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Monthly Archives: May 2011
Why Do Countries Become/Remain Democracies? Or Don’t? (19): Psychological Reactions to the Threat of Disease
(source) There sure are many reasons why countries become or fail to become democracies. In this blog series I’ve mentioned climate, geography, inequality, external triggers, prosperity, religion, resources, education etc. An original approach to this question looks at psychological reactions … Continue reading
Human Rights Maps (137): The Demise of Traditional African Religions
Traditional African religions used to be adhered to by the majority of Africa’s population. However, colonialism and the rapid expansion of Christianity and Islam have had detrimental consequences for the indigenous African cultures, including religion. (Some would call it cultural … Continue reading
Human Rights Quote (82): Evolving Views on Poverty
(source) Some noteworthy historical quotes about poverty (I’m not vouching for their veracity): “The poor man [should] rest contented with that state or condition in which it hath pleased God to rank him”, Robert Moss, 18th century. “The poor are … Continue reading
Posted in economics, human rights quote, poverty
Tagged democratization, Gross domestic product, history, malthusian trap, ngram, progress, quotes, Thomas Malthus, urbanization
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Political Graffiti (140): Self-Censorship
(source, source) More on self-censorship and free speech. More Blu here and here. More political graffiti here.
Posted in art, political graffiti
Tagged blu, free speech, graffiti, self-censorship, street art
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What is Equality? (3): Equality of Rights
Equality of what? There’s hardly a more confusing philosophical question. This is my attempt at sorting things out. I apologize for the length of this post, but there’s a lot to digest. Equality of resources A well-known problem with theories … Continue reading
The Most Absurd Human Rights Violations (80): Solitary Confinement for 28 Years
(source) Thomas Silverstein, who has been described as America’s “most isolated man,” has been held in an extreme form of solitary confinement under a “no human contact” order for 28 years. Originally imprisoned for armed robbery at the age of 19, Silverstein … Continue reading
What is Democracy? (54): Kallocracy?
Beautiful people have a number of advantages in social life. They earn more, even in occupations where appearance does not seem relevant to job performance. And, somewhat surprisingly, the beauty premium – and the corresponding ugliness penalty – are higher … Continue reading
Human Rights Maps (136): The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag – or GulAG – was the government agency that administered the Soviet system of penal labor camps. The Gulag camps, although they housed also petty criminals, were in fact the major instrument of political repression in the Soviet … Continue reading
Posted in data, horror, human rights maps
Tagged Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, communism, dictatorship, gulag, Gulag Archipelago, history, human rights, map, maps, repression, Russia, show trial, soviet union, stalin, totalitarianism, ussr
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What is Equality? (2): Or, Equality of What?
As I mentioned before, when people talk about equality they mean equality of something very specific. The problem is, they hardly ever agree on the specifics. So it’s not uncommon to see two people talking about equality and actually talking … Continue reading
Posted in democracy, economics, equality, justice, philosophy, poverty, what is equality
Tagged amartya sen, Basic income, capabilities, desert, egalitarianism, equal freedom, fairness, incentives, income inequality, merit, power, redistribution, relative poverty, sufficientarianism, types of equality, what is equality
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