Jane Martin, Executive Manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition in Australia, examines the challenges faced in tackling the obesity epidemic in the context of a lax regulatory framework and a constant stream of junk food… [Read more]
The Value of a Master of Public Administration
I recently graduated from the Executive Master of Public Administration at the Hertie School of Governance. Almost immediately after graduation, I was offered a consulting contract to manage a project with the mandate to establish… [Read more]
Franchising Violence: How Boko Haram Became the Local ISIS Affiliate
On January 8th 2015, reports of the killing of some 2000 civilian Nigerians started to trickle in from the northern Nigerian state of Borno. The Sunni Islamic insurgency, Boko Haram, was blamed in what has… [Read more]
Should German Foundations be Operative and Innovative?
Recently, I have found myself reflecting on an interesting phenomenon that I observed interacting with various German foundations and listening to the various discourses in this sector. Foundations in Germany seem to nurture an ambition… [Read more]
Are Non-Tariff Barriers the New Walls to Trade? A Case Analysis from Argentina and Ecuador
Non-Tariffs Measures (NTMs) have become relevant instruments of protection in countries that have traditionally protected specific economic sectors from international trade. This recent development is a result of the reduction or elimination of import tariffs… [Read more]
The Great Firewall of China
One quarter of a century after the concrete wall in Berlin was torn down, new walls arise daily. These new 21st century walls are virtual in nature, yet their effect is quite real. So-called ‘firewalls’… [Read more]
Open Government: A New Way of Governing?
In the past few years the idea of opening traditional practices of government to its citizens has played an increasingly dominant role in politics and election campaigns. The hope is to allow citizens to play… [Read more]
Identity and Consumption
You are what you consume, right? What do identity and consumption have to do with each other? Pretty much everything. People affirm their individuality through lifestyles, which are fundamentally an ensemble of consumption patterns: wearing… [Read more]
Identity and War
What if we understand war not as a direct exercise of power but as a way to establish meaning through which power is exercised? Both war and language, as well as other practices like culture… [Read more]
The Future of Labour in Nursing — a Question of Life and Death
The nursing sector is fundamentally different from other sectors in its unique relationship between management, workers, and customers. Research has merely begun tackling this difference within the last years. Yet, as David Scheller-Kreinsen and Britta… [Read more]