Democracy and Standards

On December 26 1991,  the USSR was officially disbanded and fifteen new countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were created. The chart below marks them with a squiggly red line. Many of the 15  had already formalised declarations of independence before the legal dissolution of the USSR. The parliament of Ukraine had already declared independence in August Eastern Germany ...

After the 2023/24 announcement of new sites, Italy has now got 60 UNESCO world heritage sites  – the largest number of any country. Italy’s newest addition is the 800-kilometer-long Via Appia, the “oldest and most important of the great roads built by the Ancient Romans”, according to UNESCO. China is the runner-up with 59 sites. Two of these, the Beijing ...

The Continentals are engaged in one of their perennial indulgences – being  bossy and dirigiste. From July 7th all new cars sold in  the EU have to have Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology. ISA uses satellite and digital mapping data to judge the speed of vehicles. If the speed is judged excessive, ISA will tell the car to either make ...

It feels like one of those end-of-an-era elections, like when Blair came in, or Thatcher, or Wilson – all individuals with a strong idea of what they wanted to achieve in office. It’s been surprising to me how many people have told me recently they don’t know who they’re going to vote for but they aren’t going to vote Tory. ...

Contrary to the poll projections,  Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took a hit at the election for the 18th Lok Sabha – India’s lower house. Compared to 2019, the BJP lost 63 seats and was 32 seats shy of the 272-seat majority. For the first time since 2014, Modi will have to rely on other parties to secure ...

There has been a “worrying decline in support and respect for media autonomy and an increase in pressure from the state or other political actors” this year, according to the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This is based on the fact that, of the five indicators used to compile the ranking, it is the ...

If you work in Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Jamaica you’re more likely to have a female boss than anywhere else, says the International Labor Organization. The latest data from 2022 and 2023 shows that in Burkina Faso and Nigeria, between 67 percent and 70 percent of all managers are women. Jamaica and Botswana are the only other countries listing more ...

As seen in data by the Council on Foreign Relations, Europe is generally the region with the highest concentration of female-led and repeatedly female-led nations. All the countries which have had three or more female leaders (with the exceptions of Trinidad and Tobago, New Zealand and India) are in Europe. The country which has had the most females at the ...

India has applied to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for two new licenses to explore parts of the Indian Ocean sea bed for minerals, If they are granted, India would hold four contracts, making it the country with the second highest number of active contracts for deep sea  mining exploration projects. China has five contracts according to ISA data  making ...

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) – the EU’s move to rein in the power of big tech companies – went into effect earlier this month. The six-month grace period for the six companies designated as “gatekeepers” ended on March 7th, meaning they now have to comply with the rules set out in the DMA and outline the measures they’ve taken ...