My short post on the Nobel Peace Prize for the Tunisian quartet [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/tunisian-national-dialogue-quartet-laureates-of-2015-nobel-peace-prize/] is better understood with the post by Dan Smith: http://dansmithsblog.com/2015/10/13/the-tunisian-spring-and-the-nobel-peace-prize/.
Posts Tagged ‘Dan Smith’
More on the Tunisian winners of the Nobel Peace Prize
October 13, 2015Follow on YouTube very interesting debate on Syria and media organised by International Alert
September 20, 2013While not directly dealing with Human Rights Defenders, I want to share with you this fascinating debate organised by International Alert.
As Syria stays in the news, Read the rest of this entry »
The state of the States: understanding fragile states
February 22, 2013On 22 February 2013 Dan Smith published a post on his blog on the ‘state of States’. While not directly touching on human rights defenders, it gives in few words an excellent overview of the formation and deformation of States which provide much of the power and abuse that human rights defenders struggle against. I summarize some of the main issues here, but urge you to read the full text:
First he points out that most states are relatively new. By 1900 there were just 48 states in our modern sense of the term. In the years either side of World War I, with the break-up of the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires, there was considerable state-making. Even so, the UN was founded by just 51 states. Today, 193 states make up the UN, the newest being South Sudan in July 2011.
- From 48 to 193 (recognised states, that is) – from The State of the World atlas Read the rest of this entry »