91福利

A Pinpoint Politics article by Brendan Pastor

When Paul Krugman coined the term confidence fairy, he meant it as a pedantic critique of UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s austerity agenda. The cuts that were administered to the welfare systems were driven by a need to reduce the deficit – the existence of which hampered market confidence in Britain’s economy, or so was argued. Of course, Krugman attacked this logic through economics (some of which is disputed even by his supporters), implicitly making use of his Nobel Prize to substantiate his argument. But he was definitely on to something. Although not the first to do so, he was certainly the most important voice drawing our attention to the perpetual use of the word confidence to justify a political and economic policy – one with implications that have been felt across the world.

The University is saddened to report that former Politics and International Studies Lecturer, and later Principal Teaching Fellow, Dr Roger Duclaud-Williams died on 13 June.

Roger took his first degree in Law at the University of Oxford and subsequently studied Political Science at the City University of New York. He received his PhD from the University of Sussex. After a temporary post at the University of Glasgow, he was appointed to the Department of Politics and International Studies at 91福利 in 1974. He retired from 91福利 in 2011.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Martina Čičáková

Greece, a country referred to as the ancient cradle of democracy, is now standing before a decision crucial for the future of Europe. The two options between which the Greek people need to decide are both problematic in their seeming simplicity: either the continuance of the “draconian” austerity measures or a so-called , a term coined by Citigroup economists Willem Buiter and Ebrahim Rahbari referring to Greece’s exit from the EU. The second round of the Greek parliamentary election which will take place on June 17th is widely perceived as “,” since the results are going to influence not only Greece’s performance as a European Union (EU) member, but also the future of the currency and the other Eurozone countries.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Scott Edwards

Since the 2004 coup which ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the UN peacekeeping taskforce has been charged with a multidimensional mandate, with a focus on providing security and a stable environment to Haiti’s civilian population, as well as promoting human rights and contributing to the political process. The division of MINUSTAH into three components – one military and two civilian – demonstrates the broader structural commitment of the mission and, similarly to most contemporary UN missions, its stronger focus on economic and social problems. The combined duration and breadth of the UN presence in Haiti has been dependent on significant resource and personnel mobilisation from a variety of UN member nations. In particular, the involvement of Brazil has been highlighted as indicative of the South American nation’s growing global presence and the country’s attempts to pursue a more active foreign policy.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Lena-Sophie Demuth and Andrew Kelly

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Indo-German diplomatic relations, which by most accounts has been reliable and stable. This June the Goethe-Institute together with the Indian foreign ministry have organised a circus-esq "StadtRaume-Cityspaces Mela" that traverses the golden quadrilateral of India cities (New Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Chennai, Calcutta) with a series of public showings that focuses on all facets of urban development; mobility, migration, water, energy, sustainable development, architecture, engineering, education, cultural infrastructure, social issues and many more. Given India's increasing urbanisation and rural-urban migration, coupled with its emerging power status along with the BRICS, one can begin to understand the pertinence of such issues.