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Matching keywords : Apostasy, freedom, belief, centrality, humans, socially, politically, legally, philosophers, thinkers.

Weekend Ruminations: The meaning of 'partly free'

How far the govt will go towards establishing its control depends on the effectiveness of domestic institutional resistance and on how much it wants to risk international censure.

by T.N. Ninan | On 08 Mar 2021

States of Control: COVID, Cuts and Impunity: South Asia Press Freedom Report, 2019-2020

he media had the task of reporting the growing humanitarian crisis, working in difficult circumstances and amidst unprecedented physical curbs due to lockdowns and restrictions, particularly in contai...

by | On 16 Feb 2021

The Poet in the Republic

India seems to have turned Platonic anxiety on its head, making the utterance of truth a difficult endeavour in this country.

by | On 01 Aug 2020

Indian Banks and the Prevention of Corruption Act: Freedom and Discipline

Selfless activists like Mr. Pai teach us the importance of continuously interrogating the functioning of our democracy. The NPA issue has persisted for almost a decade. It has eroded the profitability...

by Ashima Goyal | On 29 Oct 2018

World Happiness Report 2018

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The World Happiness Report 2018, ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of...

by | On 04 May 2018

Press Freedom and Free Speech in 2018

Media freedom continued to deteriorate in the first four months of 2018 in India. The Report documents killings of media persons and attacks on journalists as well as the use of regulatory policy and...

by | On 03 May 2018

An Ethnographic Study of the Mathru Poorna Yojana (One Full Meal) Pilot Project for Pregnant and Lactating Mothers in Two Blocks of Two Districts in Karnataka

The present study was undertaken to review the pilot implementation of the programme and its uptake by beneficiaries, in order to provide data to the DWCD, before scaling up the programme to all distr...

by Centre for Budget and Policy Studies CBPS | On 23 Mar 2018

Population Pressure on Land in Kerala

The paper examines how Kerala, a demographically and socially well advanced state in India, responded to the high population pressure during the 30 year period from 1975-76 to 2005-06.

by N. Ajith Kumar | On 07 Mar 2018

Regaining the Constitutional Identity of the Finance Commission: A Daunting Task for the Thirteenth Commission

The paper argues that the Thirteenth Finance Commission has got to find its own track if it does not want to remain as a pale shadow of its constitutional self. It should ignore those terms of referen...

by K.K. George | On 28 Feb 2018

How Regulation and Standards Can Support Social and Environmental Dynamics in Global Value Chains

This paper explores the policy measures that will best lead to the most positive outcomes as standards diffuse through global value chains.

by Raphael Kaplinsky | On 26 Dec 2017

Freedom of Expression in Pakistan: A myth or a reality

The study adopts a qualitative approach to understand the power dynamics and draws out conclusions from a wide variety of stakeholders regarding the issues at hand.

by Sadaf Liaquat | On 23 Nov 2017

Socially Disadvantaged Groups and Micro-finance in India

About two-thirds of microfinance clients in India are reported to be in Self-Help Groups (SHGs). These mostly women’s groups have been promoted by nationalized banks since the early nineties to improv...

by Jean-Marie Baland | On 06 Nov 2017

Womanhood Beyond Motherhood: Exploring Experiences of Voluntary Childless Women

This study attempts to explore the emerging issue among women in Indian cities who voluntarily chose to be childless, with an emphasis on the reasons accorded for opting out of motherhood. Findings of...

by Chandni Bhambhani | On 07 Sep 2017

The India Freedom Report

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2017 it becomes important to view the level of press freedom in India in the wider context of societal freedom. The press cannot be truly free when facilitat...

by The Hoot the hoot.org | On 08 May 2017

An Interview with Anand Patwardhan

For over 40 years Anand Patwardhan’s documentary films have stood for freedom of expression. He faced censorship on numerous occasions, took the government to court, and won each time. Anand is not ju...

by Vidya Bhushan Rawat | On 10 Apr 2017

Internal Migration and the Condition of Female Construction Workers: A Study in Chittagong City

Women workers are found in certain activities traditionally falling within the male domain. This is particularly the case for landless women who largely belong to the hardcore poor group. It indicates...

by | On 22 Nov 2016

The Yogi and the Commissar

It’s the season for media biographies, as NDTV and TV18 publish their life stories. If NDTV comes across as self-righteous TV18 is open about its sins of commission. Chintamani Rao says the books of...

by | On 07 Nov 2016

Introduction: Academic Freedom in Crisis

This essay is the first in a series on Academic Freedom in Crisis curated by socialsciencespace. In the current context of the apparent retreat of academic freedom across the world, the series of shor...

by Daniel Nehring | On 11 Sep 2016

Keeping the South China Sea in Perspective

The South China Sea disputes involve the interests of the United States, particularly with regard to freedom of navigation, international norms and law, relations with important partners and allies, a...

by | On 13 Jul 2016

Capabilities and Skills

This paper discusses the relevance of recent research on the economics of human development to the work of the Human Development and Capability Association. The recent economics of human development b...

by James J. Heckman | On 28 Jun 2016

New Expression Meets Old Repression: Ending the Cycle of Political Arrests and Imprisonment in Myanmar

Despite five decades of agonizing slog, from an authoritarian military rule towards a more open political system, activists continue to face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for their peaceful act...

by Amnesty International AI, | On 11 Apr 2016

Free Speech in 2016: First Quarter Report

Apart from the turbulence in February over the sedition cases filed at Jawaharlal Nehru University, the arrests of students, and the allegations regarding doctored videos, the period saw an overall in...

by | On 05 Apr 2016

Environmental Policy in a Federation with Special Interest Politics and Inter-governmental Grants

The paper explores the potential effect of intergovernmental grants (IGG) on sub-national (local) environmental policy in a federal structure. In the model, a politically-inclined local government rec...

by Divya Datt | On 15 Mar 2016

Desecuritizing the Kurdish Question and Emerging Regional Dynamics

Desecuritizing the Kurdish question has become a priority for Turkey’s AKP government as it seeks to enter into a domestic “solution process” with the PKK. However, emerging dynamics in Iraq and Syria...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

In Search of a Better Match: Qualification Mismatches in Developing Asia

This paper empirically tests the role of search frictions in driving qualification mismatches in the labor market. Using new data from several low-income economies in urban Asia we find that overeduca...

by Kenn Chua | On 10 Mar 2016

Growing Optimism Marks Cancún Climate Change Talks

The recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP16) in Cancun, Mexico concluded on a generally positive note as growing optimism replaced the disappointment that defined the 2009 talks in Copenhagen.While...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 03 Mar 2016

Myanmar’s National Reconciliation Process: A Positive for the Region?

Since taking office in March 2011, Myanmar’s new government has implemented a host of reforms. These include the release of some political prisoners,a lifting of restrictions on media freedoms, the...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 02 Mar 2016

On the Skill of Balancing While Riding a Bicycle

Humans have ridden bicycles for over 200 years, yet there are no continuous measures of how skill differs between novice and expert. To address this knowledge gap, the dynamics of human bicycle riding...

by | On 29 Feb 2016

20 Years of Human Security: A Special Focus on Political Security

Security used to be defined in military terms with the state as the referent of security. From this state-centric lens, political security means the stability of the state’s political regime and socia...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 27 Feb 2016

Workshop Report on “Starving Tigers?: Impact of Climate Change in South East Asia”

The Copenhagen Summit in December 2009 failed to yield a concrete, politically-binding agreement among states to reduce carbon emissions in order to mitigate climate change. This is so despite the wid...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 24 Feb 2016

The Road to Rio+20: Ambitious Goals for Sustainable Development

The world’s biggest summit on environment and development in 20 years will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June this year. What are the opportunities and challenges for this global multilater...

by | On 20 Feb 2016

Well-being and Public Attitudes in Afghanistan: Some Insights from the Economics of Happiness

Afghanistan is a context where individuals have to cope with the most adverse of circumstances. In this paper, we use the tools provided by a new approach in economics, which relies on surveys of happ...

by Soumya Chattopadhyay | On 16 Feb 2016

Public Health in india: Challenges Ahead

As the world’s largest democracy and the second most populous country in the world, India has experienced sea change since its independence in various facets of development. However as per public heal...

by Anuj Sabharwal | On 13 Feb 2016

Mapping Prevailing Ideas on Intellectual Property: Preliminary Findings from a Survey

Mapping Prevailing Ideas on Intellectual Property by Professor Jean-Frédéric Morin, Universitélibre de Bruxelles, examines an overlooked yet critical dimension of global IP governance: where do IP ide...

by | On 10 Feb 2016

Palestine National Integrity System Assessment 2013

During the period covered by this study, Palestine faced a number of positive and negative developments. The most significant was the continued political divide, resulting in an ongoing disruption to...

by Transparency International TI | On 05 Feb 2016

Apostasy and the Freedom of Belief: A New Islamic Perspective

This paper offers a novel perspective on the concept of freedom of conscience in Islam and the rules of apostasy in which the author, YehyaJad revises the notion of the death penalty for the apostate....

by | On 02 Feb 2016

Palestinian Refugees and the Syrian Revolution

Relying on statistics collected in the field, this study examines the involvement of Palestinians in the Syrian Revolution. Politically, this issue has generated heated debates among observers due to...

by | On 01 Feb 2016

US Goals and Strategies toward the Arab World

This essay tries to delineate US interests and goals in the Arab region by trying to answer two fundamental questions: First, in light of its promise for change and following the dramatic transformati...

by | On 01 Feb 2016

The Impact of Formal and Informal Institutions on Economic Performance: A Cross-Country Analysis

This study is an attempt to understand the relative contribution of culture and economic freedom to economic growth. Through applying fixed effect to the panel of fifty four developed, developing and...

by Yasir Khan | On 30 Jan 2016

Playing with Pixels: Youth, Identity, and Virtual Play Spaces

Recreation Centers and Programmes have historically been designed by adults for adolescents as places of refuge, rehabilitation, and recreation. However, today’s virtual play spaces, such as Teen Seco...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

To Fuse or Not To Fuse? Assessing the Case for Convergent Disciplines on Goods and Services Trade

With the rise of global value chains (GVCs) and the growing prominence of services as both facilitators or very objects of supply chain dynamics, it has become commonplace for goods and services to be...

by | On 28 Jan 2016

A Legally Binding Agreement (LBA) - Growing Need for Air Pollution Reduction and Control in South Asia

With increasing urbanization and economic growth, air pollution is becoming an urgent concern in South Asian countries. The study upon which this paper is based has been conducted at SDPI, to look int...

by Mahmood Khwaja | On 28 Jan 2016

China’s Dams & Regional Security Implications An Indian Perspective

This brief provides a historical-cum-ongoing account as well as an assessment of the future of China’s dam-building exercise, its rationale and consequences at all levels – geographically, environment...

by Dhanasree Jayaram | On 21 Jan 2016

India 2050: Can We Celebrate the Centenary of the Republic as a Developed Country?

The paper argues that there is great disparity of incomes between developed and developing countries. Relative income gap of the developing countries which was 10.8 per cent in 2000 was 15.1 per cent...

by | On 21 Jan 2016

Myanmar 2014: Civic Knowledge and Values in a Changing Society

This is an Asia Foundation survey to document public knowledge and awareness of new government institutions and processes, and to gauge the political, social, and economic values held by people from d...

by The Asia Foundation | On 19 Jan 2016

Better Hospitals, Better Health Systems, Better Health A Proposal for a Global Hospital Collaborative for Emerging Economies

With the global community mobilizing to achieve universal health coverage, adequate, efficient, and evidence-based investments in hospitals must be a cornerstone of efforts to build sustainable and ef...

by (Centre for Global Development) Advisory Faculty | On 18 Jan 2016

Follow-Up Study Report On Cases Worked On By Koshish Chembur Beggars’ Home, Mumbai (Male And Female Section) January – December 2012

There have been very serious linkages between destitution and beggary; both with helpless people getting into beggary as well as state punishing working poor on charges of beggary under legislations l...

by Tata Institue of Social Sciences TISS | On 18 Jan 2016

State of Injustice: The Indian State and Poverty

The paper throws light on the view that the Indian state has been one that has been perpetrated by injustice irrespective of a series of ground-breaking legislative acts that enshrine a number of soci...

by John Harriss | On 09 Jan 2016

National Consultation Report: Post-2015 Development Agenda

The report summarizes recommendations from a national consultation on the post-2015 development framework and includes reports from a range of national convenors including the Government of India, tra...

by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | On 01 Jan 2016

The High and Low Politics of Trade

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in trouble. Its negotiating mechanism has mostly seized up, as reflected in the failure to conclude the long-running Doha Round. No obvious solution to this conun...

by | On 21 Dec 2015

An Assessment of BRAC`s Organizational Culture and Values Training

This paper aims to measure the changes in the type and depth of knowledge and understanding on sexual and reproductive health and gender issues, and how they obtained that knowledge. Secondly, changes...

by Md. Abdul Alim | On 11 Dec 2015

Human Rights and Asian Values

The thesis that Asian values are less supportive of freedom and more concerned with order than discipline than are Western values and that the claims of human rights in the areas of political and civi...

by Amartya Sen | On 10 Dec 2015

Why can't an Academic deliver a Lecture on Secularism without Police Protection? - Romila Thapar

At Pratirodh, the Writers' Convention organised on 1 October 2015, Romila Thapar began with an anecdotal account of her recent lecture on secularism in Mumbai, a lecture for which she was advised to t...

by Romila Thapar | On 18 Nov 2015

State Policy for Transgenders in Kerala, 2015

The documents states the Government's policy on Transgenders (TGs) its goals, objectives, approaches, implementation processes and highlights selected area of focus in Kerala' s socio-economic context...

by Social Justice Department Kerala | On 13 Nov 2015

Cultural Resistance Need of the Hour: Teesta Setalvad

This interview with Teesta Setalvad on the series of awards being returned by various writers post lynching of a person in Dadri and PMs silence. Teesta explained that, this government functions on th...

by Teesta Setalvad | On 20 Oct 2015

Cultural Resistance Need of the Hour: Teesta Setalvad

This interview with Teesta Setalvad on the series of awards being returned by various writers post lynching of a person in Dadri and PMs silence. Teesta explained that, this government functions on th...

by Teesta Setalvad | On 20 Oct 2015

Military Build-up in the Indian Ocean: Implications for Regional Stability

As the Indian Ocean region increasingly becomes a more important geopolitical space, global powers and smaller states are laying down their stakes. This paper examines the military build-up of major I...

by | On 15 Oct 2015

Inside the News: Challenges and Aspirations of Women Journalists in Asia and the Pacific

Why does gender equality in the media matter? Because of the many influences that shape the way we see men and women, media are among the most powerful. Media shape our daily lives, infusing their mes...

by UNESCO UNESCO | On 07 Oct 2015

Cyber-Violence Against Women and Girls: A World-Wide Wake Up Call

The growing reach of the Internet, the rapid spread of mobile information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the wide diffusion of social media have presented new opportunities and enabled var...

by United Nations UN | On 28 Sep 2015

The Role of English in Culture Preservation in Bhutan

This study explores issues surrounding the preservation and promotion of culture in the context of the secondary school English curriculum in Bhutan. The languages of Bhutan carry a rich and diverse t...

by | On 21 Sep 2015

Social Enterprises and Employment: Mainstreaming SMEs and Employment Creation

This paper argues that mainstreaming SMEs and SE into various international treaties will require the assumption of positive externalities which markets cannot fully evaluate. To show this, the possib...

by Leonardo Lanzona | On 12 Aug 2015

Results from the Perception and Attitudes Towards Ageing and Seniors Survey ( 2013/2014)

In this paper the results are documented which derived from the Perception and Attitudes towards Ageing and seniors (PATAS) survey completed in early 2014. These results delve into respondents beliefs...

by Mathew Mathews | On 11 Aug 2015

The Role of Technical and Vocational Education in the National Development of Bangladesh

Education is a basic human right and considered by many as a key tool for national development. However, this tenet has been challenged by several economists, especially Pritchett (1996). His empirica...

by Gazi Mahabubul Alam | On 03 Aug 2015

Freedom to Marry: The Constitutional Choice and KHAP Panchayats

This paper talks about the right to marry as an essential freedom of all human beings as it relates to their right to self-expression and their right to associate with a person of their choice. The au...

by | On 27 Jul 2015

Rethinking Partnerships in a Post-2015 World: Towards Equitable, Inclusive and Sustainable Development

These reports provide a critical analysis of how governments address the issues of poverty and whether aid and development cooperation policies are put into practice. This 2014 Reality of Aid Report b...

by The Reality of Aid Network | On 09 Jun 2015

World Happiness Report 2015

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The first report was published in 2012, the second in 2013, and the third on April 23, 2015. Leading experts across fi...

by Jeffrey D. Sachs | On 27 Apr 2015

Pakistan: New Cybercrime Bill Threatens the Rights to Privacy and Free Expression

ARTICLE 19 and Digital Rights Foundation Pakistan have serious concerns about measures contained in Pakistan’s proposed Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (‘PEC Bill’). The Bill contains a number of...

by Article 19 | On 22 Apr 2015

The Internet and State Intervention in Asia: A Comparative Study of Selected Countries

In context of contemporary debates about censorship, net neutrality and the role of the state in today’s globalising world, it becomes vital to examine the stand taken by various Asian governments tow...

by Nandini Bhattacharya | On 17 Apr 2015

Deliberating Public Spheres: How does Net Neutrality Enable Democracy?

This study reviews and re-conceptualizes the ideas of democracy and the public sphere through the receptive medium of the Internet. Through exploring the transformational concept of the public sphere...

by Jonathan Cunha | On 15 Apr 2015

Keeping the Internet Neutral: Net Neutrality and its Role in Protecting Political Expression on the Internet

As Internet-use rises and becomes more widely available, it has become an increasingly important medium of political communication. This article explores internet regulation frameworks in the United S...

by Jennifer L. Newman | On 15 Apr 2015

"Stop Reporting or We’ll Kill Your Family" Threats to Media Freedom in Afghanistan

This 48-page report documents harassment, intimidation, and attacks on journalists and the Afghan government’s failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible. The failure to protect journalist...

by Human Rights Watch | On 26 Mar 2015

The Role of Diversity on Freedom of Speech in Democratic Societies

There is no doubt that freedom of speech plays an important role in the process of democratization. Freedom of speech is a guarantee to citizens to participate effectively in the working of democracy....

by | On 24 Mar 2015

On Rethinking Population Education: Challenging the Gender and Structural Violence of Prevailing Norms

The way population issues are taught in schools, colleges and universities can have a profound impact on the development of students’ worldviews, particularly regarding the root causes of poverty, mal...

by Betsy Hartmann | On 01 Mar 2015

Annual Day Lecture of the Delhi School of Economics, India

The lecture focuses on the continuing relevance of the founding principles of the School, viz., academic freedom, academic excellence, social commitment with technical competence.

by C.H. Hanumantha Rao | On 21 Jan 2015

‘Coin of Blood’: Savarkar’s 'The Indian War of Independence – 1857'

Savarkar’s chief claim from the outset is that the Revolution was the manifestation of deep underlying principles. Indeed this sense of the underlying principles can alone justify such massive loss of...

by Nikhil Govind | On 27 Dec 2014

Framing Savarkar: Reading the Author’s Introduction and the Publishers’ Notes to Savarkar’s 'Indian War of Independence -1857'

Savarkar was not only a revolutionary, but also one who could reflect on the revolutionary life. The earlier generation of 1857 perhaps lacked the ability or at the very least, the opportunity to refl...

by Nikhil Govind | On 26 Dec 2014

Gossip: Identifying Central Individuala in a Social Network

It is shown that boundedly-rational individuals can, simply by tracking sources of gossip, identify those who are most central in a network according to “diffusion centrality,” which nests other stan...

by Abhijit Banerjee | On 20 Aug 2014

Book Review - Between Love and Freedom: The Revolutionary in the Hindi Novel

Book Review - Between Love and Freedom: The Revolutionary in the Hindi Novel by Nikhil Govind, Routledge India; February 2014; pp 200; Rs. 432

by Sandeep Dubey | On 26 Jun 2014

Gossip: Identifying Central Individuals in a Social Network

The paper examines individuals’ abilities to identify the highly central people in their social networks, where centrality is defined by diffusion centrality (Banerjee, Chandrasekhar, Duflo, and Jacks...

by Abhijit Banerjee | On 19 Jun 2014

Obituary: Prof. Ila Pathak (1933-2014): A Feminist Crusader

Ila Pathak was a dedicated social activist who stood by socially excluded sections of society, especially brutalized women. She tirelessly supported women survivors of dowry harassment, rape victims,...

by Vibhuti Patel | On 21 Jan 2014

Anti-Superstition Legislation

After a long and gruelling campaign by ANS for the past eight years to enact a Law against Superstition which harm the citizens, the Maharashtra State Government under the leadership of the new Chie...

by Maharashtra Andhshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti MANS | On 22 Aug 2013

Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Poverty Line

Interview on the recent released poverty line.

by Planning Commission | On 05 Aug 2013

An Investigation into Changes in Nagaland's Population between 1971 and 2011

Nagaland’s population decreased during 2001–11 after growing at abnormally high rates during the past few decades. This is the first time since independence that a state in India has witnessed an ab...

by Ankush Agrawal | On 21 Feb 2013

Maharashtra State Youth Policy Declaration

This is an inclusive policy, which recognizes diversity in gender, caste, class, religion, language and reiterates the commitment of the State to this vibrant and significant population group and look...

by Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs YAS | On 12 Sep 2012

The Challenge of Employment in India: An Informal Economy Perspective Volume I - Main Report

India is perhaps the first country to set up, at the national level, a commission to study the problems and challenges being faced by what in India is called the unorganized economy - or the informal...

by NCEUS NCEUS | On 05 Sep 2012

Network Structure and the Aggregation of Information: Theory and Evidence from Indonesia

A unique data-set from Indonesia is analysed to understand what individuals know about the income distribution in their village to test theories such as Jackson and Rogers (2007) that link informatio...

by Vivi Alatas | On 23 Aug 2012

Ensuring Food and Nutrition Security in a Green Economy

What are the implications of a green economy for the poor and hungry? How can the poor benefit from and thrive under a green economy? What role can agriculture play? What are the possible trade-off...

by Shenggen Fan | On 17 Jul 2012

Cultural Proximity and Loan Outcomes

Evidence is presented to show that shared codes, religious beliefs, ethnicity - cultural proximity - between lenders and borrowers improves the efficiency of credit allocation. In-group preferential t...

by Raymond Fisman | On 05 Jul 2012

Nepal: Elusive Democracy and Uncertain Political System

Persistence and breakdowns of democracy are the dominant features of Nepali politics.Democracy continues to be attractive amidst setbacks and discontinuity. So it remains perennially elusive, desp...

by Lok Raj Baral | On 23 Apr 2012

Journalism in Democracies During Times of War: Examining the Role of Indian and US Media

This paper examines the larger issue of how a ‘free’ media performs during times of war with particular reference to US and India using case studies. It focuses on ‘national security’ becoming a maj...

by Aradhana Sharma | On 20 Apr 2012

Shaking Embedded Gender Roles and Relations: An Impact Assessment of Gender Quality Action Learning Programme

The Gender Quality Action Learning programme initiated a village level intervention in 2007 in 10 districts to increase knowledge, change perception, attitudes, and practice/behaviour of the villagers...

by Md. Abdul Alim | On 03 Feb 2012

India’s Draft Universal Periodic Report-II: A Case of Forced Marriage?

The paper has the objective of viewing the condition of women in terms of freedom of choice, freedom and expression and right of privacy. Also it views violence against women.

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 20 Jan 2012

Antiques and Adat: The Changing Face of Paka’s Mini-museum, Kampung Benuk, Penrissen, Kuching

This paper is an account of recent developments at Paka's mini-museum, which culminated in the production of English text panels for its collection in March 2005. As it turned out, working on these...

by Liana Chua | On 19 Jan 2012

Where is the Virtue in the Middle Class?

It is widely agreed by economists and political scientists that the middle class is vital to progress because of its many virtues. But it is difficult to define a middle class by income in a manner t...

by Charles Kenny | On 16 Nov 2011

Bentham from the Crypt Once More: Politicians in Pursuit of Happiness

There is a burgeoning academic literature on happiness polls that has used a range of different measures and approaches across countries rich and poor alike to answer the question, “what makes peopl...

by Charles Kenny | On 21 Jul 2011

Satoyama–Satoumi Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Assessing Trends to Rethink a Sustainable Future

The Japan Satoyama Satoumi Assessment (JSSA) is a study of the interaction between humans and terrestrial–aquatic ecosystems (satoyama) and marine– coastal ecosystems (satoumi) in Japan. The stud...

by Anantha Kumar Duraiappah | On 17 Jun 2011

WRR: Special Focus on Restoring the Flow

The June issue of World Rivers Review is overflowing with ideas on on how to maintain healthy flows in rivers, for their health and our own. If a river's flow is its heartbeat, then we humans have bec...

by International Rivers Network IRN | On 13 Jun 2011

On Harnessing Natural Resources for Sustainable Development

The mainstream economics has characteristically been myopic in visualizing the relationship between human beings and the ecosphere, the surrounding in which they live, work and prosper. Man though...

by SK Mishra | On 23 May 2011

Book Review: An Unconventional Autobiography

Civil Disobedience: Two Freedom Struggles, One Life By L C Jain; The Book Review Literary Trust, New Delhi; 2010, Pp.266.

by N.S. Siddharthan | On 14 May 2011

History in Bengali Literature: A Study of Selected Bengali Novels

Great novelists through their writings placed the history of the Indian national and social awakening movement in literature.The context of this article is great three novels of three great littérat...

by Sarmistha Ghoshal | On 09 May 2011

New media: problems and prospects

The author advocates liberal and secular ideas in a country, Pakistan, too-often torn by religious extremism and strives for the defence and promotion of press freedom under difficult circumstances an...

by Najam Sethi | On 08 May 2011

What do you want from us?

In the past three years, two journalists for El Diario have been killed by drug-cartels and since 2000 more than 64 journalists have been killed throughout the country. The armed conflict between orga...

by Rocio Gallegos | On 08 May 2011

The Potential (and Pitfalls) of Free Expression Technology

Each year, Reporters Without Borders awards a Netizen prize (sponsored by Google) to a blogger, online journalist or cyber-dissident who has helped to promote freedom of expression on the Internet. Th...

by David C. Drummond | On 08 May 2011

Why, for a Class of Bribes, the Act of Giving a Bribe should be Treated as Legal

The paper puts forward a small but novel idea of how can the incidence of bribery be cut down.There are different kinds of bribes and what this paper is concerned with are bribes that people often h...

by Kaushik Basu | On 05 May 2011

"Free Dawit Isaak"

The author joined the World Press Freedom Day campaign this year, 2011, to highlight the plight of WAN-IFRA's 2011 Golden Pen of Freedom laureate, Dawit Isaak, incarcerated without charge for nearly a...

by Peter Englund | On 04 May 2011

An Irreversible Gain in Freedom of Expression

In this World Press Freedom Day editorial, the authors explore the events taking place in the Middle East and North Africa and the positive outcomes for freedom of expression the peoples' revolutions...

by Martti Ahtisaari Ahtisaari | On 04 May 2011

An Ethnobiography of Teyyam Performance from a Practitioner’s Perspective

Rajesh Komath gives a description the conflicts between his socio-material position as a Teyyam performer, and persona/personality as a student of economics.

by Smriti Vohra | On 26 Feb 2011

Book Review: Last Man First

The late LC Jain’s new book titled Civil Disobedience: Two Freedom Struggles, One Life (The Book Review Literary Trust, Delhi, 2011, Rs. 375) illustrates how corruption has become the norm and ‘India...

by Nandana Reddy | On 10 Feb 2011

Bright Lines, Risk Beliefs, and Risk Avoidance: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Bangladesh

43 villages in Bangladesh were randomized to receive information on well-water arsenic that emphasized water safety relative to the national standard (bright-line message) or provided additional infor...

by Lori Bennear | On 02 Feb 2011

Conflict Resolution through Mutuality: Lessons from Bayesian Updating

If priors are deterministic (zero or unity) and conditional evidence is uncertain (lies between zero and one) then Bayesian updating will lead to posteriors that are the same as priors. This in a sen...

by Srijit Mishra | On 31 Jan 2011

Size Matters: The Impact of Aid on Institutions

This paper proposes that aid flowing to smaller (less populous) countries has a negative impact on the quality of institutions in terms of performance and policy as opposed to that flowing to larg...

by Chakriya Bowman | On 20 Dec 2010

Intellectual Property Protection and the Licensing of Technology to Developing Countries

In this paper, the influence of stronger intellectual property protection on technology transfer into developing countries via licensing is analyzed. Using panel data for the post-TRIPs period 1995-20...

by Sunil Kanwar | On 09 Sep 2010

Not a matter of choice

This editorial questions whether the two values freedom and liberty can come together?

by T.N. Ninan | On 19 Jul 2010

State in Religion: Preamble to Pogrom

India is a secular state in which all faiths enjoy freedom of worship. The concept of secularism is implicit in the Preamble to our Constitution, which declares the resolve of the people to secure to...

by Garima Gupta | On 15 Jul 2010

Censorship: Free Dump of Expression

For a country to be a democracy, certain things are expected to be in place, such as freedom of expression and little or no censorship. While one person would find it perfectly acceptable to publici...

by Garima Gupta | On 15 Jul 2010

Understanding Fundamentalist Belief Through Bayesian Updating

Using Bayesian updating to deterministic priors persistence of fundamentalist belief like those in the mind of a terrorist is explained. Under such belief system if conditional evidence is diametric...

by Srijit Mishra | On 14 Jun 2010

Affordability to Finance Poverty Reduction Programmes

This paper addresses the question of affordability to finance poverty reduction programs in a dynamic context. In doing so, it stresses the need for approaching the problem from a human rights perspec...

by Omar Haider Chowdhury | On 04 Jun 2010

Cultures of Transport: Representation, Practice and Technology

It is argue that the so-called cultural‘ (and spatial‘) turn that has remodelled so many other areas of the humanities and social sciences over the last two decades might help answer Armstrong‘s plea...

by Colin Divall | On 21 May 2010

Education Impact Study: The Global Recession and the Capacity of Colleges and Universities to Serve Vulnerable Populations in Asia

This paper reviews the capacity of colleges and universities to serve poor and vulnerable populations during past and present economic shocks. The main argument is that the environment of the global r...

by Gerard Postiglione | On 12 Apr 2010

New Financiers and the Environment: Ten Perspectives on How Financial Institutions can Protect the Enviornment

This new report discusses the experience with environmental standards and how it can be useful for new financiers. It contains ten papers written by experts from civil society, financial institutions...

by International Rivers Network IRN | On 01 Oct 2009

Press Freedom: World Review:June-December 2008

Attacks on journalists throughout the world -- by organised crime groups in Latin America, autocratic regimes in the Middle East, repressive governments in Africa and by combatants in war zones -- pos...

by World Association of Newspapers WAN | On 28 Apr 2009

The Potential of Media: Dialogue, Mutual Understanding and Reconciliation

The media has a demonstrated ability in fostering mutual understanding by communicating across divides, thus bringing competing narratives together into a shared story. This ambivalence presents an op...

by UNESCO UNESCO | On 28 Apr 2009

Civil Liberties, an African perspective

The approach of the PUCL to civil liberties issues underlines a crucial understanding: an understanding which has as its base the recognition of the fundamental truth that civil liberties is not a mat...

by Z.M. Yacoob | On 18 Sep 2008

Withdrawal of the Maoists’ unilateral cease-fire:Where does Nepal go?

The government of Nepal took an illegal measure to try the cases under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Ordinance. Under the amendments, all anti-terrorist cases will be heard in-c...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 27 Aug 2008

Offending, Shocking, Disturbing - A Free Press Right? The Annual Press Freedom Round Table Proceedings

There is a tremendous amount of media freedom problems in the world, and there is also a certain time travel backwards in many parts of the world. It is not only true in the new democracies, where we...

by World Association of Newspapers WAN | On 19 Aug 2008

The Chinese Chequer: Split Wide Open in Nepal

Although unilateral ceasefire declared by the Maoists on 3 September 2005 brought down the level of violence, the security forces sought to provoke the Maoists. The security forces and the Maoists hav...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 21 Jul 2008

In the Balance: Press Freedom in South Asia 2007-2008

The challenges for journalists and the media community in South Asia encompass a range of factors that indicate the level of press freedom in any country: Physical attacks, threats and questionable le...

by Sukumar Muralidharan | On 04 May 2008

ICT and Employment Promotion Among Poor Women: How Can We Make It Happen? Some Reflections On Kerala's Experience

This paper deals with the integration of gender in policies relating to information and communication technology to empower socially excluded poor women as producers of this technology. In this contex...

by Mohanan Pillai P | On 25 Mar 2008

Transport: Then, now, and Tomorrow

A historical survey of transport to demonstrate that transport has always been recognised as of paramount importance for the wellbeing of the whole community, that a combination of collective and indi...

by Ralph Harrington | On 01 Feb 2008

Two Indian Birth Anniversaries: The Meteor and the Mahatma

In popular belief, Bhagat Singh and Gandhi occupy two antipodes in India's struggle for freedom – the former representing the young generation impatient to overthrow foreign rule by any means necessar...

by Niranjan Ramakrishnan | On 03 Oct 2007

Defining Human Differences in Biomedicine

An extensive literature reflects millennia of concern over what we humans call ourselves and others. All life sciences are now grappling further with how to categorize and study the nearly infinite po...

by Maggie Brown | On 26 Sep 2007

Policymaking under Globalization Pressures: Reforming Public Utilities in Latin America

To analyse the role of partisan beliefs and interests, this paper focuses on two industries—telecoms and electricity—which have been subject to strong pressures for policy diffusion and thereby are u...

by Maria Victoria Murillo | On 21 Dec 2006

Mahatma Gandhi and the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Strategic Civil Disobedience and Great Britain’s Great Loss of Empire in India

This paper examines the relationship between statutory monopoly and collective action as a multi-person assurance game culminating in an end to British Empire in India. In a simple theoretical model,...

by Chowdhury Irad Ahmed Siddiky | On 27 Nov 2006

A Medium Besieged: Legitimisation of Film Censorship In Post-colonial India

The British introduced film censorship in India and fostered it as an unmitigated instrument of coercion to stifle proper dissemination of film culture among members of a subject race. Rulers of indep...

by SOMESWAR BHOWMIK | On 24 Jan 2006