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Impermanence
Bamiyan, Afghanistan—December 12 Nothing lasts forever, not even a good government. After more than three decades of conflict, violence, and extreme poverty, many Afghans hesitate to trust outsiders....
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It’s complicated
I have just returned from Jerusalem. It was my first visit to this part of the Middle East, and now I see why people always say that you have to go there to get an idea of what it is really like. It is...
View ArticleThe Yemen Challenge
Last month’s High Level Donor Meeting on Yemen in London reminded the international community once more that we have to support this country in need.Yemen is in trouble. A worrying mix of...
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What the %*$& happened here?
Gaza City, January 9, 2010"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit. "No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along...
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Trapped
Gaza City, January 10, 2010In our WDR Concept Note, we have written about an ‘expectations trap’. We argue that persistent violence and disappointment at efforts to tackle it can fracture peoples’...
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I Can’t See You
Jerusalem, January 15. 2010“War…yes, everyone knows what war is like. But occupation is more terrible in a way, because people get used to one another. We tell ourselves, ‘They’re just like us, after...
View ArticleReturn to Gaza
In my last few blogs I have been writing about a visit to the West Bank & Gaza in January of this year. The WDR 2011 is looking at how peoples' expectations can affect the course of a conflict, and...
View ArticleDemocracy and the foundations of legitimacy
This post is part of a series of interviews with members of the WDR 2011 Advisory Council.With the ongoing protests and calls for democratic reform in Egypt -- and in other parts of the Arab world --...
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The medium and its message: how new media is changing the dynamic of dissent
Grand old man of the medium Photo: Reckon, Chris WeigeThe role of cell phones and new media in mobilizing people on the streets of Egypt and Tunisia has evinced as much interest in some quarters as...
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Universal principles in revolutionary times
Demonstrating for the right to rightsI remember a Russian diplomat in Geneva in the 1980s telling me that his country believed strongly in the centrality of human rights. It was just that back in...
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Accidental agents of change
In places where conditions are ripe for political change, actually unseating tyrannical regimes requires a spark to light the tinder of revolution. But where does that spark come from? In the...
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