governance

The resignation of the Pope, courage and Italian politics

You may have faith or not. You may be religious or not. You may follow the church precepts or not, it does not matter. The announcement of the Pope’s resignation as of 28. February is something that will be in the history books for many years (centuries) to come. Growing up in Italy you just […]

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A new Italian word I discovered today and the connections it made in my mind

Today I received an email from a friend and learned a new Italian word: oblatività. In English? Something like: altruism, selflessness, unselfishness. The origin of this word is in the Latin words such as oblativu(m), oblatus which means something like giving without the expectation of getting something back. If you Google it, you will find

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Evidence gone missing in the Italian election campaign show

Paul Krugman has written in his End This Depression Now! ‘In normal times, the latest academic research plays a very small role in real-world policy debates, which is arguably how it should be – in the heat of the political moment, how many policy makers are truly equipped to evaluate the quality of a professor’s

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More is emerging about the role of the scientists in the event of the earthquake at L\’Aquila

The newspaper La Repubblica is conducting a investigation about the responsibilities within the Department of Civil Protection in the event of the earthquake at l\’ Aquila. Here is what is emerging from the  investigation and analysis of the documentation (now public) collected by the judges: ‘It \’s the end of March 2009, the city of Abruzzo hostage for four months of shocks measuring up to 4.1 on the Richter scale

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Six years of jail to scientists for L\’Aquila earthquake. Trial against science?

Six Italian scientists have been found guilty for having given insufficient warning to residents of L’Aquila about the seismic risks they faced ahead of earthquake that hit the city in the night of 6 of April 2009.  The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 and caused 309 deaths, more than 1.500 injured and more than

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Failed public state? Failed welfare society?

I liked Michelle Obama at the Democratic Convention. I found it honest and truthful. Commentators said that she held the people at the Time Warner Arena in Charlotte in the palm of her hand. That can only happen if you speak from the hearth, with your feelings. What surprised me the most was the story of her father

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New AusAID research strategy 2012016 is now online

The new research strategy of AusAID for the period 2012-16 is now online. AusAID funds research to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development. Good research leads to greater development effectiveness and AusAID has been a strong supporter of practical, policy-relevant social science research into development challenges. This strategy outlines AusAID\’s approach to delivering an effective

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Just published with the World Bank – Assessment of the delivery of the Vietnam development report 2010 : modern institutions and its impact on policy debates around institutional reforms in Vietnam – final report

Download the report at the World Bank website: http://bit.ly/LNOJZ1 The Vietnam Development Reports (VDR) is a series of reports, which have been published by the World Bank resident mission since 2002, and focus on key development issues for Vietnam. The VDRs aim at tapping into existing knowledge, achieving an \’upstream harmonization\’ so that donors can engage with

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