Explaining global voter participation rates and unraveling austerity's long history

November 1, 2012

View the story "Worldview 11.01.12" on StorifyWorldview 11.01.12Explaining global voter turnout rates and unraveling austerity's long historyStorified by · Thu, Nov 01 2012 08:15:50Voter participation around the worldAccording to a new Galluppoll, U.S. voters are less enthusiastic about voting than in either of the lasttwo presidential elections. Why voter turnout in 2012 is likely to be downWith less than a week to go in the 2012 election, voters are less enthusiastic about casting ballots than they were in either of the last...Voter turnout in 2004 and2008 elections was held to at least 57 percent, while countries likeBelgium and Australia average well over 90 percent turnout. Blogspot

Continuing our week-longcomparison of democracies around the world, Bill Sweeney, president and CEO ofthe International Foundation for Electoral Systems, tells us why these, andless developed countries, take their civic responsibility more seriously thanthe U.S.

Austerity's long, dangerous historyFor all the campaign talk about spending cuts,the term “austerity” doesn’t get thrown around much in American politicalspeech. America's Hidden Austerity ProgramBen Polak is the chairman of the economics department at Yale University. Peter K. Schott is a professor of economics at the Yale School ...In Europe, governments have imposed steep cuts to entitlement programs in order to encouragegrowth, but those cuts have triggered protests and social unrest, whileyielding little private sector growth.Athens descends into violence as 200,000 march against austerityViolence erupted in the heart of Athens as mass protests against further austerity measures in crisis-hit Greece escalated on Wednesday. ...Raw: Thousands Protest Austerity in SpainassociatedpressPolice, demonstrators clash at Greek austerity protestreutersvideo

We examine the longhistory of austerity with Mark Blyth, professor of International PoliticalEconomy at Brown University and author of “Austerity: History of a Dangerous Idea.”

Mark Blyth on Austeritybrownuniversity