Daily Archives: January 29, 2022

The poll campaigning in five states conjures up an image of a vibrant democracy at play in India. The campaign noise even drowns out serious reservations about the free and fair character of elections due to opaque electoral bonds and the Election Commissions questionable conduct. Even if these apprehensions werent there, we must remember that there is more to democracy than elections.

It is in the more that we have witnessed less since 2014. The space for public debate has shrunk, institutional structures have been hollowed out, political rights smothered by suppression, the criminalisation of dissent and the crushing of protests. Why, the very idea of citizenship based on the constitutional dictum of civic equality has been negated by the CAA.

The threat to our democracy has been chronicled globally. In March 2021, Swedens V-Dem Institute categorised India as an electoral autocracy, while Freedom House, a majority US government-funded organisation, listed India as partly free. In November 2021, another Swedish think-tank, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, categorised India as the backsliding democracy with the most democratic violations during the pandemic and a major decliner in its Global State of Democracy 2021 report.

All these reports confirm that Indian democracy is in deep distress, though Delhi was invited by the US to the Summit for Democracy in December but so were democracies like Pakistan, Malaysia, Iraq and Angola. Many Indians hope the US will fix Indias democratic decline. They are going to be disappointed. American geopolitical interest in keeping India at the centre of its efforts to counter China gets priority over shared values. It is for us Indians to recognise that our democracy matters not merely for the intrinsic value that it brings to one-seventh of humanity. It is as much a hard power imperative for Delhi in a fragile world order.

It was a very poor and illiterate India, emasculated by two centuries of colonial subjugation, that chose to be a democracy. The principle emerged from the freedom struggle in which our leaders advocated liberal and progressive values for the people, going against the grain of Indias socio-religious structure. Even if the practice of democracy was imperfect, the idea of it took deep roots among Indians who saw intrinsic value in it. Indias multiple diversities could have easily become its weakness but democracy, sustaining our unity in diversity, converted it into its major internal strength.

As Indias democracy backslides, this internal strength is under stress. An already fragile situation in Muslim-majority Kashmir or Christian-majority Nagaland becomes even more threatening, with top generals warning of a two-and-a half-front security challenge for the country. While China and Pakistan are the two external threats, the half front refers to the internal security challenge from border regions like Kashmir and Nagaland. Economic development is bound to suffer when our 22% religious minorities, promised equal rights under a secular Constitution, feel that they are being targeted by a majoritarian government.

A weakened democracy, with ineffective checks and balances, has already made India one of the most economically unequal countries in the world, where the rich have gotten richer and the poor poorer. Rising inequality, seen to be a consequence of cronyism, can eventually lead to social turmoil and instability. A socially divided and economically weak India will not be able to muster the hard power needed to take on China.

One of the challenges from China has come in Indias neighbourhood, where Delhi has exerted maximum sway since independence. Even when it had limited hard power, the moral power of Indias democratic example sustained its influence in South Asian capitals. India was the exception in a region where regimes failed to deal fairly with religious and ethnic minorities. A bulwark against majoritarianism, Indian democracy was the aspirational beacon for neighbouring peoples.

Indias democratic decline opens the doors for China in the region more easily. The vast gap between Indian and Chinese comprehensive national power and Beijings greater enthusiasm in engaging our neighbours accentuate the deficit caused by Indias democratic deterioration. Indias timid response to the Ladakh border crisis has severely dented Delhis hard power credentials while its soft power lies in tatters.

It is only as a bulwark against authoritarianism that India can hope to play a counterweight to China. An Indian democratic failure is a failure of democracy as an idea it strengthens Chinas hand, and allows Beijing to export its growth and governance model to the world. India has to be the example that influences others to pursue the path of democracy, and it is critical for the world that Delhi itself stays true to the democratic course.

Over the years, India had shown that it would not only practise democracy in word and deed but also deliver in ample measure to all its citizens, irrespective of religion, caste, gender, race and ethnicity. It lifted 271 million Indians out of poverty between 2006 and 2016. If longstanding democracies like India show backsliding in their conduct, it is a vote of no-confidence in the belief that democracy can deliver and be effective.

Many Indians mistakenly assume that democracy is merely a catchphrase that has little value in the real world. They forget that ideas have power. Furthering Indias interests requires a wise blend of material and ideational resources. The idea of India provided us the internal stability and strength needed to springboard to great power. If the lived idea of a democracy is allowed to be hollowed out to a mere slogan, India will not be in a position to secure its own interests, let alone rise to global leadership that Indians so eagerly desire.

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Staying the liberal democratic course is key to Indias security, ambitions - Deccan Herald

The political leadership race that time forgot is limping towards the finish line and it remains unclear how much of the public will pay attention to its eventual conclusion.

The BC Liberal Party is in the midst of a leadership race (you knew that, right?) to replace former leader Andrew Wilkinson, who stepped down after a historically disastrous election result on his watch last fall.

The next leader will be announced Feb. 5, and right now it looks like former BC Liberal cabinet minister Kevin Falcon is the candidate to beat.

It was hard to draw any other conclusion after watching the recent televised, virtual debate between Falcon and his six leadership rivals.

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It is not exactly a field of experienced candidates and is a considerably weaker one that was in either of than the last two leadership contests the party held.

Falcons previous cabinet experience he held the major portfolios of finance, health and transportation during former-premier Gordon Campbells administration separates him from the rest of the field by a considerable distance.

He is up against three current caucus members, none of whom have any experience in provincial government. The three MLAs Ellis Ross, Michael Lee and Renee Merrifield have fairly low public profiles.

The three other candidates Val Litwin, Gavin Dew and Stan Sipos are complete newcomers when it comes to politics and all appear to have little chance of emerging the victor when the votes are counted.

So can Falcon, who lost a narrow leadership contest to Christy Clark in 2012, be stopped?

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There is one potential obstacle: the preferential ballot system that is being used to choose the leader. Under this system, voters rank the candidates in order of their support.

If Falcon cannot win a majority on the first count, he could stall on subsequent ballots if an anyone-but-Falcon mentality unites the supporters of the other candidates.

That could allow another candidate or two to leap frog him on subsequent ballots if he does not have strong second and third and even fourth-choice support (this is what happened to Dianne Watts, the former Surrey mayor, during the 2018 leadership vote).

I have to say Ross and Lee are likely the most probable to benefit from this kind of scenario.

In any event, whoever emerges victorious will inherit a badly-wounded political party that is having a hard time resonating with the voting public. A significant rise in support for the NDP has chased the BC Liberals out of Metro Vancouver when it comes to winning legislative seats.

All of the candidates have talked about the need to renew and diversify the party. That will be easier said than done when it does not have much support in the areas in which most of the population resides.

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Falcon is a good communicator, but he certainly tilts considerably to the right wing side of the political spectrum. If he takes the party too far to the right, that may make it even more difficult for it to win back support in Metro Vancouver, which seems to be gravitating away from that side of political turf.

But no matter which candidate wins, the party will face a challenge that it has never really been able to consistently conquer during this pandemic: convincing the general public to even pay attention to what it is saying.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.

2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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COMMENTARY: BC Liberal leadership race nears the finish line, but is the public watching? - Global News

Among party faithful, Mr James is described as a factional operator and culture warrior, tags and labels the 46-year-old vehemently rejects.

One Liberal Party source, not authorised to speak publicly, said, He is Liberal out of central casting. The party mainstream, people who show up and hand out, feel like no one listens to them. Who does? Tim James. He can work a room.

Ms Berejiklian this week endorsed Mr James as the candidate in a pre-recorded video that drew the ire of some senior party members who said it was akin to a hostage video, accusing Mr James of previously working against Ms Berejiklian.

People should just focus on the reality, Mr James told the Herald. I am so proud of Gladys. I have only supported her. She is a daughter of the Liberal Party and I am a son of the Liberal Party.

Another moderate Liberal Party source said the shift from Gladys, the poster child of post-war migration to a conservative, white Australian male should not be understated.

I think its highly unlikely Tim James and Gladys Berejiklian share some sort of parental patronage in the Liberal Party. If anything they are step cousins, three times removed.

It marks Mr James third attempt to land on Macquarie Street, after losing to Felicity Wilson for the seat of North Shore in 2018, before taking Supreme Court action to overturn the result. He was unsuccessful and the case was ultimately dismissed. But he said multiple bids hadnt fazed him.

I know it took [former prime minister] John Howard three attempts, [former NSW premier] Mike Baird three attempts. So this is obviously not at all unusual. Whats kept me going is obviously a passion for people and community.

His preselection prompted local lawyer and voluntary assisted dying campaigner Penny Hackett to also contest the byelection. Ms Hackett, the president of Dying With Dignity NSW, said she had been encouraged to run by voters disappointed with the Liberal replacement for Ms Berejiklian.

It was a big shock to a lot of people there is a palpable sense of rage, she said.

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This is a seat which is really ripe for the right independent. I dont expect to win, but I would hope to take a bit of skin off for the point of proving that they cant just take a safe seat for granted.

Mr James said, No one was taking the seat for granted, adding that he had spent more years in the electorate than Ms Hackett.

My only ambition is to be the member for Willoughby, to listen and serve, he said.

Ms Hackett, a mother-of-two, will run as a candidate for the Reason NSW Party, after it merged with the Voluntary Euthanasia Party following the 2019 election.

Ive become more involved [in politics] as a result of the voluntary assisted dying campaign, which has given me a much greater insight into what actually goes on in Parliament and politics and the machinations, and Ive been pretty depressed about it all to be honest, she said.

Ms Hackett believes the Coalition governments recent handling of the Omicron outbreak could swing votes away from the Liberal Party in the lower north shore seat.

Also contesting the byelection are North Sydney Council deputy mayor William Bourke for the Sustainable Australia Party, and independent candidate Larissa Penn.

Ms Penn, a mother-of-three and Willoughby local, is also the convener of Stop the Tunnels, an organisation set up to rally against the slated Western Harbour and Beaches Link projects.

Willoughby is not simply a thoroughfare for commuters, a land bank for developers or a pollution trap for unfiltered toll road stacks, as it has been treated by the state government, she said.

The Liberals hold Willoughby with a margin of more than 20 per cent and a primary vote above 57 per cent. NSW Labor is not running a candidate.

Today a Mosman local, Mr James has lived in the Willoughby electorate for most of his life. High on his agenda are schools, investment in the Royal North Shore Hospital and green space. He will also consult the community to bring a fresh set of eyes to the divisive Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link projects.

Tim James and wife Nikki at their wedding in 2014.Credit:GM Photographics

He met his wife Nikki, a marketing executive, after the two featured separately in the same edition of the local newspaper in early 2012. At the time Mr James was chief-of-staff to Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, having already worked in the electorate offices of mentors Joe Hockey and John Howard.

He has also worked in the private sector, including a 14-month stint as the head of pharmaceutical lobby group Medicines Australia.

He has recently departed as a director of Life Education NSW, behind the Healthy Harold school program, and is a listed secretary of the Australian Nationhood Foundation.

The organisation publishes resources exploring the national identity, which it describes as encompassing Aboriginal people, the British settlers the British language and British culture, as well as migrants.

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Liberal out of central casting: The man who wants Gladys Berejiklians seat - Sydney Morning Herald

Liberal progressives and a focus on feelings

The letter to the editor, Supreme Court is wrong in COVID-19 decision (Jan, 20, 2022), shows why liberal progressives are a danger to this country. The author says the U.S. Supreme Court should have based its recent mask and vaccine mandate ruling on what he feels would be best for the health and safety of the general public.

His letter shows he does not understand or chooses to ignore the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in our democracy. SCOTUS is meant to be a strictly judicial body. It is not supposed to advocate for or against social policy like mandated mask wearing and vaccination. Its job is to dispassionately decide whether government and private sector actions are constitutional.

SCOTUS ruled that the Constitution does not give the Biden administration the authority to force businesses to require employees to be vaccinated.

Liberal progressives who are rapidly gaining influence in Rhode Island politics are dangerous because reality, facts and the U.S. Constitution mean little to them, as the Jan. 20 letter to the editor makes clear. They demand laws and government policies be based on their feelings. Emotion-driven policies dont make for good government.

Rational people gather facts and draw logical conclusions to make sound public policy. Liberal progressives dont so they should never be elected to public office.

Robert King,Middletown

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OPINION/LETTER: Liberal progressives and a focus on feelings - newportri.com

Faculty: School of Liberal Arts

Position: Professor / Associate Professor / Assistant Professor / Lecturer

Description

The School of Liberal Arts (SLA) was established in 2020. The missions of SLA are to comprehensively cultivate business management talents with independent observation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills; to promote cross-cultural exchanges and international cooperation; and to serve the local and regional diversified development.

To cope with our developmental plan, applications are invited from those with excellent academic achievements in the following areas:

Professional Areas

Commerce (accounting, finance, economics, etc.), management (marketing, human resources, decision science and big data analysis management, etc.), hotel /tourism, exhibition management, retail management, hotel management, education, and related fields.

Qualifications

Remuneration Package

Remuneration and appointment rank offered will be commensurate with the successful applicants academic qualification, professional experience and current position. Medical benefits, annual leave, provident fund, allowance and bonus, on job training program or overseas study opportunities will be provided by the University.

Application Procedure

Qualified candidates should apply the position online at the Universitys careers site (https://www.must.edu.mo/careers) and upload an up-to-date curriculum vitae with expected salary, copies of ID/passport, certified copies of academic certificates, transcripts, testimonial of professional experience, publications and academic research outline etc.

To browse for more information about MUST, please visit http://www.must.edu.mo.

Job Type: Full-time

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Professor/Associate Professor/Assistant Professor/Lecturer, School of Liberal Arts job with Macau University of Science and Technology | 279523 -...

Call for Expressions of interest for a professorship in the bachelor Degree Program - Liberal Arts and Sciences -as part of the Excellence Strategy - University of Excellence funding line at Universitt Hamburg

Institution:Faculty of HumanitiesSalary level:W3Commencement of duties:as soon as possibleApplication deadline:2022-02-24

Universitt Hamburg was successful in its application for the second funding line of the excellence competition. One of the Excellence Strategy's sub-strategies is to strengthen and expand innovative, research-oriented, and multiperspective teaching. As part of this, the University is introducing a Liberal Arts and Sciences bachelor's degree program. The transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary degree program integrates innovative study profiles that focus on the global challenges of the twenty-first century. The degree program aims to enable students to think in an integrated, solution-oriented manner and to train them to become outstanding generalists. For this purpose, a cooperation is planned with the Universitt Hamburg clusters of excellence and research institutes, other Hamburg universities, and international universities,particularly with Dutch liberal arts and sciences colleges. The Faculty of Humanities is spearheading the design and introduction of the degree program in cooperation with other Universitt Hamburg faculties.

Two new professorships will be established for the Liberal Arts and Sciences degree program and will be significantly involved in the further development, finalization, and image of the degree program. As part of a structured scouting process to fill one of the two professorships at the Faculty of Humanities, interested researchers are asked to provide expressions of interest in applying for this professorship.

We are seeking someone from the field of cultural studies, literary studies, or media studies, who can demonstrate relevant experience in interdisciplinary teaching and research, preferably with proven research activity at the interface with the natural sciences and/or medicine. Interested researchers must also have a strong interest in establishing interdisciplinary and international teaching and research cooperation as well as an openness to and enthusiasm for innovative university teaching concepts all of which are of central importance.

The professorship should be appointed as part of an extraordinary academic search procedure conducted in accordance with Section 14 subsection 6 number 4 of the Hamburg higher education act (Hamburgisches Hochschulgesetz, HmbHG). Extraordinary appointments may be made at the discretion of the Executive University Board, which acts as both selection and appointment committee.

In consultation with the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and the degree program's academic coordinator, the Executive University Board will identify and offer the professorship to an individual by way of extraordinary appointment. The successful applicant will be the individual deemed best suited to fulfilling the University's goals as part of the degree program's expansion. During this process, the Faculty of Humanities' subject to which the applicant is best suited will also be determined.

The Executive University Board will invite suitable applicants to an interview.

Requirements

Section 15 HmbHG applies.

Additional Criteria

Non-German-speaking post holders are expected to acquire the language skills necessary to teach in German (Level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) within two years of commencing employment.

Universitt Hamburg seeks to increase the proportion of women in teaching and research, and encourages women to submit their expressions of interest.

Tips on applying

Reference numberIBV-01-22

Application deadline2022-02-24

Interested candidates for this professorship should express their interest by sending their curriculum vitae, a personal statement of no more than 3 pages explaining why they believe they are qualified, a paper of no more than 10 pages outlining their research and teaching concept for the Liberal Arts degree program that is under development, and other standard documents.

Find further information about the planned degree program athttps://www.uni-hamburg.de/las-lp.

Send your notice of interest touniversitaetsstrategie.uhh@uni-hamburg.deby 24 February 2022.

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Professorship in the bachelor Degree Program - Liberal Arts and Sciences job with UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG | 279222 - Times Higher Education (THE)

Ash Barty has revealed the "hermit life" she endured thi summer to avoid her biggest Australian Open threat - COVID-19. Contracting the coronavirus during the Open, or in the week before the Melbourne Park grand slam, would have been catastrophic for Australia's big hope. Hence why, after compatriots Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic went down with the virus in the Open lead-up, Barty bunkered down in Melbourne with her golfer-fiance Garry Kissick and mother Josie. As she rolled through the draw without dropping a set, match after match all the way to the final, the world No.1 was ever aware that COVID could prematurely end her campaign. Frenchman Ugo Humbert and Belgian Alison Uytvanck both tested positive during the tournament and, in reality, the prospect of getting infected was more of a threat to Barty than any of her on-court rivals. "We were pretty careful. I was staying with Gary and my mum and we were pretty much in lockdown," Barty said as she wound down with a celebratory beer on Saturday night. "We didn't leave. We would just go in the morning and get a takeaway coffee. We didn't go to any restaurants, didn't go out anywhere. "So it has been two weeks of hermit life. I don't have a problem with it. It was a pretty quiet two weeks just to eliminate the risk." Asked how conscious she was of COVID-19 potentially cruelling her Open dream, Barty said: "We were just careful, didn't want to add any risk unnecessarily - it would have made the paper, I reckon (if I got it). "We were all very mindful from the start, even all of our extended team. "We just tried to do the right thing like we'd done the last 18 months, two years - just not be silly with it and just not add any extra unnecessary risk for a couple of weeks. "We can enjoy this and now we can do what we want." Barty's other big concern was ensuring her entire family and support network was at Melbourne Park - and in Rod Laver Arena - for her famous final triumph over American Danielle Collins. That wasn't possible when Barty won her first grand slam title at the 2019 French Open or her second last year at Wimbledon. "I was gutted when mum and dad and some of my team couldn't be there in Paris and in London," she said. "To be able to have almost everyone here was really, really special, and to do it at home and to be able to do it with them, experience it with them, was really special. "Yeah, mum was always going to be the first one that I gave a hug to." Then came her father Rob, who Barty had to plead with to make the trip from Queensland to be courtside for the final. "After the semi I called my dad and told him he was going to come down - he was a bit umming and ahhhing about it," Barty said. "But I said, 'Nah, you're going to come down'. It was the same for my sisters as mum was down here the whole time. "It would have killed me if they weren't here just because they were so close and I would never have forgiven myself if they weren't able to share it with us." Australian Associated Press

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Ash Barty has revealed the "hermit life" she endured thi summer to avoid her biggest Australian Open threat - COVID-19.

Contracting the coronavirus during the Open, or in the week before the Melbourne Park grand slam, would have been catastrophic for Australia's big hope.

Hence why, after compatriots Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic went down with the virus in the Open lead-up, Barty bunkered down in Melbourne with her golfer-fiance Garry Kissick and mother Josie.

As she rolled through the draw without dropping a set, match after match all the way to the final, the world No.1 was ever aware that COVID could prematurely end her campaign.

Frenchman Ugo Humbert and Belgian Alison Uytvanck both tested positive during the tournament and, in reality, the prospect of getting infected was more of a threat to Barty than any of her on-court rivals.

"We were pretty careful. I was staying with Gary and my mum and we were pretty much in lockdown," Barty said as she wound down with a celebratory beer on Saturday night.

"We didn't leave. We would just go in the morning and get a takeaway coffee. We didn't go to any restaurants, didn't go out anywhere.

"So it has been two weeks of hermit life. I don't have a problem with it. It was a pretty quiet two weeks just to eliminate the risk."

Asked how conscious she was of COVID-19 potentially cruelling her Open dream, Barty said: "We were just careful, didn't want to add any risk unnecessarily - it would have made the paper, I reckon (if I got it).

"We were all very mindful from the start, even all of our extended team.

"We just tried to do the right thing like we'd done the last 18 months, two years - just not be silly with it and just not add any extra unnecessary risk for a couple of weeks.

"We can enjoy this and now we can do what we want."

Barty's other big concern was ensuring her entire family and support network was at Melbourne Park - and in Rod Laver Arena - for her famous final triumph over American Danielle Collins.

That wasn't possible when Barty won her first grand slam title at the 2019 French Open or her second last year at Wimbledon.

"I was gutted when mum and dad and some of my team couldn't be there in Paris and in London," she said.

"To be able to have almost everyone here was really, really special, and to do it at home and to be able to do it with them, experience it with them, was really special.

"Yeah, mum was always going to be the first one that I gave a hug to."

Then came her father Rob, who Barty had to plead with to make the trip from Queensland to be courtside for the final.

"After the semi I called my dad and told him he was going to come down - he was a bit umming and ahhhing about it," Barty said.

"But I said, 'Nah, you're going to come down'. It was the same for my sisters as mum was down here the whole time.

"It would have killed me if they weren't here just because they were so close and I would never have forgiven myself if they weren't able to share it with us."

Australian Associated Press

Link:

How Barty avoided major Open threat - Daily Liberal