation for Social Reconstruction
We all have a stake in building a more humane and just society—including young activists across the globe.
Paths for Reconstruction in the 21st Century: An Introduction
The Institute’s co-founder outlines his upcoming report, proposing a dialogue on nine essential themes for social reconstruction in the 21st Century.
Letting Go of Musharraf
Its time for Washington to wake up and smell the elections.
Arming the Middle East
To contain Iran, the administration is on the verge of upping the arms ante in the Middle East, and the Dems are giving it a pass.
Nonviolent Action and Pro-Democracy Struggles
The United States is not behind the democratic revolutions against dictators. Popular movements are.