Mortality and life expectancy in post-communist countries
The transition to the market economy and democracy in Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union countries in the 1990s caused a dramatic increase in...
Making and breaking social capital: The paradox of China’s social credit system
The Chinese government is engaged in a major mass-surveillance initiative, to become fully operational by the year 2020. It has been subject to varied...
Good and bad GDP: Output fall in transition economies and the dead rat effect
Good jokes should be funny, but more importantly, should carry a message. The following is one of the most famous jokes in economics, and...
Constructing identity in the context of globalisation and the erosion of traditional norms
Research approaches to identity construction Liberal, postmodern thought – identified with the work of Jacques Derrida, among others – denies the individual his or her...
European and Russian migration policy in perspective
“There is nothing permanent except change” wrote Greek philosopher Heraclitus. The world is currently being transformed at an accelerated rate, involving more and more...
Digitalisation of the media in Africa: Prospects for change
Global media has become increasingly digitalised in recent years. These processes have had a detrimental impact on the traditional business models of commercial journalism,...
The rise of Corbyn’s Labour party and the eclipse of the Tory media
On 15 February 2018, The Sun led with an exclusive gotcha story. On this Tory tabloid’s front page was the lurid headline: ‘CORBYN AND...
Revolution: A permanent feature of politics
We are accustomed to thinking of revolutions in terms of great historical episodes of violent transformation that arose in the past: the French Revolution...
How will universal basic income change our lives?
The concept of a universal basic income (UBI) is becoming increasingly popular in discussions about how to combat poverty. Advocates for UBI include not...
Terrorism, Religion and State Policy in Central Asia
The countries of Central Asia have not been immune to the global forces that have been stimulating religiously inspired violence, as some of its...