Outrage and Action: the Youth
The Austrian Student Union’s “Education Action Day” (Bildungsaktionstag) had been planned weeks in advance. When 18 Oct came, hundreds gathered outside the Ministry of Science on Minoritenplatz to demand more funding for Austria’s ailing universities, while plenary sessions at the Universities of Salzburg and Graz highlighted the issue ahead of Finance Minister Maria Fekter’s budget [...]
Outrage and Action: the Elders
With every day’s news, Wolfgang Radlegger was getting more and more frustrated: the Euro crisis, underfunded universities, misguided immigration policy, rampant corruption – the list of pressing issues was getting longer and longer and public decision-making ever more paralysed. Coalition members – “more interested in getting re-elected or getting rich”, he said – had made [...]
The Politics of Miracles
“If philosophers are being consulted, the crisis must be deep indeed,” Konrad Paul Liessmann, professor of philosophy at the University of Vienna, quipped in the packed glass-roofed courtyard of the Haus der Musik. It didn’t need explaining that the crisis in question was that of Austrian politics, engulfed in burgeoning corruption scandals [see “Something Rotten [...]
Remembering the Wall
“It went up brick by brick,” says a blonde woman, her eyes red as she recalls the scene she witnessed as a little girl fifty years ago. “From time to time, people on the other side waved to us.” She stops to stare down Bernauer Strasse. “My uncle lived here, they came to his home [...]
On Turning Privacy to Opportunity
It is a well-known – though questionable – truth in the online community that consumers won’t pay for privacy. Accordingly, most companies regard the entire issue warily, seeing only expensive disclosure requirements, constraints on their ability to collect information about their customers, and a potential source of legal liabilities. So they consult lawyers and IT [...]
EU Competitiveness Trap: Leaders Need to Refocus
A flawed understanding of what drives economic growth has emerged as the gravest threat to recovery in Europe. European policymakers are obsessed with national “competitiveness,” and genuinely appear to think that prosperity is synonymous with trade surpluses. This largely explains why Germany is routinely cited as an example of a strong, “competitive” economy. But economic [...]
EU: Whose Happiness?
Fear of downward mobility, no sense of security, self-imposed pressure to perform: the Austrians are unhappier than most Europeans. Money makes you happy, they report, education not necessarily. “The Austrians are just as pessimistic as the Germans,” Ulrich Reinhardt, the Hamburger trend watcher told the Austrian daily der Standard, reporting on his latest study released [...]
Bits and Bytes of Psychology: Cyberpsychology (Part 1 of 2)
Heartache, back pain, anxiety, a daughter’s scanty eating habits: a quick tour of cyberspace and one stumbles upon doctors, virtual support groups, pharmaceutical deliveries, various therapists and coaches. An email is written, a virtual community is notified, and a blog or chat opened to look for answers. Technology has radically changed the world, and with [...]
The Best Job in the World
Suleiman J. Al-Herbish surely has one of the best jobs in the world. As Director General of OFID, the OPEC Fund for International Development, he is in charge of a multi-billion dollar revolving endowment whose mission is to help countries in the neediest parts of the world. Established in 1976 at the time of the [...]
