Some campaigns make people more likely to pay a bribe COMMENT | NIC CHEESEMAN & CARYN PEIFFER | Donors and civil society groups spend tens of millions of dollars every year trying to combat corruption. They do it because corruption has been shown to increase poverty and inequality while undermining trust …
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Trump seems determined to unleash chaos and liberal democracies must prepare to defend themselves COMMENT | CHRIS PATTERN | Not since World War II has the free world been more uncertain about American leadership. US President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on allies like Canada and Mexico shows that. …
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Most people mistakenly assumed that the age of empires had been relegated to the dustbin of history COMMENT | ERIC STORM | Over the past few weeks the new U.S. president, Donald Trump, has repeatedly claimed that the United States should “take back” the Panama Canal and that it should assume …
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After watching business take over the US government, the only alternative is to abandon any pretense of democracy COMMENT | KATHRINA PISTOR | For decades, we have been told that government-operated businesses are bad for the economy. A staple of the “Washington Consensus” that emerged in the 1980s was that “private …
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Ancient philosopher Plato may have an answer to why only those skilled in statecraft should rule the unskilled COMMENT | MATTHEW DUNCOMBE | The Republic, the best-known work of ancient Greek philosopher Plato, authored around 375BC, has shaped western political thought. Greece is now known as the “cradle of democracy”. Not …
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Museveni, who on coming to power in 1986 proclaimed that African leaders stayed in office for far too long, is still there COMMENT | CHRISTOPHER CLAPHAM | The magic moment in the life of a victorious guerrilla insurgency comes when it finally seizes the capital of the state for which it has …
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Meta’s big changes in how the company addresses misinformation mean the dynamics that shape it are about to worsen COMMENT | COLIN M. FISHER | Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced big changes in how the company addresses misinformation across Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Instead of relying on independent …
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America has long viewed the continent mainly through the lens of corporate interests and that’s unlikely to change COMMENT | ADEKEYE ADEBAJO | U.S. President Joe Biden’s end of 2024 trip to Angola was only his second to Africa, following his appearance at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference in …
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COMMENT | JORDAN DDUNGU | In a bold and vigorous statement, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of President Yoweri Museveni, has called upon Ugandans to unite against the corruption plaguing the nation’s Parliament. His call for a protest next month is not just a political statement; it is a plea for justice …
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Discontinuing its independent, third-party, fact-checking program doesn’t bode well for fight against misinformation COMMENT | NED WATT & OTHERS | Meta has announced it will abandon its fact-checking program, starting in the United States. It was aimed at preventing the spread of online lies among more than 3 billion people who …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price