Abu Aardvark: Heydemann: Upgrading Arab Authoritarianism
Regimes learn from one another, often through explicit sharing of experiences. I would also argue that regimes learn from the US. They use our words and our domestic policy as models for their own, and for rhetorical cover.

Next Stop: Turkmenistan Turkmenistan being mentioned as an investment option (admittedly a high-risk option) for the average investor. Turkmenbashi’s death is opening a lot of doors.

The Monkey Cage Looks like fun – a whole miscellany of entries and links on various political topics.

It’s possible that my stint at IMC has turned me into a relief worker and not just a development beaucrat. I don’t have to pay attention to the war zones for work any more, but I find I do anyway. This guy seems to have been in every conflict zone worth mentioning, and he somehow remains simultaneously genuinely concerned and flippant. I am addicted to the archives already.

It’s possible that my stint at IMC has turned me into a relief worker and not just a development beaucrat. I don’t have to pay attention to the war zones for work any more, but I find I do anyway. This guy seems to have been in every conflict zone worth mentioning, and he somehow remains simultaneously genuinely concerned and flippant. I am addicted to the archives already.

It’s possible that my stint at IMC has turned me into a relief worker and not just a development beaucrat. I don’t have to pay attention to the war zones for work any more, but I find I do anyway. This guy seems to have been in every conflict zone worth mentioning, and he somehow remains simultaneously genuinely concerned and flippant. I am addicted to the archives already.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060808222704/bostonreview.net/ndf.html

Go read this entire set of pieces on better data use in anti-poverty work. It’s one of those wonderful resources you could only find on the web. An initial article, the responses, and the author’s reply. It’s also full of useful thinking on how we choose what interventions to fund.