Public outreach

The UN Security Council has been the subject of wide-ranging debate about whether it should open its doors to other permanent members. Many countries wish to join this select group to gain the power of veto that goes along with membership. Because of the inequalities it introduces and its ability to obstruct negotiations, veto power has been a tricky issue so far. Yet it may also be vital to international cooperation, to counteract the existing balance of power between nations.

Talking about the Gold Rush and the Wild West immediately conjures up fortune seekers and anarchy, but certainly not economic analysis. Yet economists have demonstrated how the presence of state institutions significantly reduced criminality in these areas, both back then and ever since, using data on mining in the Great American West. But what about the violence prevalent in states (or regions) before state institutions were established to ensure some form of property rights regulation?

Protesting is one type of social movement that can be used as a democratic way of expressing grievances. However, a demonstration also draws other citizens’ attention to government policy. Thus, protests can make people distrustful of the head of state and the monitoring institutions that are supposed to exercise control. Marc Sangnier and Yanos Zylberberg take us to Africa, where they study the influence demonstrators can have on the population as a whole.