Other News
A ‘Gorilla’ Eating Up the System: Political Corruption Scandal in Slovakia
A Pinpoint Politics article by Martina Čičáková
The Slovak population seems to have awakened this year after a long time of ostensible hibernation. Slovakia, a small state situated in the heart of Europe, has in the last two months become a stage of intensive political activity on a level that has been compared to the in November 1989, when people went into the streets demonstrating against the system and demanding democracy. Similarly, at present, protesters around Slovakia are demanding more democracy and transparency in the financing of political parties and privatisation of state businesses. Although Slovakia has been an officially democratic independent state since the Czechoslovak disintegration in January 1993, the ‘Gorilla’ case suggests Slovak politics has stagnated since the 1990s.
Paul Revere vs William Dawes: Activists and Bystanders in the Age of Social Media Tools
A Pinpoint Politics article by Andrew Kelly
On April 18th, 1775, Paul Revere gathered himself and set off at mid-night riding North, as Malcolm Gladwell writes, to warn the resistance that the British were indeed coming. He was able to effectively galvanise them and had them ready and waiting. This ability to provoke such a response is what Gladwell calls, in his book The Tipping Point, the role of the connector. In many ways, this is precisely what Facebook and Twitter have come to be represented as; connectors, facilitators of action, mobilisers of movements, the Paul Revere’s of the internet.
PhD funding success
Masumi Owa has secured a Japan Foundation Endowment Committee grant to support her thesis research into ‘Collective Action in Global Governance: the Case of OECD Development Assistance Committee’.This will make a useful contributon to funding her research.
Sir Robert Worcester to speak on elections
On Wednesday 11 January, Sir Robert Worcester, founder of , will be speaking on US and UK elections as part of the PAIS seminar series.
The seminar will take place in room S0.18 in the Social Sciences building at 4.00pm; refreshments will be available from 3.30.
Sir Robert is the chairman of the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary in 2015 Committee. He is also Visiting Professor of Government and a former Governor of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Honorary Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent, where he is Chancellor, and Honorary Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at 糖心TV University.
EDGAR GRAHAM BOOK PRIZE 2012
The Department of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies invites submissions for the Edgar Graham Book Prize 2012.
This academic prize was established in 1984 to commemorate Edgar Graham who at the time of his death in 1983 had been Governor of the School for seven years. Edgar Graham's own book, The Modern Plantation in the Third World, was published posthumously by Croom Helm (1984). The prize of £1000 is awarded for a work of original scholarship on development in Asia and Africa.
Authored and co-authored books published between 2010 and 2012 are eligible for the Prize. Please submit 2 copies to the following address:
Brita Pouget, Prize Administrator
School of Oriental and African Studies
Thornhaugh St. Russell Sq.
London WC1H 0XG
(bp@soas.ac.uk)
You may include reviews with your submission.
The closing date is July 1st, 2012.
Professor Naila Kabeer, Chair
Edgar Graham Book Prize