Monthly Archives: March 2009

Human Rights Facts (27): Democratization and Economic Growth, Why Democracy is Good for the Economy

Posted on March 16, 2009 by

This paper, by Elias Papaioannou and Gregorios Siourounis, examines the effect of democratic transitions on economic growth. Since democracy and the absence of poverty are both human rights issues, and since poverty usually correlates with insufficient economic growth, it is … Continue reading →

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Human Rights Maps (49): Gender Equality in Primary Education

Posted on March 14, 2009 by

(source) The legend is a bit hard to read, so here’s what it says: number of girls per 100 boys in primary school in 2001 (couldn’t find a more recent map), light to dark: 97 or more, 90 to 97, … Continue reading →

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Why Do Countries Become/Remain Democracies? Or Don’t? (5): The Aid Curse, or the Negative Effect of International Development Aid on Democracy

Posted on March 13, 2009 by

(source, INDONESIA Meulaboh, Aceh, Northern Sumatra: Indonesian army (TNI) soldiers unload aid from an American helicopter following the tsunami which struck South Asia in 2004, Photographer © Patrick Brown/Panos Pictures) Via Bill Easterly’s blog, I discovered this paper on the … Continue reading →

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Human Rights Quote (67): Tied International Development Aid

Posted on March 12, 2009 by

(source) The practice known as aid tying means that U.S. aid must be spent on products from U.S. companies. For emergency food aid, this causes huge delays in food shipments as the food has to come from the American Midwest … Continue reading →

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Human Rights Poem (61): Somoza Unveils the Statue of Somoza in Somoza Stadium

Posted on March 12, 2009 by

(source) Somoza Unveils the Statue of Somoza in Somoza Stadium, by Ernesto Cardenal It’s not that I think the people raised this statue to me because I know better than you do that I ordered it myself. Nor that I … Continue reading →

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Political Jokes & Funny Quotes (15): Holocaust Denial

Posted on March 12, 2009 by

(source) I met this guy a while back, who kept saying that the Holocaust never happened and that it was all a conspiracy by the Jews to trick the nations of the world into giving them the land of Israel … Continue reading →

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Political Graffiti (32): Impeachment

Posted on March 12, 2009 by

(source) More on democratic accountability.

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Limiting Free Speech (23): Blasphemy Laws

Posted on March 11, 2009 by

(source) Blasphemy laws are obviously limitations on the freedom of speech, and in my view, unjustifiable limitations. Blasphemy is a disrespectful or insulting statement about a God or a religion. It’s a kind of defamation or libel of God. (I … Continue reading →

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Human Rights Quote (66): The Risks of Speech

Posted on March 11, 2009 by

This is a quote from Henry David Thoreau featured on the NY Library Way. More on the risks of speech here and here.

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Human Rights Maps (48): Which Countries Will Achieve Universal Primary Education by 2015?

Posted on March 10, 2009 by

(source) More on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). More on education.

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