Monday 29 July 2013

Cambodia elections - were they fair?



According to CNN - opposition leaders have rejected the results of the latest elections in Cambodia
Here are some recomended resources analysing the situation.
The official website of the National Election committee has news, results and background on the electoral system in English.

Human Rights watch has argued that systematic problems have undermined the elections.
Amnesty International has discussed freedom of expression.
Transparency international Cambodia has been observing the elections. Its website has discussion of corruption in the area.
The Asian Network for Free Elections- has also expressed its concerns. Its website has news, statements and other reports on current and past elections.
The Committee for fair and free elections in Cambodia also has resources - at present the English language site seems to be down. but it usually has reports on the state of democracy
The Cambodia center for independent media has reports on the state of the media in the run up to the elections.
NDI has details of its work in strengthening democracy in the region.
East Asia Forum has some assessments from academics prior to the elections.
Friedrich boll siftung - has a special file with academic papers proving background
A useful daily summary of events can be found on the Cambodia elections 2013 blog
another useful news site is the Cambodia Information center









Monday 22 July 2013

Japan elections - why do they matter?

This weekend Japanese elections took place. for background information on the electroal system and previous results see the IPU website. also useful is this guide from UC Irvine which directs users to sources of data on past elections

The Japan Real Time Blog (from the Wall Street Journal) - posed the question of why they matter. Read the answer and further discussion on the blog
The University of Warwick also has some discussion
other useful think tanks which discuss and have full text papers on Japanese politics include:
East Asia Forum - from National Bureau of Economic Research
ISN Zurich has articles on Japanese politics and security
CSIS - Japan research
Heritage Foundation.
Rand research
Council on Foreign relationsBrookings Institution Japan research
The Harvard Business school has a Japan research center which focusses on economic issues.
Pew Research Center has some recent polls on attitudes in Japan.


Japanese press discussion of the same issues can be found on
Real Time Politics.jp
Yomiuri Shimbun:
Asahi Shimbun