Category Archives: Politics – international

Observations, lessons, and predictions for the Catalan situation

Posted on October 10, 2017 by Paul Frijters

[cross-posted, slightly updated, from Pearls and Limitations] Observations: About 40% of the population of Catalonia and its capital Barcelona was not born there, but largely comes from the rest of Spain. Internal migration is high, with about 0.4% of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Ethics, History, Immigration and refugees, Inequality, Life, Media, Politics - international, Social Policy, Society, Theatre | 4 Comments

Is Catholicism in rude health? 2017 edition

Posted on September 14, 2017 by Paul Frijters

Looking at the newspapers you’d think Catholicism is having a hard time with philandering priests and cover-ups of their doings being found out on a weekly basis. In Australia, the royal commission has uncovered a lot of systematically covered-up child … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and Architecture, Bullshit, Cultural Critique, Dance, Death and taxes, Ethics, Geeky Musings, History, Humour, Libertarian Musings, Miscellaneous, Politics - international, Religion, Society, WOW! - Amazing | 9 Comments

Selection by lot and international relations

Posted on September 12, 2017 by Nicholas Gruen

Selection by lot is a simple idea, so it’s not surprising that it can be useful in many situations. Whenever I see institutional dysfunction or idiocy, I think “how could selection by lot improve things?” In a discussion last week with the … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Political theory, Politics - international | 6 Comments

Down with Presidentialism: Guest post by Mike Pepperday

Posted on September 8, 2017 by Nicholas Gruen

People disappointed with democratic outcomes often call for better education of the citizenry. But the democracies began, and flourished, in the nineteenth century, when people were quite poorly educated. They proved resilient and backsliding only seems to occur where democracy … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Political theory, Politics - international | 22 Comments

Some Game of Thrones Season 8 speculation

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Paul Frijters

Let me indulge, purely for entertainment value, in some fan-speculation on what we will see on-screen after the Long Night is over and the final 6 episodes Of Game of Thrones are run in 2019. Let me first talk about … Continue reading →

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Today in history: Remembering the surprisingly tenable North Korean ICBM emergency

Posted on July 26, 2017 by David Walker

Many hundreds of hours ago now, our foreign affairs community and parts of our media were consumed by the North Korean ICBM emergency. Hard to believe in these modern times, but true! Time for a special Club Troppo look back … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics - international | 5 Comments

You get what you pay for: MP’s edition

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Nicholas Gruen

Does It Matter How and How Much Politicians are Paid? by Duha T. Altindag, Elif S. Filiz, Erdal Tekin – #23613 (LS POL) Abstract: An important question in representative democracies is how to ensure that politicians behave in the best … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Political theory, Politics - international | 1 Comment