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Speck, Ulrich
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2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
The year of freedom
The year 2011 brought the downfall of several despotic rulers in the Arab world. What happens next remains uncertain but it is clear that a new attitude of civil disobedience has taken hold, writes journalist Ulrich Speck in the liberal-conservative Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "The transition from protesting subject to responsible citizen is a long one; we have known this since the French Revolution. And those who would keep their grip on power may have made a tactical withdrawal, but they can't be written off yet. ... In view of the communication revolution and the growing comparability of living conditions it entails, people are less and less willing to let themselves be intimidated by leaders. ... The message of 2011 is: no dictator is safe from his citizens any more."
» more information (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Human rights, » Unrest / Riots, » Global
Petro-politics at the G8 summit
Against the background of the G8 summit, Ulrich Speck analyses the laws of petro-politics, which govern not only Vladimir Putin's Russia but also Hugo Chavez' Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran. "Autocratic rulers are securing their access to their countries' energy revenues. They weaken the power of the civilian population and remove democratic restrictions on their power. They give their countries an illusory economic boom that is not based on success on the free market – income generated by hard work – but on the high price of petroleum and natural gas, on what we call supplementary revenues. By transferring wealth to the privileged, they buy support for their governments and legitimise them through pseudo-democratic procedures… Although we're accustomed to regarding energy as an economic asset, these new autocracies force us to see our energy supply from a political point of view – and to act accordingly."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Energy, » Global
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