The RSC BLOG offers a new series of informal publications on various issues of relevance, in both English and Armenian.
Unlike our peer-reviewed publications, RSC Blog entries are shorter, less academic and more opinion-oriented, aimed at offering a “rapid response” analytical assessment of timely events and developments.
23 December 2012
An interesting new book, by Justin Yifu Lin, on development economics: “The Quest for Prosperity: How Developing Economies Can Take Off.” Lin advances a hybrid approach to the issues--a middle way between the neoliberal emphasis on markets and prices and the structuralist emphasis on market failures and government intervention. He calls it “new structuralism.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-18/an-economics-masterpiece-you-should-be-reading-now.html
12 december 2012
New, forthcoming (sometime in 2013) book of note, no title yet, by author Malcolm Gladwell, writer for the New Yorker and the author of bestselling books “The Tipping Point” and “Outliers,” will release a new book from Little, Brown in 2013. Its topic? Power.
In interviews, Gladwell was vague on the specifics but said he is “very interested in the foibles of the powerful.”
He also discussed the Occupy (Wall Street) movement in the US, one of the primary influences on this next book:
“...It’s the beginning of something. It’s the opening salvo. What they’re tapping into is something very profound, which is a level of frustration, a genuine level of anger and frustration with the way our society is organized, and the imbalances in the economic inequality and the imbalances in power and the way that the political system has been hijacked by special interests. These are all, particularly in the United States, less so here, but these are all profoundly important issues that absolutely, I think, will find some more coherent voice. This is going to be going on for years. I think it’s foolish to pass judgment on Occupy after six months…”
http://www.bookpage.com/the-book-case/2012/03/15/malcolm-gladwell-on-power-in-2013-book/
.1 September 2012
For most Armenians, both in Armenia and throughout the diaspora, the sad, tragic plight of neglected Armenians churches, monuments and other architectural treasures in Turkey (and Georgia) continue to be a serious concern, shouldn't there be equally vocal concern over the unacceptable conditions facing Armenian historical legacy of churches and monuments within Armenia itself?
Isn't it time for the Armenian government to address this issue?
It is often only due to the solo efforts of Armenian architectural specialist Samvel Karapetyan that these issues are raised.
Moreover, there needs to be continued pressure on the unacceptable abuses of Buzant and Northern Avenues, where residents have been evicted and historical building are regularly razed, rather than preserved or protected.....
.1 September 2012
A recent Hurriyet Daily News piece (1 September 2012) on Syria, “Syrian rebels: Too fragmented, unruly,” offers valuable insight and analysis, by an impressive and talented Turkish journalist, Ipek Yezdani, who has been to Armenia many times and already has a very serious body of work on Armenian-Turkish normalization.
1 September 2012
Turkish and Russian authorities quarreled over the future of Syria during a meeting in Ankara on August 30 when Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu received Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Vladimir Ivanovsky, in front of cameras. Ivanovsky was cut off by Eroğlu when answering questions regarding future action in Syria, leading the diplomats to exchange barbs.
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