Word: unionizers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...improved governance. At the end of the last century, African rulers, led by Mbeki and South Africa, began to commit to the rule of law, human rights, and free and fair elections. The Organisation of African Unity, little more than a club for dictators, was reconstituted as the African Union, with aspirations to rule Africa better and a mandate to intervene in countries suffering coups or genocidal civil wars. A Peer Review Mechanism established a committee of the great and good to probe how countries are doing in terms of political and economic management; 26 nations have signed...
Honorable Men Amendolara offers a tiny blip of hope on the otherwise bleak map of Calabria. Current local leaders have pushed to maximize the town's tourist potential and improve living conditions for residents. Beginning in 2001, Mayor Mario Melfi, a former union leader, implemented a municipal program under the grand slogan: "Amendolara wants to be in Italy, in Europe, in peace." Funded by $3 million a year in local property taxes and $630,000 in revenue from traffic tickets - plus additional grants from Rome and Brussels - the town has offered financial incentives and improved infrastructure to attract private businesses...
...underdevelopment." Elected officials campaign on their ability to keep public resources flowing in - Calabria alone gets $95 million a year to fund the socially useful jobs program - and claim victory when their area continues to be classified as backward. That label qualifies the Mezzogiorno for $4.2 billion in European Union aid, as well as another $12.8 billion from Rome's coffers. "Politicians have an interest in maintaining the status quo," he says. "There is no clear road map for bringing real development...
...heavily emotional public speeches, with repeated references to "us" and "them." That polarization could ultimately be the most dangerous aspect of this debacle. Responding to calls by international organizations to take a step back, he bristled, and essentially said never. "The AKP say they want democracy and the European Union, but they don't have much to show for this," says Hakan Altinay, director of Istanbul's Open Society Institute. "In the next six months, the right thing to do would be to launch a hearts-and-minds campaign to win over society as a whole, to truly prove...
...though only when it suits them; some cast the social democrats in the role of new hard-line nationalists; and Ataturk, whose biggest aspiration was for Turkey to join the "civilized West," would no doubt be stunned to hear that his military is skeptical of entry into the European Union. Meanwhile, investors are spooked, leading Turkish unions are on strike over a proposed social security reform law, unemployment is over 10%, and the Kurdish conflict is brewing. "This is a struggle in the palace," says political scientist Hakan Yilmaz. "It has nothing to do with the people." But if Turkey...