Divorce, the European way

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

In September there'll be an independence referendum in Scotland. And a couple of months later, another one in Catalunya. Secessionist movements are usually full of emotion and a desire for self-determination, but they're mainly driven by economic motivations - as is exactly the case with Catalunya and Scotland.

It seems the more prosperous regions are usually more prone to wanting independence. It's true that seceding could bring a drastic increase of social expenditure and extra taxes as a side effect, but the scope of that increase largely depends on the capital flows between the seceding region and the metropoly. There's nothing surprising in the fact that the presence of natural resources is often an important triggering factor for secession aspirations. If these resources occupy a relatively significant share of a region's exports, the probability for a secessionist push increases respectively. For example in Scotland the independence movement has gained momentum after the 60s when large oil deposits were found in the North Sea.

( Read more... )

Erdogan's uphill battle

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Erdogan's government is probably going through some of its toughest crises right now, and just a few days before the Turkish local elections on Sunday. If you remember, last May, people took to the streets, triggered by the plans to build up the Gezi park in central Istanbul. Well, the protests against Erdogan haven't stopped ever since.

Even this month, people are flocking to the streets and squares across the country almost every week. They insist for resignations. Most of Erdogan's critics believe the reasons are pretty clear: it all started with the corruption scandal in December, when a number of high-ranking politicians and businessmen were arrested, including the sons of several of Erdogan's ministers. The charges were serious: bribery, illegal deals, trading gold with Iran, illicit income from shady building projects, things like that. And Erdogan responded the only way he knew: he began cleansing the courts and the police, and vowed to block the social networks, as if that'd somehow shut the mouths and minds of his people. Many top police officials, prosecutors and judges were fired or demoted, or moved to remote corners of the country, to stay out of sight of the mighty father of the nation.

( Scandals galore! )