Yesterday was the Earth Day, and the UN 24 hours Live Channel broadcasted the signing ceremony of the Climate Change Accord. But there are many more interesting development issues broadcasted by the UN Channel, here for your attention below. Enjoy!
Transition Initiative
Today (18 April) in my class on sustainable development, we watched this video on transition network, an initiative to create and distribute the network of sustainable communities across the world. I think the students liked it. I thought that it would be a good idea to share this with the readers of my blog, and [...]
New Paper on Security in the Mekong River Basin
After three years of writing and revising, our paper on various ways of security being framed in the Mekong River Commission has come to light in International Relations journal Globalizations. Here one may read it. This is yet another wonderful collaboration with Andrea Gerlak with whom it is pure pleasure to work and write. The key [...]
BREAKING NEWS: Storm in the North Sea, Oilfields Evacuated
NOS Reports (Dutch News Service). This is a repost and my own translation from Dutch to English. At these moments, there is a strong storm in the North Sea. I would like to draw your attention to what is being reported in the news and how the owners of the platform behave. For one, there [...]
BBC: Big Tobacco Paying Bribes
I was recently taking breakfast with two friends in a quiet district of Amsterdam. While enjoying our salmon on omelet, and conversing in Dutch, we updated each other on our lives. A friend of my friend had a new job, he became a manager of a pharmaceutical company which works with plants. His job is [...]
Expressing Grief and Solidarity
The attack in Paris is a nightmare that came true. The whole world grieves with France. And so did ADA University today with the half-mast flags, the minute of silence and singing of Marseillaise after. We unite in our grief and solidarity in the fight against terrorism.
Workshop on “Translation in World Politics” at Kate Hamburger Kolleg, Duisburg, Germany
Last week, on October 08-09, I took part in a workshop at the University of Duisburg’s Kate Hamburger Kolleg (Centre for Global Cooperation Research) named “Translation in World Politics”. It was very pleasing to see the ideas of policy translation making headway in other disciplines, and now also in International Relations and World Politics. I [...]
A “pill” generation
We are looking for quick solutions to our problems, and businesses who see profits in offering this short-term relief, do not wait to make money on us. Feeling sad? Eat the cake! Had a fight with your girl-friend? Get drunk! Feeling depressed? Take anti-depressants! Can’t get an erection? Take a viagra! And now the latest [...]
“The Black Swan” by Nassim Taleb
After 3 years of owning the book, I finally made the effort and read the book from cover to cover. It was hard to start off, but then went in a free-flow. There are many reviews on the Internet, so I won’t go on about the book at length, only mention a few things which [...]
New Article! Ways of Knowing Water: Water Security and Integrated Water Management
After waiting for over a year, finally our article is online! This article is titled “‘Ways of knowing’ water: integrated water resources management and water security as complementary discourses“, Andrea Gerlak and I wrote it for International Negotiations and Environmental Agreements (INEA), a well-respected journal in the area of environmental policy and political science. The [...]
First “Pay for Your Time” Cafe in Baku — “Tik-Talk”
В Баку новое классное место, где можно мирно посидеть, попить чайку, поиграть в настольные игры (включая чо-чо или ручной футбол), и все это, заметьте, в абсолютно домашней обстановке! Нет, я не говорю про очередное за-пере-черезчур-гламуренное кафе типа Глория Джинс. Новое место называется “Tik-Talk”, и является первым в Баку “анти-кафе”. Оно даже приятнее моего любимого кафе [...]
WSJ — The Global War on Modernity by Garry Kasparov
While the whole of Azerbaijan, and especially Baku, were mourning the 25th anniversary of the Black January on January 20 this year, Garry Kasparov, my fellow Bakuvian, has published yet another op-ed in Wall Street Journal. However, this op-ed had nothing to do with the events of January 1990. It was about the clash of [...]
Black January: Tragic Events of 19-20 January in Baku 1990
“Wake up, Farhad”, I bearly open my eyes “Quick, come on”, Reluctantly I wake up and see my mom full of fear and agitation.
Global Governance of Biofuels
Farhad Mukhtarov co-authored a new paper (short communication) with Professor Patricia Osseweijer from Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) and dr. Robin Pierce from Harvard Law School (US). It appeared in the last issue of 2014 of Bio-based and Applied Economics, a new journal devoted to the issues of energy transition and bio-economy as viewed [...]
Books that Defined 2014 for Me!!!
This year was not rich with books (and time to spare) apart from those for work. Still, there is a number of books I started and some I finished, which makes me feel proud! Below is the list with some first impressions as I am planning more detailed reviews later on. 1. “The Goldfinch”, by [...]
bell hooks on teaching and critical thinking
One of the major things that makes my life meaningful at this particular moment is teaching and the chance to pass some knowledge and ways of thinking to my students. It is not self-esteem which I am gaining here, although I recognize that teaching is a mildly narcissistic activity which may inflate already oversize egos. [...]
Institutional Design in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan: New Paper in Environmental Science & Policy
The Journal of Environmental Science & Policy will feature in early 2015 an article co-authored by Farhad Mukhtarov, Svenja Fox, Nozila Mukhamedova and Kai Wegerich. This article is an attempt to resolve the tensions between the need for institutional reform and learning in this process and the paramount importance of the policy context in determining [...]
Still Doubting that Climate Change is Human Made?
To all those who are still in blissful ignorance about the causes of climate change, and especially to a few students of my Geography class who have been vocally in favour of the Earth tilt being the major source of global warming — please watch this video on climate change, its existence and causes.
Ways of Knowing Public Policy
Farhad Mukhtarov and Andrea Gerlak have just published an article in Policy Sciences, a well-respected political science journal, on Ways of Knowing and Integrated Water Resources Management. In this article, the authors came up with the argument that there are 3 ways of knowing reality, and public policy for that matter, which they named prescriptive, discursive [...]
“Ali and Nino” night in Baku with Fuad Akhundov and Frydays
Ali and Nino Left: Cover of the first edition of “Ali and Nino”, in German, Vienna, 1937. For many people around the world the first introduction to Azerbaijan is the book “Ali and Nino” by Kurban Said. I met people from Costa-Rica and New Zealand who upon hearing that I am from Azerbaijan, told me [...]
Subscribe
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.
