The Stans is a geographical region of Central Asia consisting of 5 post-Soviet republics, who share a nomadic past and mostly Turkic-based languages. After the demise of communist rule, Central Asian republics became darlings of Western NGOs, funds, and sponsors. However, numerous attempts of outsiders to promote democracy in the region didn’t yield expected results,
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Notorious for the bloody genocide in 1994 that shocked the international community, Rwanda is now recovering from this atrocious event — and it seems successful at it.  In 2017, Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda and former military leader, claimed the country is aspiring to be the Singapore of Africa. Singapore is internationally recognized for jumping
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As the holiday season is slowly approaching, people are more than eager to shop: be it essentials, presents for significant others, or simple knick-knacks smartly advertised to them by the retailers. Black Friday is known for its extraordinary deals, and, as a result, chaos in stores: research showed that around a quarter of customers feel
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This past Tuesday the UvA Executive Board was confronted with the questions bothering students the most, from tuition fee reductions to the use of Proctorio during online examinations. On November 10th Geert ten Dam, Karen Maex, and Jan Linsten shared their answers with Room for Discussion, so here’s a glimpse of what was addressed.  What
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It has been less than a year since COVID-19 became a part of our new reality, but many experts and professionals have already given their opinions and predictions on the ways the virus has and will affect the global economy. On October 29th Olivier Blanchard contributed to this discussion with his predictions on the corona
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One of the most important events for Muslims is undoubtedly the holy month of Ramadan, traditionally celebrated as the ninth month of the lunar calendar, which this year encountered with the COVID-19 outbreak. While a third of the world population is quarantined, and many governments imposed strict lockdown controls, Muslims are facing a great challenge
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Phone applications, contact tracing, physical lockdown control, closeup surveillance of movements, CCTV, digital tracking and facial recognition tools — governments are doing everything to repress the spread of the virus. This intensive surveillance has so far proved to be one of the most efficient ways to ensure public safety in the light of the COVID-19
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