This week’s recommended blogs #3

• Who controls the world? – A Study on the Complexities of the Global Financial System (Elpidio Valdes)
• Bush’s 4th term (The Internet Post)
• Immigration 105: In the Beginning… (ana ::: opines)
• Gallipoli and the Armenian Genocide (Kiwicommie)
• Vor dem Sturm – Damaskus (Reisedepeschen)

Coming up on Czerulf’s Thoughts

Czerulf: Is democracy in a crisis? (Part 2 – The constitution)

“Das Grundgesetz” is Germany’s constitution since 1949

Last Wednesday – in part 1 – I kicked off with some general considerations: the origins of democracy and five fundamental conditions that a functioning democratic system needs to meet. First point on the list: The constitution. I will take Germany as an example, which means that I have to cover about 650 years of history. Lots of stuff but I will try to make it as short and crisp as I possibly can.

This week’s recommended blogs #2

• Memory (Whittier Strong)
• This is water (Cristian Mihai)
• People with no address: meeting the nomads of Gujarat (The Siracusas)
• In Bologna public schools win against the giants (Struggles in Italy)
• Sharecropping and the convict lease system: “The new slavery in the South” (Kaleido[scopes])

Coming up on Czerulf’s Thoughts

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via NachDenkenSeiten: Arme SPD – 150 Jahre, beachtliche Erfolge und seit 40 Jahren Abstieg. Wie kommt das?

Und was kommt jetzt?

Der Abstieg der einst stolzen deutschen Sozialdemokratie ist ein Befund der niemandem gleichgültig sein kann, bedroht er doch die Demokratie als Ganzes. Auch ich werde mich in der nächsten Zeit der siechenden Jubilarin ausführlich widmen.

Czerulf: Is democracy in a crisis? (Part 1 – General considerations)

Voting – essential part of democracy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I came across recently few articles that identified a crisis of democracy. Some commentators argue that democracy is already a thing of the past and that the Chinese model (which combines an authoritarian political structure with a 19th-century-type capitalism) is the way forward. I will discuss here in the following weeks a number of different aspects to this question. I will take Germany as an example. We start off today with some general considerations.