The lingering commitment to austerity of leading Western politicians in the face of impending economic tragedy is beyond belief. The dismal science is a sobriquet often wrongly applied to economics, but…
Generation Nothing: Spanish protestors against austerity in Cadiz.
Aleksandra Hadzelek
This week marked the first anniversary of the 15-M movement, a precursor of Occupy movements worldwide.
15-M again mobilised its supporters for a 4-day long program of street protests culminating in a…
Euro group chairman Jean Claude Juncker: "This is nonsense; this is propaganda.”
“I don’t envisage, not even for one second, Greece leaving the euro area. This is nonsense; this is propaganda.”
That’s Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, chairman of the Eurogroup, speaking…
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras would like to seek Greece withdraw from the Eurozone.
EPA/Simela Pantzartzi
Ten days ago, the political landscape in Europe changed profoundly.
Greece voted in the main to elect parties from the far right and far left who are opposed to austerity, and France elected a socialist…
With Greek leaders still unable to form government more than five days after the election, the prospect of Greeks returning to the polls is strengthening.
The democratic executions of Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Lucas Papademos in Greece means the body count of European leaders guillotined by angry electorates has risen to 12.
Sarkozy and Papademos join…
Greek citizens took their frustration out on the ballot box this weekend.
EPA/Orestis Panagiotou
The answer, even though they see over and over again that austerity leads to collapse of the economy, the answer over and over [from politicians] is more austerity.
— Joseph Stiglitz, Asian Financial Forum…
In Ethiopia, the short food supply chain has enabled consumers and food growers to have a direct relationship with each other.
Benjamin Shepherd
Poverty is definitely not some bucolic ideal that we should romanticise. It is ugly, brutal and should be fought against. But there are lessons from the poor that we, in affluent (and frequently complacent…
Satyajit Das: "I think the democratic process and the politics of the world relies on a very fragile construct. One is trust. And trust relies on economic growth."
Supplied
By Kevin Davis, Australian Centre for Financial Studies
Welcome to the latest in our In Conversation series, between risk analyst and author Satyajit Das and Kevin Davis, Research Director of the Australian Centre for Financial Studies.
Satyajit Das is an…
Not so funny…. Portugal is the next vulnerable Euro nation, but it doesn't fit the German-favoured critique of a profligate country unwilling to undertake reforms.
AAP
By Harald Sander, Cologne University of Applied Sciences (CUAS)
Greece is rescued, for now…maybe. Perhaps it’s time to move on to the next basket case. So, which of the PIIGS is the next Greece?
For the moment, Portugal looks to be the front-runner. The country’s…
Protests rocked Athens as Greek legislators voted to accept a tough austerity package. So what now for the Greek people?
AAP
As Greek politicians approved a tough austerity package amid fierce protests, one question dominates: is an orderly exit from the Eurozone available for Greece? And just what might be the consequences…
The eurozone crisis is moving beyond "spendthrift" countries in need of rescue, to the rescuers themselves.
AAP
By Harald Sander, Cologne University of Applied Sciences (CUAS)
Early this week, sovereign bonds spreads for France and other Euro-core countries peaked.
Around noon on Tuesday the spreads on French and Austrian 10-year government bonds exceeded the German bund rate…
Former EU commissioner Mario Monti will form government in Italy as Silvio Berlusconi exits.
AAP
Is the Eurozone about to crash and burn, leaving Club Med in its wake? Not so fast.
Reports have suggested that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have discussed a strategic…
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he will resign after losing parliamentary support.
AAP
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appears set to become the largest political casualty so far of the Eurozone’s continuing inability to resolve its massive sovereign debt problems.
Berlusconi…
The Greek Prime MInister is on the way out, but the new government has a lot of work still to do.
AFP/Aris Messinis
The Greek Prime Minister will resign in an effort to save the bailout deal agreed by the European Union to dig the country out of its debt crisis.
George Papandreou agreed to go following talks with the…
Greece's tough austerity measures have been unpopular with citizens.
AAP
Greece’s cabinet has given unanimous backing to Prime Minister George Papandreou’s plan for a referendum on the government’s austerity program.
Papendreou emerged from talks with fellow EU leaders at…
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will use the referendum to try to win a mandate for austerity measures.
AAP
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has taken the bold step of planning a referendum on the country’s EU-imposed austerity measures, in a bid to claim a mandate for his efforts to avoid a default on…
The first free elections borne from the Arab Spring were held in Tunisia. Over 90% of registered adults voted.
EPA/Zacarias Garcia
It has been a tumultuous week in the life and times of democracy in the Mediterranean. Seven days punctuated by joyous hope and its ugly opposite, sullen despair.
The promising news came from Tunisia…
The Occupy movement: different agendas, but united by the right to civil disobedience.
The “Occupy” movement has swept the world in the last five weeks, as seems appropriate in this year of demonstrations by people tired of a clapped-out status quo.
Of course, the Occupy movement is quite…
A 40% public hospital budget cut has restricted access to care.
AAP
Another round of violent protests erupted in Greece last week, following the latest austerity cuts to public service jobs and pay. Meanwhile, the creeping consequences of austerity measures are beginning…
If Greece's economy collapses, it could easily lead to a breakdown of civil order.
AAP
Global markets look set for a rough week amid new concerns that Greece could default on its massive debt.
The Australian share market has spent most of the day down 3% after reports that Germany could…
Nicolas Sarkozy, Christine Lagarde and Angela Merkel share a joke at Thursday's Greece bailout talks.
AAP
European leaders signed off on a second, 109 billion euro bailout for Greece overnight, while also establishing what has been described as an “infant monetary fund” to intervene if the bloc’s sovereign…
Thursday's make-or-break EU finance ministers meeting looks set to be a highly charged affair.
AAP
As Margaret Thatcher’s trade minister in the 1980s, Norman Tebbit devoted much of his time to dealing with the European Community – the precursor to the European Union. Routinely, at meetings in Brussels…
Many Greeks are ashamed by what has happened to their country.
EPA/Orestis Panagiotou
Athens is no longer considered by scholars as the birthplace of democracy but all of a sudden it has become the epicentre of a powerful political earthquake rocking the foundations of every democracy in…
"Indignado" protests prove a headache for Spain's politicians but won't threaten a greater Europe.
AAP
As international markets react to the unrest in Greece amid fears of contagion, mass protests have also continued in fellow European Union member country, Spain.
This protest movement, called the “indignant…
Despite attempts at regulatory reform, ratings agencies still act with little threat of litigation.
AAP
Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greece’s sovereign debt rating by three notches on Monday, reflecting its view that it would be next to impossible to imagine a scenario where the country could restructure…
Greece would be better off defaulting on its debt than languishing under tough austerity measures.
AAP
A poll of international investors last month found that 85% expect Greece to default on its debt this year. As market expectations go, that is very high.
Moody’s has since downgraded Greece’s already…
