Academic papers and books on democracy continue to proliferate.  Mainstream western opinion supports views such as: • Rapid economic development quickens democratisation. • The liberal democratic path is the only sustainable route to modernity. • Non-democratic regimes are necessarily ridden with corruption and cronyism. Two questions which require far more attention than they receive are: • What is meant [...]

 I have blogged before both on negotation and Iran.  A fascinating book by John W Limbert (‘Negotiating with Iran’, 2009) brings the two aspects together.  The author spent 33 years in the US Foreign Service, is a fluent Farsi speaker and has taught at the University of Shiraz.  He was a captive at the siege [...]

Problems relating to the South China Sea have been bubbling below the surface for a long time.  However, the public entry of the United States into the arena has brought these problems to the surface. The South China Sea is now being spoken about in China as a “core interest” of its sovereignty: hitherto the [...]

The European Commission launched in 2008 a voluntary register for lobbyists seeking to influence its policymaking.  Interest representation is a legitimate part of a democratic system. The register was established in a Commission effort to enhance public confidence.  The accompanying Code of Conduct is intended to bring more transparency to interest representation, its actors and [...]