Financial Transparency Coalition

Foreign aid is an odd concept. Or maybe I mean a unique concept. Yes, that’s it. Foreign aid is a unique concept. Most of our world works on a capitalistic system, particularly when it comes to investments. Of course there are government programs worldwide which transfer wealth from the rich to the poor, but they fit into a capitalistic framework. Unemployment, welfare, medicare, medicaid, and social security benefits are almost identical to insurance policies. The public education system may primarily and directly benefit those without the resources to pay for a private...

There are many kinds of political legitimacy. In a democracy, legitimacy is earned through democratic process. In a theocracy, legitimacy it is ordained by a spiritual authority. It can even be won by the might of a revolution that installs a totalitarian leader. Legitimacy is often defined in terms of John Locke’s notion of implicit and explicit consent of the governed. Political philosopher Dolf Sternberger explained it this way: “Legitimacy is the foundation of such governmental power as is exercised, both with a consciousness on the government’s part that it has a right to govern,...

The beginning of 2011 may yet be remembered as a new dawn of the protest and fresh interest in civic engagement worldwide. From Wisconsin to Tunisia workers and citizens have risen up against a leader, in protest of a law, or in retaliation of a loss. In Egypt in Tunisia, their voices were not only heard, but they affected regime change within weeks. In Wisconsin, two weeks of union protests have sparked a coast-to-coast debate on collective bargaining rights, the erosion of the American middle class, our national priorities, and our values as a country. The viral...

Teodoro Nguema Obiang has controlled Equatorial Guinea since he executed his uncle in a bloody coup d’état in 1979. Equatorial Guinea, pictured to the right, is a country in Middle Africa on the coast. It is one of the smallest and wealthiest countries in the continent, in large part because it holds Africa’s largest oil reserves. Yet the wealth is extremely concentrated in the hands of the government and the ruling elite. As a result over 75% of the population lives below $2 per day, 35% of its citizens do not live past the age of...