The Internet, Accountability, but not Democracy

Earlier in the week China Beat featured a script from a talk given by Ying Zhu, professor of Media Culture at CUNY Staten Island, at Google’s New York offices. The piece teases at themes to be covered in depth in her upcoming book on China Central Television co-authored with Bruce Robinson. Focusing on recent news stories, Zhu argues that the size of the internet community, an increased access to information and a better-educated citizenry have created what she terms a “critical mass”. This term has three parts: (1) the mass has grown to the point where the Chinese government’s ability to put down a popular rebellion is limited, (2) the mass is able to articulate preferences and force a government response, and (3) the mass forms passive online associations ready to be organized into “active participation” should they be provided a catalyst. Continue reading »

Road trip!

Technically speaking, a plane trip. I am off to Tanzania tomorrow to do a Democracy and Governance assessment for USAID. Basically, I’ll be spending the next three weeks in Tanzania talking to politicians. I sense some good stories coming out of this.

News you might have missed

The State Department needs to send some of its diplomats back to diplomat school.

Bill Easterly says aid workers need to pay more attention to democracy.

There was a coup in Niger yesterday. Yet not all coups are created equal. Democratically-elected Mamadou Tandja dissolved Parliament and the Supreme Court last year when they blocked his efforts to abolish term limits. While the subsequent Parliament ended term limits, its legitimacy is highly questionable as the opposition boycotted the election and voter turnout was just 5%. So while this is clearly a coup, is it a replacing a democratic or non-democratic government? Not clear. To add to the fun, not only is Niger one of the poorest countries in the world, Al Qadea and cocaine traffickers think it’s a great place as well.

Government in a box?

This is a little scary. According to General McChrystal, the post-capture plan for Marjah, the Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan, is government in a box. The Guardian editorial page has looked inside the box and is unimpressed:

So what is in the box? Once the fighting has ended, Isaf has dedicated “district development teams” to move into Marjah. A US team is working alongside a group of Afghan civil servants which the Karzai government is allegedly meant to deploy. To encourage them to serve in what must be a highly risky secondment, their average monthly salary is being quintupled to about $300. Once all this is done, the plan is for the US Agency for International Development to help farmers plant crops by opening up the canal network, a project started by the US half a century ago, but which it has yet to complete. As if that were not enough, Hanif Atmar, the Afghan interior minister, urged elders from Marjah’s main tribes to give him their sons so that he can recruit 1,000 local police officers, whose job will be to keep the Taliban out.

I can see why the editors at The Guardian are skeptical. I am as well. So is Joshua Foust – a real Afghanistan expert – at Registan.net:

Which brings us back to the discussion about civilian casualties above. Considering how ISAF was embarrassingly unable to figure out why or how it was going to handle the civilians in Marjeh, right up to their inability to postbelievable or consistent population estimates, I’m left with the same thought I had two weeks ago, when ISAF signaled they were really serious about Marjeh this time: what’s the end game? Simply throwing an expatriate Helmandi who lived in Germany for 15 years into the mix – which is the current plan – doesn’t actually address the serious shortcomings the military-led governance issues have had.

Meanwhile, the civilians continue to bear the brunt of this offensive: the Coalition is destroying the barely functioning Taliban “shadow” government in the area, and so far their plan for a viable replacement haven’t moved beyond the vaguest of platitudes. Please, I am begging the readers here: if you know of some plan to leave something functioning in ISAF’s wake, something Afghan-led with a realistic chance of lasting once the 10,000 (or whatever) troops have to leave this tiny area, please let me know about it. Because right now it looks like they’re fighting with no end game in mind. And that’s pretty scary.

I guess there’s always luck…

Happy Birthday Kim Jong-il!

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea celebrates its dear leader’s birthday today (or yesterday due to the time difference). Kim Jong-il turned 68, which seems surprisingly young given the poor state of his health in recent months. News of North Korea’s first ice sculpture festival on Mt. Baekdu reportedly overshadowed celebrations of the Lunar New Year on Sunday. Synchronized swimming, a flower festival and treats for children were included among the festivities. Aso, breaking with tradition, officials called for dialogue with the United States rather than voicing harsh anti-American rhetoric as in years past.

Mr. Kim did not attend his own birthday celebration, much of his time is now spent behind the scenes. Some of that time is said to be spent promoting the rise of his son Kim Jong-un. Reports indicate that Kim Jung-un now controls the finances of the party and is responsible for the ouster of officials deemed responsible for the disastrous currency policy two months ago (though as a piece by Andrei Lankov points out, succession is still far from certain and reports remain highly speculative).

North Koreans were not alone in marking the occasion. In Yangon, Lieutenant General Tin Aye celebrated alongside the North Korean ambassador. News of the meeting was carried in the official state newspaper The New Light of Myanmar. The friendly birthday greetings are an innocuous reminder of growing ties between the two countries. It is suspected that the junta is attempting to become a nuclear power and North Korea is likely vital in these efforts. In a stranger example of cooperation, photos surfaced last summer of tunnels being built in Myanmar with the aid of North Korean experts.

South Korean activists also took part in the birthday celebrations, sending the dear leader large balloons carrying 20,000 flyers ridiculing the dictator, some small radios and dollar bills. As the balloons floated toward the border the activists shouted “down with the dictator!” I think most of us can get behind this sentiment and wish that the dear leader’s future celebrations are anything but happy for him and his cronies.