whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

1. When no-one is held accountable, everyone suffers
(Analysis/Analysis)

...untable – has catastrophic consequences that ripple out far further than you can predict. Kenya's elections have resulted in violent conflict stemming from the failure of two men to agree o...

2. Of Chiefs and Presidents
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nt and poverty levels are high. 1990 saw his best friend Edgar Tekere stand against him in the presidential elections, an early sign of opposition to the iron fist rule of the man. 2008 sees him face...

3. Zimbabwe's winds of change are blowing once more
(Analysis/Analysis)

...rums of economic and political shambles, Zimbabweans have surrendered themselves to the fate of the upcoming elections. Anything short of an overwhelming Mugabe defeat spells continuing trauma for a p...

4. Simba the Saviour?
(Analysis/Analysis)

For 28 years, the Zimbabwean ruling party, Zanu PF, has campaigned using the same old slogan, "We liberated this country." Thank you very much for your efforts, now liberate us by stepping

5. "Be sure, we will be watching you," the other GB and the pursuit of social justice
(Analysis/Analysis)

...e decision about what to do." Speaking to the ANC on the run-up to South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Bizos said, "We gave the Nationalist government a good go. Many of...

6. Do you hate the poor enough to be charitable?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...y. Thousands can be made homeless. This happens every winter. Since 1994, when we had our first democratic elections, the scale of informal settlements has grown exponentially. People have flocked ...

7. Nigeria, or the idiots guide to stealing an election
(Analysis/Analysis)

... of millions of dollars in order to become Alexander VI, the 215th Catholic Pope. In comparison to Nigerian elections, he got in cheap. Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua is rumoured to have spent more than ...

8. Sarkozy's French Election: when elephants fight only the grass gets trampled
(Analysis/Analysis)

There is an African saying that, "When elephants fight only the grass gets trampled." It eloquently expresses the despair that ordinary people feel when the people who claim to represent the

9. Racial arguments muddy human rights and the ending of poverty
(Analysis/Analysis)

...long as they are solved. Right now the South African government has squandered the goodwill of the peaceful elections in 1994 as glibly as the United States discarded their support after the terroris...

10. The Last King, the Centralised State, and Democracy
(Analysis/Analysis)

...s have an any more sophisticated approach to dealing with barbarous regimes. Democracy is not about regular elections and a centralised state.  What it is about is the redistribution of power to...

11. The ANC government of South Africa declares its comfort with violence and brutality
(Analysis/Analysis)

...il.  Now they have the opportunity to pitch their own vision to the world. In 1990 Aung San Suu Kyi won elections in (then) Burma decisively.  She was immediately detained and placed under h...