Suchergebnisse

Between Nov 2003 & Jun 2004, Georgia experienced several dramatic political events. President Eduard Shevardnadze was ousted in a peaceful revolt that was subsequently dubbed the 'Rose Revolution.' He was replaced by a trio of young politicians with the charismatic 35-year-old Mikheil Saakashvili at the helm. The article argues that the actual change was less deep than it was presented in the international media, & that it primarily constituted a youth rebellion within the ethnically Georgian elite in the country's capital, Tbilisi. The new generation of leaders faces a range of pressing problems, in particular corruption & the disintegration of the Georgian state. Several high-profile arrests have been carried out & the renegade republic Adjara was brought back into the fold when Tbilisi won a standoff with its corrupt leader, Asian Abashidze. Problems such as the separatist movement in Abkhazia will, however, be far more difficult to solve. There is a danger that Saakashvili's regime will proceed too fast, be sidetracked by vendettas against old enemies or fail to consolidate democracy. At the moment, however, this is one of the most promising governments in the former Soviet Union. 28 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article takes an in-depth look at the controversy surrounding initiatives to eliminate poverty in developing countries. While analysis of the problem necessarily assumes an international perspective, special attention is given here to the role that Norway -- as a European country made wealthy by its natural resources -- is to play in the effort to advance underdeveloped regions. A review of existing critical literature reveals a commonly held view that the most detrimental problems arise because of the inability to control what happens to aide money given to impoverished nations that are often run by corrupt power groups that use the money to consolidate their own power. As much research has demonstrated, world contributions to developing areas over the past decades have failed to produce the expected results, which again signals that the dilemma of under-developed areas is rooted in their internal organization & collective incentives. Several perspectives on this issue are reviewed here to pronounce the moral question assumed by many where Norway is concerned, namely if a country made wealthy by something that it has not "earned" per se should continue to support an aide mechanism that is shown by many analyses to be unsustainable. The stakes & alternatives in this debate are discussed here in detail. C Brunski